Day 15 Sunday August 24, 2025
After breakfast we drove 25 minutes to Zion National Park to checkout the parking situation for another day when we want to take the Shuttle Bus to several stops up into the hills. We are hoping it will not be so crowded since schools have started for this season.
There were several open parking spots near the Shuttle Bus stop near the Visitor Center at 9:30 which was a good sign. From the West side of the park, which is the way we came, you drive through Springdale, a small tourist town. There are several parking lots/spaces along the road headed to the park. The Shuttle buses makes several stops in the town and takes visitors to the bus stop near the Visitor Center in the park but you have to pay $25 to use one of the parking spots. The spots in the park are free if you can snag one.
We have the National Parks pass so we get into the National Parks free. Best $10 we ever spent. Now the pass for Seniors over 62 is $80.
We drove on through the park on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Canyon Road and stopped at several pull outs for photos, plus Lena took many out the window. You can only drive about 25-30mph through the park. The road is very curvy going around the hills and through 2 tunnels, one a mile long. If a large vehicle that is less than 13’ 1” wants to go through they have to stop the traffic from the opposite direction because the large vehicle has to ride down the middle of the road.
The views of all the rock formations were beyond amazing. We can’t describe the scenery and give it justice and even our photos don’t really do the views justice.
We stayed in Kanab Utah in 2022, about 40 miles from Zion, on the way to Alaska and drove this same road from the East Entrance to the West Entrance. Today we drove from the West Entrance to the East Entrance and then turned around and drove back to the West Entrance. The view going both directions are amazing but we think going from West to East might be just a tad better but the sun was beginning to get brighter on the way back to the West entrance so that may have had some effect. It was a little overcast when we were going from West to East.
We needed a few items from Walmart so we drove past the RV Resort on into the town of Hurricane and got our stuff and got fuel for the Jeep before returning to the RV Resort.
Then we met with the Wagonmasters and Tailgunners to checkin. It looks like we will have 26 RVs on this trip all with two people per RV except one has one person in it. We don’t know a sole in the group.
It has been several degrees cooler today and it sure seems good. We even got enough rain this morning on the way to Zion National Park we had to use the windshield wipers some.
Day 16 Monday August 25, 2025
We planned to do some exploring today but first we wanted to try a doughnut shop named Pink Box Doughnuts in St. George and also go to Lowe’s to get a new light bulb for the freezer compartment in the motorhome. Then we were going to Kolob Canyons which is part of Zion National Park.
But things didn’t initially go as planned. We got about 5 miles down the road and I realized I didn’t have my wallet so we went back to the motorhome to get it. Then when we got into the town of Hurricane we got an alarm for low air pressure in the passenger rear tire. This is the same tire we got a bolt stuck in it earlier this year and had to have it fixed.
I pulled into a fuel station and pumped it up. I checked as best as I could but didn’t see anything sticking into the tire. We drove about five miles and it was low on air again. Today is not starting out so good. We drove back to Rocky’s Tire Service to get it fixed. They said they were really busy so it would be an hour or so. The problem was a bad valve stem. They replaced the valve stem and didn’t charge us anything and we were back on the road in an hour. That’s great service to someone from out of town.
We dove on to St. George to the Pinkbox Doughnuts to give them a try. It took us awhile to decide what we wanted as they had such a large selection. We bought a variety of 6 and 2 lattes and no we didn’t eat all 6 at one setting. We saved some for later.
Lowe’s didn’t have the light bulb we wanted. Then we drove to Kolob Canyons. We had planned to take a 1 mile hike but our time was running out and it was getting hot by the time we got there and we need to be back to the RV Resort by 3 for orientation about the caravan.
We stopped at the Visitor Center to show our park pass and the lady told us they had a recent fire and most of the road into the canyon was closed to provide a place for the fire fighter’s equipment. We drove as far as we could, took a few pictures and returned to the RV Resort.
We joined the rest of the caravan group at 3 pm in the hospitality room for our Orientation Meeting. The Wagonmasters and Tailgunners had everyone introduce themselves then they explained the guidelines of the caravan and what we could expect as we continue on the trip. This will be the first caravan for several couples. Donna, the lady that is traveling alone, has been on 13 caravans and Tom and Dana has been on 11. This will be our 4th, plus one Rally. There was one couple from Kinston, and one from North Topsail Beach in the group. The others are from all over the US.
After the orientation we all met at Porters Restaurant in Springdale for our get aquatinted dinner. Just before we got there a thunderstorm storm rolled in and dumped a lot of rain. We got a little wet getting into the restaurant. To save parking spaces Donna rode with us. Her RV is parked right beside us.
By the time we finished our dinner a beautiful rainbow 🌈 appeared over the hills of Zion National Park with a good view from the restaurant patio and we got to see a beautiful sunset on the way back to the RV Resort.
Day 17 Tuesday August 26, 2025
We had planned to get up at 6, have breakfast and be at the Shuttle Bus parking lot in Zion National Park by 7:30 for the bus ride up into the hills of Zion for a hike to what is called The Narrows. But the weather didn’t cooperate as it was raining when we woke up and it looks like it will be a rainout today. So we will plan it for tomorrow. This is the most rain we have seen on this entire trip. This area is in need of a good rain. It is dry here.
It rained most of the morning and by afternoon it was just a light sprinkle. We did some housekeeping chores and I installed a new motorhome to Jeep lighting harness connector that I had Amazon ship here. I did this so the Jeep battery would get a trickle charge on travel days. We have had three items shipped here from Amazon. One item came the next day and the other two came in two days.
Sure seems good it is 30 degrees cooler today than when we got here Saturday. We sat outside until almost dark and enjoyed the nice coolness and talked to several people on the caravan. Nick, the Tailgunner came around and put the Fantasy RV Tours stickers on the RVs front and rear and the rear of the tow car for those that have tow cars. Each RV gets a number assigned starting at 3 in alphabetical order by last name. That number is in the Fantasy sticker. That way the Wagonmaster and Tailgunner can easily identify the RV and who it belongs to.
Desert Willow
Day 18 Wednesday August 27, 2025
Well Happy Birthday to me. 🎂🎂🎂
We had some more heavy rain about 3 am but it had stopped when we got up at 6 am. We had breakfast and were at the parking lot in Zion National Park by 7:15am. We figured if we got here early we could get a parking spot in the park and not have to pay $25 to park just outside the park in Springdale.
We boarded the bus just a few yards from the parking lot and rode it all the way to the end of the route. They have all new EV buses and they run every few minutes so there is no long wait for a bus. We took the 1 mile hike along the Zion River to what is called The Narrows. Some visitors put on water shoes and hike through the river to where the canyon walls are only 20 feet apart. We had not planned to do that because the river bed is full of round rocks about the size of a grapefruit, etc. and have been told is not easy to walk on.
Due to the heavy rain the last few days hiking through the water to where the canyon walls are really close together was not allowed today. There was no one there to stop someone that was dumb enough to try it though. There were several signs in the park and on the buses that said “Safety is your Responsibility “.
Our bus driver said he didn’t know why anyone would want to hike in the river today because they would have mud all in their clothes, etc. from the muddy water. When there hasn’t been rain in a while the water is clear. By getting there early we didn’t have to contend with crowds of people. There were only four of us in the bus that was headed to The Narrows when we went and there were only three people that passed us as they were leaving so we beat the crowds. Much easier to see the beautiful views and take photos.
Lots of people were headed up the trail when we were coming down so we were wise to get there early. It was 65 degrees this morning when we got up and about 70 when we were hiking the trail so it was perfect weather.
We took a bus down to stop 5 where there were restrooms and a small cafe where we bought a cup of very strong coffee. It took several creamer to calm it down.
We got back on a bus to the area where we parked the Jeep and walked part of a trail there but our old legs were getting tired after walking 3.5 miles plus the sun was beginning to get hot.
The ladies in our group from North Carolina told us about a brick oven pizza place named Onyz Brick Oven Pizza in Springdale that was very good so we decided to treat ourselves for my birthday. We like good brick oven pizza. We got one called Combo and it was very good. We saved half of it to take with us for our lunch tomorrow since it is a travel day. We also treated ourselves with a bubbling hot Raspberry Cobbler that they cook in a small cast iron frying pan placed in the brick pizza oven. It was also delicious. We found out our waitress had just moved to Springdale from the Big Island of Hawaii in February and that the restaurant has only been open 5 months.
We waddled out of the restaurant and returned to the RV Resort. Outside of Springdale we pass through the little town of Rockville. Today they were celebrating my birthday as they had American flags lining both sides of the street. I thought that was really nice of them.
We had our first drivers meeting at 7pm to go over the route to the next campground and discuss the planned events at the next stop. It usually takes a little longer for the first meeting because the people on their first tour are not familiar with the process of following the Fantasy RV Tours Trip Guide. Fantasy has the route for each campground detailed with the road numbers and the miles down to the tenth for each turn in a Trip Guide that each RV gets. When we leave the campground in the morning the driver resets their trip meter to zero then the trip meter will match the turns in the trip guide fairly close.
Day 19 Thursday August 28, 2025
A beautiful morning to travel. We had breakfast, got the motorhome ready and pulled out about 9:20 headed for Wahweap Campground and RV Park located up the hill from Lake Powell in Page Arizona.
The drive was all on 2 lane roads that were in rather good shape. It didn’t take us long to cross the border into Arizona. After about 50 miles we took a side road to Pipe Spring National Monument. This was a recommended stop along our route by Fantasy RV Tours. We used our Seniors National Park Pass to get in free. The lady that checked us in said the bar code was not scanning good on our card and recommended we get a replacement. I asked her if she could replace it and she said yes and we had a new card in a couple of minutes.
There is a natural spring here that the Kaibab Paiutes Indians used for their water supply in this very dry area. In the 1860’s the Mormons moved into the area to get away from the United States laws against polygamy. They took over the spring and built what they called a castle over the spring to keep the Indians from using it. They piped it under ground for their use.
The small museum was interesting and they had a very informative 20 minute film. We walked up the trail to the Castle and a couple of other cabins that were built partially into the hill side. There were several corrals built to look like it might have when the Mormons lived here and raised cattle on a Tithing farm. There were two long horn cows in one corral but they were shy and didn’t want their photos taken.
Then we continued on with our journey. We passed back into to Utah and drove through Kanab and passed Dark Sky RV Campground. We stayed here in 2022 on our way to Alaska. Later we crossed the border into Arizona again. The views here are very hard to describe so I will just include some photos.
We got to our campground and setup in site 54 in Loop D. This loop appears to be recently renovated. All sites are pull through and the parking pad is concrete and the streets are paved. The temperature is mid to low 80’s so not too bad which is good because there is not much shade in this campground.
Day 20 Friday August 29, 2025
We woke up to fairly strong wind and light rain. We were scheduled to board a bus this morning at 8:30 for a trip to Lee Ferry landing on the Colorado River for a 3 hour boat ride down the river which runs through Glenn Canyon.
We were a little concerned the trip would be cancelled but we got a text from the Wagonmasters about 8:15 that the trip was a go. Everyone boarded the bus and we were departed at 9 for the one hour ride to Lee Ferry landing.
There were 50 of us so they put 25 each on two boats. Paul was our boat captain/guide. He was very knowledgeable about the river and gave us a lot of facts about the canyon. He explained a lot about what we were seeing along the way. The day turned out to be a perfect day to be on the river. We saw three horses that Paul said were feral horses that probably got away from the Indians and have made the canyon their home. There is plenty of grass to eat on the river banks and of course plenty of fresh water.
Several boats were on the river and dozens of kayaks and some canoes. There are several places along the river where people can paddle in on a kayak and stay up to 14 days at a designated campsite that is equipped with a small toilet building. There are boats that will take the kayakers down the river and drop them off and come back at a designated time and pick them up.
One famous place on the river is Horseshoe Bend. Our boats pulled ashore on a small sand beach after we went around the bend. Everyone got off to stretch their legs, use the restroom and then we walked up a short trail to see the ancient petroglyphs. The captain of the other boat explained what is the meaning of each figure of the petroglyphs. Some are fairly obvious, some not so much. He said the people that study the petroglyphs believe some of the figures are at least 6,000 years old. This is the only location along the river that the Nation Park Service allows the tour companies to take people so the petroglyphs can be protected because some idiots do like to damage such things.
By the time we headed back to the landing it was getting a little warmer. Paul had placed a net bag of Gatorade in the 50 degree water to cool them off and passed one to anyone that wanted one. He also had a big cooler full of cold water. He said it was very important to stay hydrated in their climate.
After getting back on the bus the Wagonmasters/Tailgunners passed out sandwiches, chips, sodas, chocolate chip cookies and water from Subway. Several days ago we got an email we answered with our choice of meats on the sandwich.
We got back to the campground at 3:30 after a really nice adventure.
There is a famous overlook called Horseshoe Bend (google it) at the top of the canyon that is a 1,000 feet above the river. There is a parking lot and a short walking trail just outside of Page Arizona where you can pay $10 per car and you can park and walk to the rim of the canyon overlooking Horseshoe Bend.
Paul said years ago they only got about 300 people a year to come visit the overlook, then someone put a photo of it on social media and it got so popular that the town of Page put in a parking lot and trail so all the visitors wouldn’t damage the area. He said now they get about 3 million visitors a year to the area.
But what was interesting is from our campground to the parking lot and overlook is only about 11 miles but for us to get to it by boat today we rode a bus for an hour then road a boat about and hour and half to get to it by water.
Day 21 Saturday August 30, 2025
Early to rise this morning because we had to be in Page at 7:45 at the meeting place for our tour of Antelope Slot Canyon.
Our group loaded into several small buses for the 30 minute drive out to the canyon. The last half of the drive was on a very sandy bumpy “road”. Our driver/guide for our bus was Tomai, a Navaho Native Indian. The slot canyon is on Navaho Reservation land.
The canyon is sandstone rock and will erode as water comes through the slot canyon. The walls look like someone has rubbed the irregular shaped walls with sandpaper. Tomai explained that the sand floor of the slot canyon changes constantly based on the amount of water that rushes through the canyon after a rain. He said even an inch of rain can cause flooding in the slot canyon. He said last year where we were standing today the sand floor of the canyon was several feet lower than it was today. He pointed out a section of a tree trunk that was lodged between the canyon walls several feet above our heads and that occurred during a flash flood in the canyon.
We weren’t allowed to use any kind of flash photography because the light from the flash will damage the canyon walls. He took several photos of each couple with their cellphones inside different sections of the canyon. He had a small flashlight that he used to enhance the lighting. One pose he took looked like the couple had angle wings on them. I guess the light from the flashlight reflected off the walls just right. He has been a guide here 3 years and he probably has done this a thousand times and knew just where to pose us for the effect he wanted.
I took lots of photos but some sections were so dark they didn’t come out good. You could see a small section of sky on some places in the canyon but the sunlight didn’t get down into the canyon very good.
Tomai said in the past they allowed professional photographers to take photos inside the slot canyon but that has been stopped because they stayed in the canyon for hours and regular paying guest like us couldn’t get through.
He was a really good guide. When we got out the opposite side of the canyon from where we came in he played a Navaho song on his wood flute. He said only certain songs could be played to other than Navaho people.
Then we climbed up a series of metal grate steps and walked across the hill and came down steps where our busses were. Then he took us back to the meeting point.
Fantasy didn’t have any more planned events for us today so we stopped at a coffee and doughnut shop a few blocks away for a latte and one doughnut each. The doughnuts were good, the lattes just so-so.
Then we went to the overlook called Horse Shoe Bend. It costs $10 per car to park the vehicle and walk about 3/4 of a mile to the overlook on a gravel trail. It was nice looking down to the Colorado River where we were yesterday on the boat looking up to the rim 1,000 feet above. Sure was glad they had a metal railing because I don’t like looking over high places unless I feel secure. There were several people walking out on the edge where there is not a railing, not me. Just one stumble and they would be gone. I wonder how many have fallen over the edge. The town of Page put in the parking lot a few years ago so they could control access to the overlook and try to keep it from being damaged. At. $10 a car they were making a killing today because there was a lot of people going to the rim. The English language was the minority language today as there were lots of people speaking a foreign language.
It took us an hour to walk to the rim, take some photos and return to the parking lot.
Then we stopped at Walmart for some groceries before returning to the motorhome for lunch and some rest.
