Enjoyed our first day hiking a couple trails in Zion. We decided to spend the first day out of the main canyon to explore some of the less travelled trails. A great day of weather with temps finally allowing us to wear t-shirts.

View from lava point lookout

Dinner was pasta in a spicy red sauce with onions and tempeh

Arrived in zion park east entrance around 4pm.  Quickly learned from the entrance ranger that our trailer was oversized width and we would have to pay the $15 fee to allow a one way traffic flow thru the tunnel.  So now we know the rpod is 96″ wide, just 2″ over the tunnel width limit here.

Successfully made it thru the tunnel and the switchbacks down into Springdale, which is just outside the south entrance.  Nice town, but pretty crowded.  Looked up a couple free campsites, but after further research found that most were closed due to flooding back in 2010.  Referred back to my notes from a conversation I had with Lou and Cindy.  They were a friendly couple whom we met back in chaco canyon.  They are fellow Rpoders.  Kolob terrace road was their recommendation, so we drove up it.
Noticed a few possibilities for camping, but nothing great along the way.  No free camping allowed in the park boundaries..  drove all the way up to kolob reservoir at 8100 ft.  Found a nice spot on a hill overlooking the lake.

Couple guys in a offroad buggy pulled up to check out the rpod.  One guy had just been in fort myers, florida to visit his mom.  Still amazing how small the world can be sometimes.

Plan to spend a couple days hiking around the area and trying my luck at Utah fishing.  Noticed a bunch of trout in the lake.

Beautiful scenery in southern utah

Made a safe joruney today across the colorado river from northern arizona into southern utah.  Finally felt some 80 degree temperatures by the river valley!

Headed to find a free campsite near Zion.

We made it!  Spending the day riding bikes and hiking trails at the Grand Canyon. 

130pm – started our descent on the south kaibab trail after a short bike ride along the south canyon rim from the visitor center parking lot.

4pm – reach the halfway point before we turn back to climb out. Seeing some awesome scenery along the way.

6pm – made it back up pretty quickly, what a workout of about 8 miles and 3000 vertical feet! A great way to really appreciate how enormous this place is. A cold beer tasted great back at the trailer!

Enjoyed our May meat selection on Tuesday evening in our camper on the Schnebly Hill Vista campsite.  Found some grass-fed beef from Colorado at a local grocery store in Sedona.  Planned to use our small charcoal grill, but that plan was shot by the late evening rain showers.  Ended up cooking inside on the stove top, setting off the smoke alarm a couple times and scaring the cat.  We had also picked up some mahi filets, so we have enjoyed a couple nights of fish sandwiches this week.

The sun came back out on Wednesday while we packed up and departed Sedona.  Had hoped to do more hiking and exploring of the area, but decided to keep moving onto our next destination.  My choice of location for camping in Sedona could have been better.  While the scenery and solitude was nice, there was no easy route into the valley where more of the trails exist.  The only direct route is the severely bumpy and steep Schnebly Hill Road, which we had taken once and that was enough.  Otherwise you have to take the interstate north or south about 20 miles to access the highways into the Sedona Valley.  Other dispersed camping sites north or west of Sedona would have worked out better.

Short drive northwest for us on Wednesday, passing thru Flagstaff and into Williams, AZ.  This is the gateway town into the Grand Canyon Park which is about 50 miles north.  Been a couple weeks since we had a real shower, so we decided it was time to find a real campground with facilities.  Located a KOA on Route 64 which was on the way to GC and had all the amenities we needed.  Setup the camper in our spot and headed over into town to get some info on nearby activities.

Guy at the info desk wasn’t much help for providing options in our request for nearby hiking and biking trails, so we quickly pulled up various options via the all knowing Interwebs.  The forest service has an impressive website providing lots of downloadable maps.  Located a nice gravel road which went up the peak of Bill Williams Mountain.  Decided to drive half of it, then mountain bike the remaining portion.  Took in some great scenery along the way and definitely at the peak from the forest service lookout tower.  Ended up covering about 3 miles each way, obviously the first climb being immensely more difficult, yet the ride down being immensely colder.

Made one more stop on the way back to town.  I had noticed Dogtown lake from the peak and wanted to check it out.  Nothing much going on over there.  Water levels looked to be about 10-15 feet below normal.  Didn’t see any fish, but saw a bunch of deer along the road on the drive.

Continued into town and stopped at Cruisers Bar which I had read was serving a local brewery’s output.  Had a couple tasty beers which went down real easy after our biking session.  As we had heard from others, definitely a marked change in the tourist population around Grand Canyon.  Of about 40 people in the bar, we might have been the only Americans other than the staff.  Seems like a top destination for Europeans who visit the US.

Headed back to the trailer to cook up some dinner and clean up with a hot shower.  We both took extended sessions in the shower before dining on our mahi sandwiches with a side of cheesy rice.  Cindy also did some laundry, so we are all set for another week off the grid!

Found a sweet deal for a round of golf at oakcreek country club.  A bit windy and cool, but enjoying the scenery.

Found our spot for dispersed camping just northeast of Sedona.  Looks like some fantastic sightseeing around the area by bike or vehicle.  Plan to spend a couple nights here.

Home base in sedona

Freshly chopped firewood for our smores kit tonight

Enjoyed a scenic drive down the offroad cliff path into Sedona this afternoon. Shopped for some groceries at a local market, then drove back out on the longer highway route.

Fantastic sunset viewpoint

An elderly couple thought the lincoln continental was the appropriate offroad vehicle

I plan on entering the next Shaun White look-alike contest

The real Shaun White (pro snowboarder)

An interesting evening trying to sleep through a low front that passed through in the middle of the night.  Free camped at the gift shop parking lot just outside the park boundary.  They offer some free sites with a picnic table for overnight campers.  Ran the generator a bit to charge our batteries.

Watched a movie on the ipad after dinner, then went to bed.  A couple hours later the trailer was swaying back and forth.  Wind was cranking from the south, which was perpendicular to us and testing the wind resistance of the Rpod.  That seemed to last a couple hours before we both got back to sleep.

Around 3am, the torrential rains began.  Had to quickly run outside to bring the generator inside.  Wet and chilled I returned to bed and laid awake for another couple hours before falling back asleep.  Luckily the trailer seems to be water tight with no leaking.

Back on the road today heading further west into Sedona, AZ.  Wasn’t an original planned destination, but we have pretty much tossed that plan anyways.  Few folks we met along the way were impressed by the area, so we are gonna check it out for a couple days.  Hopefully get a round of golf in too!  Bunch of free camping available in the national forests around Sedona, so that is our planned destination today.

Racing the choo choo along I40. Don't like these locomotive colors as much 🙂

Doubled up on national parks today, stopping at the petrified forest park after canyon de chelly.

Pit stop at a historic trading post in navajo nation

Arizona painted badlands

Hotel turned into museum in the park

Pueblo built from petrified wood

Millions of years can turn a piece of wood into something almost as hard as diamond

Some extreme climbing for us this morning.

I like to pose during precarious climbing

Barefoot hiking, she must be from Florida