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In part four and last segment of our National Park Tour 2024 series, we will explore Route 12 National Scenic Byway, Bryce Canyon National Park, Red Rock Canyon, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and Zion National Park.
National Park Number Fourteen: Bryce Canyon National Park
After Arches National Park, Mary Ann and I split off from the scouting team to drive to Colorado to repair our diesel generator. The repairs required an overnight stay in the Cummins repair facility’s parking lot. (See Part Three of this series for details.) After the repairs were complete, the next day, we started our two-hour drive back to Utah to reunite with the rest of our scouting team at Bryce Canyon National Park.
“Bryce Canyon National Park has the largest concentration in the world of geological formations called Hoodoos. Hoodoos are large columns of rock. Bryce Canyon is located along a high plateau at the northern end of the Grand Staircase. The park’s high elevations, beautiful dark skies, and geological wonders defy description.” (Source National Parks Service – NPS)
Bryce Canyon offers guided hiking tours lasting one to three hours and two to four hours, or you can take the Southern Scenic Drive along the main road south from Bryce Point to Rainbow Point, an 18-mile drive (NPS). Hiking on your own is also a good option. On one of our previous stops here in Bryce Canyon, Mary Ann and I hiked the rim by ourselves, a hike full of very scenic views.
Other activities available in the area are biking, backcountry camping, backcountry hiking, horseback riding, etc. We didn’t do any of these things while we were there.
The National Park has a campground; however, like most campgrounds in Utah, getting a reservation can be quite a challenge. We camped at a privately owned campground called Ruby’s Inn RV Park & Campground, just outside the park in Bryce Canyon City. I give this park five stars out of five. There’s a free shuttle service from Rubby’s Inn RV Park to the National Park, so our LTVs can remain plugged in while we explore the area.
While visiting Bryce Canyon National Park, we booked a dinner concert on our last night. The food was great and plentiful, the entertainment was also great, and best of all, we got to enjoy the evening with our LTV friends.
National Scenic Byway Route 12
The next day, we left Bryce Canyon and drove west on National Scenic Byway Route 12 to Red Canyon. This scenic byway definitely lives up to its name; make sure it’s added to your list of scenic roads to drive. We stopped for the night at Red Canyon National Forest Campground, another great campground I recommend.
We stopped at this campground not because we had a long drive from Bryce Canyon—it’s only 12 miles down the road—but because the campground is great and we wanted to go on a scenic bike ride through Red Canyon.
National Park Number Fifteen: Cedar Breaks National Monument
After our stopover in Red Canyon, we continued on to Cedar Breaks National Monument. On route 12, we met up with some very defiant Prong Horns who refused to let us pass them.
Cedar Breaks is located at 10,000+ feet in elevation and does have a campground. We visited in the middle of May, and the campground was still snowed in, and the park visitor center hadn’t opened for the season yet.
Because everything was closed due to snow, we just made a quick stop for some pictures. The snow piles and drifts were higher than our Leisure Travel Vans!
Hiking and taking in the views are the only activities in Cedar Breaks, but I highly recommend a visit because the views are worth seeing up close and personal. The park overlooks an over half-mile-deep geologic amphitheater.
From Cedar Breaks, we continued on to our final park, Zion National Park. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at Centro Wood-fired Pizzeria in Cedar City.
National Park Number Sixteen: Zion National Park
We managed to snag a one-night reservation inside Zion for all three of our LTVs, which were somewhat close to each other. Our original plan was to spend one night in Zion and then continue to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
We had already managed to make a two-night reservation at the North Rim campground, but after further investigation, we discovered that our Leisure Travel Vans were too big, not only for the campground but also for the road to it. Consequently, Zion would be our last stop for our National Parks Tour 2024.
Zion National Park is a testimony to the power of water, wind,, and weather over rock and stone. With towering cliffs and narrow slot canyons and people hiking in hip-high waders alongside a fast-moving river, this park should be on everyone’s list of places to see. There are also plenty of opportunities to encounter wildlife.
Zion National Park has a free shuttle service that takes people into the park to the hiking trails and visitor center. We took the shuttle early in the morning and hiked the trail to the area where people could then hike through the water into the Narrows. We did not hike through the ice-cold water to the Narrows. We went to the visitor center to get our National Park books stamped to prove we had been to Zion.
After the visitor center, our scouting team broke up, and each went in different directions. Mary Ann and I started north on Route 15 and then Route 80 east toward Long Island, New York. But that’s an entirely different story that must be saved for another time.
Safe travels, my friends, until next time.
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