Day 11: Zion NP to Tuba City, AZ

Stops:

Zion NP (The Narrows)

Kanab, UT

Grand Canyon (North Rim) NP

Tuba City, AZ

We woke up bright and early and drove into the park to the visitor's center so that we can grab the shuttle to Temple of Sinawava and hike the Narrows.  There weren't many people in the morning, but as the day went on, a lot more people decided to join us.  I highly recommend wearing closed toed shoes that you can get wet and have some traction on them.  You have to cross the VIrgin River several times.  Sometimes, it can get slippery, so I also recommend a trekking pole or walking stick.  Some people rent neoprene boots and socks as well.  We did, but I saw plenty of people using their hiking boots or tennis shoes.  The water was cool but only 57 degrees which felt quite refreshing, actually.  I don't think we needed the neoprene socks.  I saw people with wetsuits, but I think that was overkill. The water didn't get any higher than my crotch and it was mostly ankle to knee deep in most places.

We hiked up to the junction where it splits into Zion Canyon Narrows and Orderville Canyon.  We went down the Orderville canyon a little bit until we reach a stack of logs and rocks we didn't want to go over.  We headed back up to the Zion Canyon Narrows for a little bit (we didn't go to Big Springs) and then headed back.

One final trip through the tunnels and we were headed back towards Mt. Carmel and then to Kanab, UT.  Kanab was a popular location for some of the old western TV shows and movies like the Lone Ranger and Bonanza and movies like The Outlaw Josey Wales.  There was a roadside attraction called Little Hollywood that we stopped at.  They had moved the original sets of many western movies to behind the storefront of Little Hollywood.  Worth a short visit, especially if you are a fan of old western TV shows and movies.

I've been to the Grand Canyon several times but never to the North Rim.  We decided to go there and catch a sunset.  There was no place to camp our even rent a cabin on the North Rim, so our only choice was to leave the park, so we decided to just get to Page, AZ, but we made a mistake at Jacob Lake, which would cost us bigtime as we had to take an extensively long detour and ended up sleeping in an unexpected town (Tuba CIty, AZ)...