To Springdale

March 11, 2021

Our last extended stay before heading back to Portland will be a ten night stand in Moab. Between Saint George and Moab we have five days that we had planned to fill with four nights in Kanab and a single night at the Bryce Canyon lodge.

Weather conditions call for a change in plans. With snow in the forecast, we don’t relish the high elevation drive to Kanab; and even if we got there, Kanab itself is high enough that we’re not likely to be doing any of the rides we envisioned. And beyond that, Bryce Canyon is up about 8,000’. I’m sure it would look amazing covered in snow, but we couldn’t expect to do much more than carefully walk up to the rim and look out.

So we scrapped both plans - scrapped them a couple of days ago actually, while we could still cancel without penalty. Instead, we’re first going to Springdale for two nights. It’s only fifty miles away and still on the valley floor, so the drive should be no problem. Beyond that we’re still considering our options and keeping an eye on the weather.

So, today we’re off to Zion. We leave at 11, the latest we can check out from our Airbnb. We can’t check in at our Springdale motel until one, so when we arrive at noon we head straight to a cafe with covered, heated outdoor seating and eat lunch watching the first snow come down.

Somewhere near La Verkin we pulled off the road to admire the views.

Looking back west, I think at Pine Valley Mountain.

The view from our lunch table. I think the walls of Zion are on the other side of this, but you wouldn’t know from the looks of things today.

After lunch we checked into our motel and kept warm for a couple of hours as a light snow continued to fall. Once it broke Rachael took off for a walk and I left not long after. We both ended up in the National Park on the Pa’rus Trail, the paved path we biked on last week. There wasn’t as much snow around as we expected, but it’s still much different than the way the park looked last week; and more snow is in the forecast for tonight.

In Zion. There’s a bit of snow up there, alright.

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