Ausflug 37

April 15th - 17th, 2013: Driving from Moab to Zion NP, Utah.

Since we liked the National Parks we had seen and could squeeze out a few more days with Chris, we decided to backtrack across Utah to see Bryce and Zion National Parks if possible. Initially we tried to take a very scenic route of two-lane highways across the southern part of Utah. Chris followed us on his Honda Goldwing while we retraced our steps southward on US 191 to Blanding and then turned West on Utah route 95 to Hanksville. Along the way we wound our way up, down, and around some of the most varied and spectacular scenery on Earth! Red sandstone rock formations gave way to whitish rock (limestone?) and oddly colored blue-purplish deposits that are seldom if ever seen in the eastern part of the U.S.

We crossed over the Colorado River on a pretty rainbow-shaped bridge at the upper end of Lake Powell, but that part of Lake Powell was essentially dry! Still spectacular to look at however.

Informed of snow in the mountain passes ahead of us, we retreated up Utah route 24 to Interstate 70 and turned West, curling through the mountains across lower passes with gentler grades. Then we once again turned southward to put up in Richfield for the night.

But it started to snow during the night and by morning our vehicles were covered with snow. We checked road conditions for driving South either via I-15 or US 89 and they didn’t look too bad, but the continued snowfall in the high passes persuaded us to stay another day at the Super 8 hotel. We had lunch in a dairy/bakery in Richfield, toured the town shops—three furniture stores!—and then settled back into our motel room for the day. Making a virtue out of necessity, we collected our dirty clothes (most of what we had with by that time!), and did our laundry in the laundry facilities provided for guests.

The next day dawned clearer in the valley but still with some of those ominous, low-lying clouds atop the nearby mountain ranges. The road surfaces looked wet but not icy, so we chanced our luck and tried driving southwards on US 89. We were following a river in a narrow valley and the views were quite scenic, but as it turned out the river was flowing towards us and we were climbing ever so slowly uphill.

The temperature steadily dropped until finally about 10 miles South of Circleville we ran into frozen slush on the highway. Chris’s Goldwing was around 900 pounds, so we just couldn't risk him sliding out, and I wasn't too enthusiastic about forcing the Prius through frozen slush either as it is only a two-wheel drive vehicle. So we turned back to Circleville where we found a nice motel and restaurant to spend the night.

The weather the next morning was even better, a clear blue sky with bright sunlight streaming down. However, it was cold and the roadside puddles had all frozen over. One danger that we all feared was “black ice”, that thin, barely-visible sheen of frozen water on a road. Black ice is difficult to see and can send either a car or motorcycle spinning out of control in a fraction of a second. So we had a leisurely breakfast in the café in the middle of town while we waited for the sun to warm the pavement and hopefully melt all the black ice.

Finally we started off again after 10 o'clock and cautiously worked our way southward. Although there was still snow on the shoulder of the road at the highest point just South of Panguitch, the road surface itself remained clear and dry. The temperature was hovering in the high 30s, however, so Chris still had a chilly even if safe ride over to the crossroad of US 89 and US 9, which cuts directly East through Zion National Park.