Phew - where to pick up?! - well - let's stick to the chronological approach.
I left Moab after waking to yet another snow storm passing through - pretty wet and mushy - but snow in the desert all the same! - it flooded through the town in a pretty stylish way and saw me take shelter in Mondo's Coffee Shop where I bumped into Scott and his family who were down from Park City for the week - they made me aware just what an amazing state Utah must be for sports enthusiasts - they have the ski lifts outside Salt Lake City in view from their house and yet are in Moab for biking/hiking in a few hours drive.
So everyone pack up and let's head to Utah - we'll all have to drink weak beer - the Mormons (who sent missionaries to the state back in the 19th century) now have a huge influence and, basically, won't allow any 'full' strength beer - now that's not strictly true and there are state liquor stores where you can buy the stuff that turns your legs to jelly - but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (as they're longly known) aren't to be mucked around. Oh. And they build beautiful, big churches including this St Georger.
I pulled an all nighter after missing a cheeky attempt to catch an earlier than planned connection out of Moab to my next stop in St George - a grumpy bugger bus driver was replaced by an even grumpier bugger at 2:30am after I'd waited around and talked British dance music to Ivan who was on his way to San Bernardino just east of Los Angeles.
So I rolled into beautiful St George, left the bus and ate my breakfast watching the Greyhound I'd just got off be emptied and sniffer dog searched - I can only assume for drugs. Ha! That would really have pissed off the driver! The drivers on these Greyhound's are incredibly influential. They're the director of a small company for the duration of the journey and whatever they say and do you have to follow. If you want to get a ride that is! I can understand that you get a pretty mad cross section of society on the bus and you need some authority. But the best drivers do it with a smile, a conductor's style hat (that I'm thinking of importing to the British clubbing scene) and an air of grace about them. Stylin'.
Now St George was an aspirational Palm Springs. Very pretty, small town USA attracting the 'retire to the warm desert' set and so it's safe as houses and has 12 golf courses in about 20 minutes drive of each other. It also has the coolest municipal airport on a plateau of high ground overlooking the town. Flights around the south west in Playmobil sized planes. I know this 'cos I rented a car from Budget there and had to walk up the bleedin' hill to reach it twice in two days. It was about 2.5 miles but when you're on a budget those cabs just aren't an option. (Get the violins out). Oh. They also had the best public library I'd seen since New York. 50p for 1 hour of internet access (v 5 quid everywhere else) and all the magazines you could ever want to read. Apart from those ones Tatey.
And the reason for seeing this little town (although I think it was probably twice the size of Lichfield so I really must be in USA mode now) was to visit more National Parks. Now I had an early faller off the list in Bryce Canyon (I've seen enough Canyons to last me for a while) and, sadly, I learned that the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (the remote one) is closed right now because of snow! So we were down to Zion but boy was it another cracker.
Incredibly different to Arches and Canyonlands despite the short(again by USA standards!) bus journey to get there from Moab. It's made up of Zion Canyon where all the tourists head in Summer and get shuttle bused up and down it never really needing to walk! But thankfully I could happily drive around it and I did so all day taking the hikes where I could. Because of ice and snow this was an all too regular view ...
It was a cool and cloudy day but I was amazed when a small patch of sun broke through and lit the Great White Throne. Now those Latter Day Saints won't be too chuffed to understand what that name could mean. But who cares Jez. Just check out how beautiful this looks standing at the end of an incredibly eroded Canyon.
Right at the end of the Canyon are The Narrows. These are where the soft sandstone has eroded away and left harder sandstone intact above it. The result is an incredibly 'narrow' route that is navigable for Syd Little but may be more difficult for Eddie Large. It's an incredible Summer experience (apparently) where you're constantly in water and have to camp half way through the 2 day one-way journey. And it's a bit 'life in your hands'. Through Zion Canyon there's constant flash flood warnings. Rain or snow melting half way across Utah can bring a tumultuous flow of water through Zion and take everything in it's path. Much like one of my well timed hockey tackles.
In February though it's more about falling ice. I stopped to admire a waterfall near The Narrows along with a Latin American family. A rumble, crack and boom above saw a hefty slab of ice come flying down the 'pretty but deadly' ICE fall and we all jumped out of harm's way. No one was hurt and sadly it narrowly missed the young kid who was whining about a 'lovely day out in the National Park'.
The day afterwards on Sunday (a weekend in another all to myself-ish National Park) I explored the Kolob Canyon section of Zion which was seriously rugged and remote. It had what looked in Winter like a petrified forest sitting on the plateau at it's top. The amount of trees living in this part of the desert was the striking difference to Moab and the theme continued at The Grand Canyon. Kolob had me running scared when the road turned icy and I the ranger station looked pretty abandoned!
So I also drove through the Mount Carmel tunnel that heads east from Zion Canyon and opens up a whole new, different vista to the Canyon and it's comfortable Visitor Centre. Zion's trademark of big spruce trees (is that right Dad?!) grow right out of the side of sheer rock faces where there seems to be no room for a root structure and no water. The rock is also much lighter than anywhere else in the National Park and the route to this overlook was dicey, slippery but well worth the element of danger. Bloody high and the dating couples I met at the end of the trail decided photographs would look cool away from the railings and a hop, skip and jump away from a drop of hundreds of feet. Hence the John Cleese-esque stance. Well I'd like to see you lean backwards in those conditions!
And that was National Park 3 ticked off. It wasn't the best because of Winter but if you're in Las Vegas get up to Zion in Summer. It'd be green and The Narrows would be unreal! Just don't eat too many donuts before you go ...
For parents everywhere (and in homage to Monkey from Lichfield Hockey Club) is this funny graffiti stickering on a road sign just outside Zion!
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