The National Park Tour Continues

Location: Zion National Park

Waking up to the sound of the creek at Great Basin was heaven. I can't remember the last time I slept for 10 straight hours. I think traveling in Winnie agrees with me. It was a cool morning, but not freezing like last year when we camped here. Last year's Lehman Cave tour was enough and we didn't feel like spending the time doing it again. We thought about driving to the top of Wheeler Point, but the visibility wasn't that terrific so option 3 won out. Keep on trucking to Zion.

I expected the drive from Great Basin to Zion to be incredibly bleak. On the map all you see is one great big blank white spot. We were delightfully surprised with the gorgeous scenery. Even though it was incredibly remote, as evidenced by the half-eaten cow on the side of the road, it wasn't arid. We drove through marshland with lots of fowl, and driving over the pass between the Wah-Wah Mountains and the San Francisco Mountain range was really beautiful.

 

It had been many years since our last visit to Zion. It's one of our favorite National Parks and even though this was our 4th trip here, it never ceases to take our breath away. Ned made a great observation. He said that visiting the Grand Canyon was looking down over the rim while at Zion you are at the bottom of the canyon looking up. Exactly. As the light changes through-out the day the same spectacular views continue to change as well.

After a quick lunch at the campsite, (for the record those were Virgin Bloody Mary's we were drinking...which seemed appropriate as we are camped on the banks of the Virgin River), we rode our bikes to the inter-park shuttle and headed for the Emerald Pool Trailhead.

 

 

 

 

In this case, the hike was all about the journey and not the destination. It was challenging to navigate the many sandy steps and boulders, especially with the amount of people on the trail. On the way from the Emerald Pools we decided to veer off from the crowd and take the lesser used Kayenta Trail. The rock formations and views of the valley were amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lower, middle and upper pools were understated. First, they were barely pools, more like stagnant water, and not sure where the "Emerald" factored in. However, the hike itself was spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The breathtaking scenery, the flowering cactus, the myriad of multi-colored wildflowers and the interesting rock formations made the hike worthwhile. We felt like we were at the United Nations while hiking. The languages we heard were German, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and a few others I couldn't identify. This National Park is definitely on the world tour.

 

 

 

We're loving our campsite. Yes, six months ago to the day I stayed up all night waiting to hit the button to reserve a site. By the time I completed the transaction there were no campsites left. Crazy, but oh so worth it!

 

 

 

 

Some of our favorite pics of the day...

 

 

 

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The Greatest Hits Tour begins!

Location: Great Basin National Park

And we're off! We officially hit the road at 7:15. This is our 7th year of traveling with Winnie and we decided that for the first half of the trip we would revisit some of our favorite places, thus naming our trip this year "The Greatest Hits Tour." The second half of the trip is going to be recreating the Russell Family 1929 Trek on the Lincoln Highway. On this first leg of the journey it will be interesting to see if each place is as great as we remember or will be a "Billy Jack Moment." Let me explain. When I was in 8th Grade I saw Billy Jack. I thought it was the coolest, badass movie ever made. I only saw it that one time, but I could sing the entire theme song (seriously Megan & Josh - not just a one-liner) and would always list it as one of my top 10 favorite movies. Ned had never seen it and after some time (40+ years?!) we watched it on Netflix. Sigh - let's just say it wasn't the masterpiece I remember. (Billy wasn't THAT cute or THAT clever or THAT noble). Now anything that disappoints after high expectations we call it the "Billy Jack Moment." So, this trip is either the Greatest Hits ala The Eagles Reuniting or Billy Jack. Here's to "it's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me..."

We traveled highway 50, which is known as the "Loneliest Road in America". Some interesting background on how this road was named. Around 1986 Life Magazine ran a very negative article about Nevada State Highway 50 and titled it "The Loneliest Road." They described this route as "totally empty. There are no points of interest. We don't recommend it. We warn all motorists not to drive there unless they're confident of their survival skills." Oy vey...gauntlet thrown. The Nevada tourism officials were quick to capitalize on this and to combat the negativity they developed a "Loneliest Road in America Official Highway 50 Survival Guide." Brilliant. We bit.

Travelers can pick up a free Loneliest Road Passport at various places along the road. The kit contains a state road map, the Loneliest Road Survival Guidebook showing some things to see and a line map of the road. Travelers stop in the towns of Fernley, Fallon, Austin, Eureka and Ely to get the Loneliest Road Passport stamped. When all the towns are stamped a completed form is mailed (postage free!) to the Nevada Commission on Tourism. You then receive a Loneliest Road survival certificate signed by the Governor (be still my heart), a Loneliest Road lapel pin (oh goody we each get our own - now all we need is a lapel) and a Loneliest Road bumper sticker announcing that you survied this "uninteresting and empty" road. Ha! So, here's some pics of our official 5 stops in these exciting towns!

Our first stop was Fernley. We pulled up to a rather sad looking building that housed the Chamber of Commerce. Our spirits were dashed when we saw that it didn't open til 10 am. Fortunately, the WigWam Casino was across the street and they were also distributing the Passport Guides. We found it rather amusing that the woman who issued us our passport had never looked inside the book. The Loneliest Road indeed!

 

The next town up was Fallon. We braved the big box stores, fast food restaurants, casinos and dollar stores between the two cities. Yes, dangerous road without a doubt. The Chamber of Commerce was opened in this town and we were greeted by a very friendly young woman. The distillery she was telling us about sounded tasty and almost made me want to veer off course and head down 95. Alas, we continued to venture on down the Loneliest Road.

The stretch of road between Fallon and Austin is remote, but not really too bleak. We traveled up and down mountain passes, following along the Pony Express Trail. The snowcapped mountains were a nice surprise. What we really appreciated was the 72 deg temperature and not summer 120 deg. "egg frying" heat.

 

 

 

 

Austin was a hard scrapple mining town clinging to the side of the hill and definitely the oldest looking town on Highway 50.

The area between Austin and Eureka reminded us of parts of Northern New Mexico, with lots of mountains and pinion (I think) trees. Eureka is a mid-century town that has seen better days with lots of boarded up or burnt out buildings. We got our books stamped and kept on truckin'.

 

 

We continued over several more passes before rolling into Ely where we stopped by the famous Economy Drug Store. Yes, it's a pharmacy, but also known for it's old-fashioned soda fountain specializing in Lime Rickys. Ned ordered a chocolate malt, and as luck would have it, the shake was so big that a second glass was poured. Yum!

 

 

 

Ely has lots of motels, circa 1950, and interesting murals on many of the buildings. It seemed to be the biggest and most touristy of the towns.

 

We finally arrived at Great Basin National Park and headed for the Visitor Center. As we pulled into the parking lot, Ned says, "Hey, there's that guy from Germany that we were camped next to last year on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia!" We remembered him so well because he had a very unique rig. His plan was to store his camper in the U.S. and every year for the next five years fly to North America and tour. What a coincidence! We ended up camping at the same campground too. (You can see the nose of his rig in the side of this pic).

 

We're camped at Upper Lehman Campground and were able to procure one of our favorite sites right next to the creek. I got in a quick 30 minute run (which was quite a challenge at 7500 ft and hilly) and am now happy as can be with my glass of wine sitting next to our roasted veggies on the grill. Day one and life is very good!

 

Okay...I just had to throw in one more pic. This one is for my big bro, Mr. G! Spotted this little gem in Ely. Love ya.

Disclaimer - I'm using a new blogging app this year so bear with me as I work out the kinks.

 

 

 

 

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