Zion National Park--Bike Ride Down the Canyon

Dave loaded our bikes on the front of this shuttle bus.  Each shuttle tows a second shuttle bus, kind of like an articulated bus.  We rode the bus from the visitor's center all the way up the canyon to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava.  Each shuttle holds two bicycles.  Dave unloaded our bikes at this stop and from here we rode all the way back down the canyon.  Most of the ride was downhill, but there were a couple of short uphill parts.  At the end of the ride, back at the main visitor's center, we rode through Watchman Campground because we want to go to a ranger show about astronomy  at the campground tomorrow night.  Altogether we rode 10 miles today. 

Above is a view from the Temple of Sinawava shuttle bus stop, where we started our bike ride.  Below is a picture from the next stop on our ride, Big Bend.

The following stop was Weeping Rock.  We hiked uphill to see this phenomenon.  Water appears to come out of a rock.  You can't see it well in my pictures, but it was a very interesting sight to see.  In the photo below I am standing underneath the ledge where the water comes over.

The following stop on our bike ride down Zion Canyon was at a picnic area called The Grotto.  Below is a picture of the first visitor's center when Zion was a National Monument, not yet a national park.  Back then they had about 11 visitors each day and this small cabin was plenty big enough to handle all the visitors.

By the time we reached Zion Lodge, it was 1:30 pm, so we stopped to have a hot dog at the lodge's outdoor cafe snack bar.  Pictured below is the view from the cafe.

After putting some food into our stomachs, we continued our bike ride down the canyon.  This whole time we have been riding on the one and only road.  When a shuttle bus comes along behind us, we have to stop and move to the side of the road because the buses are not allowed to pass moving bicycles.  The next stop is Canyon Junction, where State Highway 9 turns east to go to the east entrance of the park where the big 1-mile tunnels are.  Click here to read about our drive through the tunnels on Tuesday on our way to and from our day trip to Bryce Canyon National Park.

At Canyon Junction, we were able to leave the highway and ride on a paved bicycle path called Pa'rus, which is the Paiute Indian name for the Virgin River which means "quickly moving water".  From this end of the Pa'rus path, it is 1.7 miles back to the visitor center.

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After bicycling through Watchman Campground near the visitor center, we loaded the bikes back on the car.  Clouds were starting to threaten rain and we were glad that we completed the ten-mile ride without having to worry about rain.

Now in the car again, our final stop for the day was Zion's Museum of Man, where we watched the 22-minute video about Zion.  Usually we like to watch the movies at the beginning of our park experience, but we didn't do that this time, and we enjoyed it even more after seeing in person the sights and history that the movie portrayed.  A picture taken at the Museum shows the clouds threatening rain, and in fact, we got some rain and small hail as we left the museum.

Just as we pulled into our RV park, and as Dave was unloading the bicycles, it started to rain hard and has been raining ever since.  I thawed out New York steaks for dinner tonight, and Dave was planning to grill them, but it looks like I'll need to broil them in the oven instead.  We are glad we are not camping in a tent tonight!