Lee and Karen Duquette,
The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
at Zion National Park
August 11, 2012

Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The lowest elevation is 3,666 feet at Coalpits Wash and the highest elevation is 8,726 feet at Horse Ranch Mountain.

Below: Karen Duquette taking photos at Checkerboard Mesa.

Below: Checkerboard Mesa and Crazy Quilt Mesa, another wonderful example of cross bedding.

Lee Duquette stayed by the roadside to take the above panorama photo, while Karen Duquette took a short walk beside Crazy Quilt Mesa. Then Lee turned around to photograph Karen.

Below: Temple Cap Formation

Below: Lee Duquette drove the truck through a tunnel. Because of the significant planning, skills, materials, and overall design and engineering, the Zion Mt. Carmel Highway and Tunnel are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and in May 2012, was designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Below: Lee and Karen Duquette not only had to go through the cliff via a tunnel, they had to descend to the canyon floor via a series of many switchbacks. Exiting the tunnel, one of the road switchbacks is shown below.

In the 1920s, the east end of the canyon appeared to be a dead end, an impassable barrier to transportation. And the cliffs presented the toughest challenge to highway engineers. Building a highway over or around it was not possible. Their solution: a one-mile tunnel behind the cliff face. When the tunnel and highway were completed in 1930, it opened the region to motor tourism, linking Zion to Bryce and the Grand Canyon's North Rim.

Now the tunnel itself has become a kind of barrier, as today's RVs and tour buses are too large for two-way traffic within the tunnel. Their solution: to charge $15.00 for any vehicle exceeding 94 inches in width and escorting them through the tunnel. (prices are always subject to change)

After going through the tunnel, Lee and Karen Duquette looked back to the east at the cliff.

Below: Another window in the tunnel

Below: At the Zion Canyon Visitor Center, shuttle buses had to be taken to see the rest of Zion National Park. Zion Canyon Shuttle stops at eight locations in the park. Riders may get on and off as often as they like. Riding the shuttle is free. The shuttle has big windows though which Karen Duquette was able to take some beautiful photographs, shown below.

Below: The last Shuttle stop was the Temple of Sinawava. Here the river canyon narrows abruptly. The cliffs' colors and textures are clues that two different rock layers intersect at the riverbed and affect how the canyon is carved.

Confined within the hard Navajo sandstone upstream, the Virgin River is forced to slice straight down, creating a tight, perpendicular gorge. Everyone got off the shuttle to explore the Riverside Walk.

Below: Riverside Walk was an easy trail. Traveling upriver, the trail passed by lush vegetation - a desert swamp. Overflow from occasional cloudbursts and spring runoff left the low ground moist, creating a cooler, greener microclimate of ferns and mosses.

Below: Many squirrels were along the Riverwalk Trail looking for a hand-out. The park urges people NOT to feed the squirrels.

Below: While taking a break along the pathway, Lee Duquette took panorama photos sweeping the camera upward. The cliffs were just too tall to photograph without the panorama.

Below: At the end of the trail, Lee and Karen Duquette descended down a handful of stairs and over a few rocks to find a crowd of people crossing the Virgin River. Everything in Zion takes life from the Virgin River's scarce desert waters. Water flows and solid rock melts into the cliffs and towers.

Below: Karen Duquette decided to join the crowd so she walked across the Virgin River. Lee decided that he would rather not get his hiking boots wet and photographed Karen from the side. The Virgin River was very rocky in this area, so Karen used a walking stick to help her find and step over the large rocks that were hiding under the water.

Below: Although many people continued on down the Virgin River where the sides of the cliffs are said to get very narrow, Karen Duquette decided not to go any further than where she could be seen by Lee, who did not want to adventure any further. So Karen took a break to sit in the water and cool down a bit. Lee thought she was nuts.

But Karen Duquette wanted to cool off even more, given the hot weather, so despite being in regular hiking clothes and hiking boots, into the very cold Virgin River she went, once again. Her hiking boots made squishing noises all the way back to the shuttle bus.

After you have seen all of the above, return to the Utah menu page for the other eleven adventures of Lee and Karen Duquette in Utah - several USA National Parks, Utah State Parks, Goblin Valley and more.

OR
AFTER you have seen all of the Utah National and State Parks, continue on to Colorado in 2012

OR

Continue Navigation in any year, any place, in the order of your choice
via the alphabetical or category buttons below