East of Eden-- Heavenly East Zion National Park

We rarely ever spend much time on the East side of Zion, mainly because there is no campground .

As mentioned in our earlier entry, we had come in from the West entrance of the park.


If you enter through the east side of the park you have to pass through a tunnel that was built in the 1920's when vehicles were much smaller than they are today.

Oversize vehicles must be guided through by an escort. We have been through this tunnel on previous visits, had our truck camper measured, and had saved our sticker showing we within compliance with their height and width kimits -- 11'4" tall and 7'10" wide. We do have to pull in our side mirrors as we go through which is a little unnerving to me (Laura) as we drive through.

On this trip got our permit at the West Entrance, and on the last day we began the drive which makes a dramatic climb up out of Zion Canyon and to the tunnel entrance.

To get to the tunnel and emerge to the other side you begin climbing up
out of the Zion Canyon through a series of switchbacks that are pretty
amazing to think this road had been put down in the early days of
automobile travel! The views from the various pullouts are pretty
stunning as well . At some point you begin to see the windows that were
cut out of the mountain in the tunnel so you know you are getting close....

The Rangers looked at our permit and waved us on into the tunnel. The tunnel has huge windows that overlook Zion Canyon but sadly you are not allowed to stop.

As you exit you pass through an area of incredible beauty, then another tunnel, then on to the Checkerboard Mesa and other interestingly named features. There are pullouts along the way for stopping and taking photos. In high season these are often full of vehicles.

The east side of Zion has different topography than that in Zion Canyon, but equally beautiful .

This time we had an awesome wildlife sighting!!!

As we cleared the tunnel, we were driving along looking at the scenery and trying to make sure not to veer across the center line . Luckily there was not much traffic so we could go fairly slowly. Then we saw people pulled over and looked up and there were some mountain goats or sheep posing for us.

Robert said they looked like Bighorn sheep except their horns were smaller. A poster at dailykos confirmed that they are Desert Bighorn Sheep . They were beautiful to see, poised as if ready to jump a chasm and flee a predator. Turned out there was some idiot photographer who had walked down closer than National Park regs allow and all of a sudden they fled.

Still, we had managed to pull over and watch them for awhile, and then they very gracefully bounded down the mountainside and out of our view.

We drove on a little further and saw some more standing majestically looking out over the beauty of Zion. What a treat for us.

The red rock and National Forest scenery between Zion NP and Kanab make for a very scenic drive.

Along the way we saw two huge raptors and took some photos.

We made it to Page in time for dinner at the Dam Saloon, where we met a local guide who invited us over to the Bowling Alley for a drink.

Afterward we went on the Windy Mesa for more music, spent the night at Wahweap once more.

Up early the next morning for the drive back to Santa Fe.