A week off in Zion and Bryce

Day 30 – 4/11 – Doing nothing at Kershaw Ryan State Park – (Coyote Springs, NV – Caliente, NV) – The runner for segment 4 had something come up so Gabby and I had quite a few days off in Zion and Bryce. We had a slow morning and got on the road to Kershaw Ryan State Park, I drove the RV and Gabby drove the car. It took a little bit to figure out of we could use a spot without previous reservation, but thankfully there was a spot that wasn’t online so we got a good spot. We mostly just chilled in the RV for the day, I worked on some media stuff and got to call my parents for a few hours. But it was good for me to have a day where we didn’t do anything specific. 

Day 31 – 4/12 – Hike at Kershaw Ryan, Cathedral Gorge, and a very cool drive – (Caliente, NV)In the morning we went on a hike around the state park, Gabby wanted some time by herself so we went on separate paths on the trails there. We had been together 24/7 for a month at this point so some space like that was good. The little loop I did was cool, and then I was waiting for awhile at our meeting spot, but eventually she came from where we had parked, so we had both been waiting for each other which was kinda funny. We had lunch and then went to cathedral gorge which was a pretty amazing place. It was very windy, but it was super cool to see and walk through the slot canyons. The rock was super unique, it almost looked like drip sandcastles but on a big scale. We went to the grocery store after that and it was in a very small mountain town, so it was one of the smallest grocery stores I’ve ever been in. Especially for it being the only grocery store in the town. On the way back to the state park there was a sign for an old one room schoolhouse that was 20 miles down from the state park. Gabby thought it would be pretty cool to check it out so we went down there, and that turned out to be one of the prettiest drives on the trip so far. There was a steam going along the road as the road went through this canyon of mountains and the stream made it so there was a lot of lush green trees and grasses and a bunch of other stuff. This was a great refresher from all the time we had spent in the desert. And combined with that the rocks and mountains around us as we drove through the canyon was pretty awesome. We got to the schoolhouse itself and to my surprise it was open and there was a lady there who was still working and showing people around. So she gave us a tour of the place, telling us how they used that place until the 1960s or so. It was a pretty cool piece of history, and the lady was very knowledgeable about the area. She gave us a few suggestions on places to go, such as a place to see petroglyphs. We left and drove around in that area for a little bit until we realized that we still had the groceries with us, so we decided to go back to the RV. It wasn’t hot outside so the groceries were fine. 

Day 32 – 4/13 – Going to Zion and Angels Landing – (Caliente, NV – Zion National Park, UT) – We got up and got everything ready to drive to Zion. The drive to Zion was very pretty and had some of the weirdest weather we had seen so far. Right at the beginning of the drive I thought we would be going through some rain, but it never really hit the part we were on, and then once we got towards some of the mountains we hit some real rain, the first real rain we had experienced in a few weeks. The mountains were really cool looking in the misty rain. We stopped at a gas station and while we were at the gas station there was some little hail coming down which was also strange. But as we went around a few bends in the mountains the blue sky came out for half of the sky. Once we got closer to cedar City the mountains were really awesome, we stopped a few times to take photos. We also saw a prairie dog cross the road in front of us as we were going towards the interstate in the Cedar City area.  We made it to our BLM spot that was 30 minutes away from the entrance to Zion. As we got closer to Zion the views were pretty awesome with all the different mountains and rockfaces. We had lunch and then drove over to the park where we parked and got on one of the buses to go to the angels landing trailhead. Driving through the park on the bus was still pretty awesome even though it was a little bit hard to actually see the things around us as we drove through the canyon. We got to the trailhead and pretty much immediately it was a pretty easy trail because it was paved, but got pretty hard because it was consistently going up. Gabby showed me how I should use my quads instead of my calves as we went up which definitely helped. There were some pretty awesome views on the way up, and the part where there were a bunch of short switchbacks was pretty awesome. We got up to the first real landing and the views at that point were really cool. We sat next to the edge of the cliff for a little bit before continuing onto the Angels Landing part of the trail with the rock scrambling and the chains. Gabby got the permit for us to do that part of the trail, but we got there around 4:15 and there wasn’t a ranger there to check the permit. Supposedly that part of the trail can be pretty dangerous, and it was definitely tricky a few times, but I was never really scared at any point, it felt pretty safe to me as long as you’re careful. It was definitely a pretty tough part of the hike, but it was definitely worth it to get to that part of the trail. The views up there were absolutely beautiful even with the rainy clouds and stuff. We spent some time up there, took some photos and just sat there with the view. We started to go back down and it started to rain a little bit, but the rocks didn’t get too slippery. The way back down was a lot faster and I wanted to hang out by the river when we got all the way down the canyon. Gabby decided to dip her feet in the river and she got me to do it as well. It was pretty cold of course, but it did feel nice. We got back on the bus, and got in the car and drove back to the RV for dinner and we went to bed.

Day 33 – 4/14 – Driving around Zion, Laundry, and Project Hail Mary – (Hurricane, UT) – Gabby wanted to run towards Zion for awhile so I crewed her in the morning and then we did laundry and drove around Zion. The place we did laundry was a hotel and in the back by the laundry building there were a bunch of farm animals which was cool. We went through the tunnel and that section of the park which was pretty awesome. It was a different perspective of the park and it was cool to see that part. We had lunch at this place right outside of Zion, I had a chicken club sandwich that was pretty good. We went to the visitor center to get some things, I got a shirt, and then on the way back to the RV we stopped at this other store where they had some animals out front and we saw them, they didn’t seem to be very well taken care of though which was pretty sad. We went back to the RV and I worked on video stuff, both Wendy’s video and the behind the scenes video for Gabby. That night we went to see project Hail Mary together which was fun. We went to a later showing so Gabby was falling asleep for a lot of it, but I really enjoyed the movie, it was something I had been looking forward to for over a year at that point. We got back to the RV and went to bed pretty late. 

Day 34 – 4/15 – Hiking the Subway and Driving to Bryce Canyon – (Zion National Park, UT – Bryce Canyon National Park, UT) – I edited some stuff in the morning before we went on our hike in the Subway. The Subway is kind of similar to the Narrows but the hike is not as accessible and it’s harder so it’s not as crowded. I really loved the hike itself, we went down into the canyon on this steep path and then were hiking with the stream pretty much the whole time. We were trying to keep our feet dry, so there was a lot of going back and forth over the stream as the trail went back and forth to avoid boulders and stuff. It was really nice to be hiking in actual trees and by a stream from being in the desert for so long. There were a lot of cool little waterfalls and stuff in the stream, but once we got towards the end the rock formation and the way the water flows over the rock was really cool. But once we got into the actual subway part of it, it was truly like nothing I’ve seen before, the rock wall was carved out in a half circle on both sides and then went up to form the canyon. It was pretty surreal walking through there and just taking it all in. Gabby decided to jump into one of the pools in the subway part, I didn’t because it was pretty chilly out already and the water was very cold and we had another 5 miles to hike back. I got some photos of all the cool stuff there and we hung out there for a little bit and then started to head back. Like usual the hike back felt like it went faster, we were with some other people for a little bit and passed a few groups because we were hiking pretty fast. Those people we were with were pretty cool, there was a little bit of rockfall behind us and they told us about it. The climb back up the canyon was some of the hardest hiking so far, it was a pretty steep scramble up the side of the canyon. I had to stop quite a few times but I did make it to the top after a lot of effort. We went back to the RV  and had dinner and then packed up the RV toove to Bryce Canyon. The drive to Bryce wasn’t anything special because it was in the dark, although we went over a mountain which was a little nerve-wracking, and then when we were close to Bryce we went through two rock arches that were little tunnels over the road which was pretty cool. We got to our spot pretty late and went to bed.

Day 35 – 4/16 – Hiking in Bryce Canyon and the sunset and stars – (Bryce Canyon National Park, UT) – In the morning I finished up Wendy’s video and the trailer for it and then we ate lunch and drove to Bryce to go hiking. We did this loop called Peekaboo down into the canyon and through the many different rock formations down there. There were a few arches that were the namesake of the trail. The canyon itself is incredible with the rock formations and everything that are out there. It was a pretty tough hike, especially because we had just done the Subway the day before. There was quite a bit of elevation gain over the 5 mile hike. After we finished that we went to dinner in the park where we got chicken and trout which was pretty good, although it was pretty slow service so we had to rush to get to see the sunset. The sunset was pretty cool with how it turned the rocks in the canyon a different color. We stuck around for awhile until it got dark so we could see the stars, because supposedly it is a pretty dark zone there. It was pretty cool, although they weren’t as bright as we would’ve thought. We went back to the RV and went to bed. 

Day 36 – 4/17 – Sunrise at Bryce and going to the next RV park – (Bryce Canyon National Park – Minersville UT) – In the morning we went to see the sunrise at Bryce which was very pretty even though we got there a little later then we wanted. We stayed there for a little while even though it was pretty cold, we then started heading to Cedar City to get groceries and stuff. On the way there not far out of the park we saw antelope which was pretty awesome. And then it had snowed the night before a little bit so the drive over the mountains was very pretty with all the snow. We stopped in Cedar City for the next weeks groceries. After cedar City we stopped at this historic petroglyphs site, where Native Americans had carved different messages and stuff in the rock. It was very cool and pretty interesting to think about the way people used to live in that area. We drove to the RV park, and when we got close there was this huge mountain that came into view that was very pretty. We got the RV set up and cleaned and then went to pick up the next runners from their bus. The next runners were a mom and daughter pair, Emily was the daughter and Amy was the mom. That week was the 5th time that Amy had done the relay, and she was going to run the last half of each marathon with Emily everyday. We went to lunch with them and then back to the RV. They got their stuff situated and then Gabby wanted to do a cold plunge into the reservoir we were staying next to. It took a little while for her to convince me but eventually I agreed to it and we went to change into our swimsuits. We told Amy and Emily that we were gonna do it and they came to watch and take a video. It was around 60 degrees outside and the water was probably around 55. When we ran in it was not as cold as I was thinking but we both ran right back out. It was way more fun and not as bad as I was originally thinking. We talked with Emily and Amy for a little while and then went back to the camper. Gabby made dinner which was pretty good as usual, and after I did the dishes Gabby and I walked around the RV park a little bit. We went to this little man-made hill that had some slides on it and stood up there looking at the mountain as the sun went down. I went down the slide and it dumped me right into the dirt. We hung out for a bit and then went to bed.