Go Wild In Utah
by Irm Park
Copyright 2007 Langley (British Columbia) Times. Reprinted with permission.
To read about our Bryce-Zion tour, click here
For our third cycling adventure, Ella and I added another member to our biking group. Ro-Anne brought her sunny disposition and rational mind to complement Ella’s “let’s do it” attitude and my “shouldn’t we think about this first” approach.
We flew into Vegas and spent a whirlwind 24 hours seeing Celine, dining and living in the lap of luxury for one whole day at the Belaggio.(So that’s how the other half lives.)
The next day we headed to St. George, Utah to await our pick up and for our cycle trip to begin. The drive getting to St. George reminded me a lot of the high country around Kamloops — lots of sagebrush and very dry.
We were picked up by the Bicycle Adventure crew the next morning bright and early and drove an hour into the Cedar Breaks National Monument, where we began our ride at 10,435 feet elevation.
In the afternoon we began to see some of the scenery we had heard so much about — Red Canyon — exactly as the name says. The formations were spectacular and only the beginning of so much more to come.
It was a good 50 mile ride and by the time we got to Ruby’s just outside Bryce Canyon National park, we were all ready for food and a good night’s sleep.
The next morning we cycled into the park and hiked down into the canyon. There are hardly words to describe what’s there. The colours, shapes and vegetation are nothing short of spectacular.
It’s a harsh land where the wind and temperature shapes and twists each tree into giant bonsai clinging on to canyon’s crevices. There is an other-worldliness quality to this land — like the land that God and time forgot but somehow also blessed, if that makes any sense.
The next morning we were up at 5 a.m. so we could watch the sun come up over the canyon rim. The canyon is at 8,000 feet so in the morning wind, it was freezing cold. It was incredible to watch the light change in the hoodoos as the sun inched its way up. The day had begun.
Our guides were two young ladies, Alisa and Stevie, who worked hard to make sure we made the best of all there was to see and do. They were there to fix the flats and there were plenty, especially with the road bikes. They were there to pick us up if we didn’t want to ride up the nine mile hill (or any hill for that matter). This came in very handy when the heat and the hill got to be too much.
Our other travel companions came from many places —which is a great part of the charm of this kind of adventure. Oddly enough, there were three doctors, as well as a young gal who was an anti-terrorist trainer for the American military and was there training to climb Mr. Kilimanjaro. A young woman who was training as a master gardener was a wealth of information for the plantlife that we saw.
By the third evening, the dinner table was just like a family dinner where there was a lot of trying to be heard over everyone else trying to be heard. There were lots of interesting conversations — their politics, our health care system, lots of fitness talks, talk of kith and kin— and generally just getting a sense of who and what we were all about.
After the sunrise adventure and breakfast back at Ruby’s, we headed towards Zion Canyon.
As we got closer you could see the change in rock formations at every turn in the road. Zion is very different from Bryce in that Bryce Canyon is hoodoos and Zion is much larger formations. Just before entering Zion National Park we hiked to a cave-like grotto — it was probably close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and yet in this grotto, moisture runs down inside the mountains and where the water seeps the ferns grow in abundance.
From there we headed downhill through switchbacks into Zion National Park. The scenery again was spectacular with names like the Three Patriarchs, The Great White Throne, Cathedral Mountain, Red Arch Mountain. It would have been good to have more time here because there is so much amazing hiking.
Our lodging was in Springdale which runs free shuttle buses to the canyon. The next day we hiked up to Scout’s Lookout and a few brave souls went on to Angel’s Landing — one of our group went part way to Angel’s Landing and literally froze and had to be talked down by a stranger while her hubby had gone ahead and didn’t even know she was in difficulty.
Again, the vast variety of flowers blooming along with the breathtaking vistas was astounding. The next morning after a wonderful breakfast we were all fitted with neoprene socks, shoes and big walking sticks that would enable us to walk in the river over and around the rocks. Ro-Anne and I were somewhat aprehensive about how cold the Virgin River was going to be. We were going into one of North America’s largest slot canyons.
The shuttle bus took us to the end of Zion Canyon and we walked about one mile before actually getting into the river. Once again, words seem insignificant to describe what we saw and experienced. We zig zagged back and forth across the river according to how deep we thought different points were.
The dark green meant deep but the more shallow water was running fast felt warm. As we got in further and further, the canyon walls came closer and closer.
Each turn brought different light on the canyon walls and water. In many areas there were hanging gardens of ferns and flowers clinging to the rock walls. Heading out of the canyon brought an altered view and light that still amazed the senses. Our feet were more than shrivelled after six hours in the water. Even though strenuous, it had been another incredible day.
Of the bike trips I have taken, this is by far the best I have experienced, probably because of the stunning beauty of the land as well as the opportunity to hike and bike all in one adventure.
Ro-Anne who was a teensy bit aprehensive about coming, had a great time and Ella in spite of her altercation with her bike also loved it. I liked Ro-Anne’s description for this kind of adventure - it’s like kids’ camp, but for adults.