Leisurely departure this morning (9 AM). Traffic into Zion was heavy, we encountered backups at the entrance gate and at the big tunnel, which has one way traffic at a time. First stackup at the entrance gate, Jill took the time to do a walking video of our group.
Finally got to the gate,,,
This drive into Zion from the East is always spectacular.
At a viewpoint, did this panorama,
We waved at some of the park residents,,,,they were in charge of speed control!
Now, the unbelievable part, when we got down to the visitor center area, we found the park was saturated, parking lot completely full, cars parked along the road everywhere, I mean thousands of cars., Disneyland type lines for the shuttle, if you could park. Went on to Springdale, thought about catching a shuttle from there, the shuttles had standing room only. We were so dumbfounded, we did not even take any pictures. Finally decided not to try for a shuttle, and just enjoy the drive back out, so we did. No one in our group managed to catch a shuttle, apparently you have to arrive there before 7:00 to get a parking place. So we enjoyed the drive back up the hill, sat through a couple 15 minute traffic stops, went through the tunnel and back to Kanab. I might add, that tunnel into Zion was built in 1930 and is one mile long. Even though it has two lanes, they only do one way traffic through it because of the arch shape and the size of today's motor homes and trailers.
We did stop and take a little hike at one of the pull-offs. It was a bit of a goat trail, but fun.
Pat was a little nervous,,,
Took this picture from a distance, and then realized that the headlights on the A were on.
Fortunately, we have a good battery, so it was okay. So, even though we missed out on a shuttle ride through Zion canyon, it was a beautiful drive both ways, and we compensated for the loss with strawberry rhubarb pie ala mode at the Thunderbird restaurant on Hwy 89.
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