2-22-2011 Biking in Zion Canyon

We left the condo around 9:00AM this morning and headed to Zion to bike along the corridor. When we first started out it was very chilly as the sun had not risen above the rim of the canyon. We parked the car at the Grotto Parking lot and unloaded the bike. We decided to bike to the east end of the canyon at the entry to the narrows and then decided to bike out of the corridor and into Springdale to get some hot drinks. We sat outside the Pioneer Lodge and I drank hot chocolate while John enjoyed a hot cup of coffee as we read the paper. When we started back biking an hour later it had warmed up and made for a beautiful bike ride. We ended up biking and then stopping at our car to pick up our picnic lunch and biked down to where the climbers were out climbing along the rock. We sat on a rock and ate lunch while watching the climbers. I can't even imagine being able to do that - of course, John would love it. In fact, we had stopped in to Zion Adventure to see what they would charge to take John out climbing and it was $250.00 for a half of a day. No thank you!

After biking to Springdale for coffee and hot chocolate we had to stop and show our National Park Pass to get back into the park. The ranger was curious about our bike and asked several questions and we told him that we had 16,000 miles on the bike and that we had biked from Wisconsin to Washington last summer. His comment was "have the two of you thought about seeking counseling for this problem". Then he laughed and we laughed with him. It is amazing the different responses that we have heard from people that we meet when we are on our bike.

We had a wonderful day biking and then loaded up the bike and drove up the switchbacks and thru the tunnel before heading back to St. George. Tonight we are having a delicious salad, sweet potatoes, and grilled chicken for supper. Yum Yum Yum!

Another great day!