Zion National Park and back to Nevada

Monday, October 23rd, 2023, day 23

Today started our 3rd week in the motorhome and our 4th week in the USA

After the bison steak 🥩 we had a fantastic night's sleep in a very quiet campground and set off early for Zion National Park. This is now our 4th national park (Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon, Zion) and every time we thought, what could top it? Even yesterday after Bryce Canyon we didn't give Zion much of a chance. But Zion is completely different and therefore just as fascinating in its own way as all the others. You are not allowed to drive into Zion with your own car, but the national park fee includes a shuttle bus that takes you from the Visitor Center deep into the canyon for about 40 minutes to the end. From then on you can walk back on signposted hiking trails. We didn't choose the longest hiking trail, but rather a medium one. It was only about 6 km, but again, like yesterday in Bryce Canyon, there was a lot of elevation gain. We fought well. We passed waterfalls that formed small pools, we walked the whole time along the Virgin River, which we could see partly from far above and partly from the same height. After almost 2 hours we were back in the canyon valley and let the shuttle bus pick us up for the return journey. Then we went back to our motorhome and left Utah via Arizona towards Nevada. We left the high altitude of the Colorado Plateau relatively quickly and are currently in Nevada at an altitude of around 800 m towards the Mojave Desert. Accordingly, not only has the vegetation changed back towards the desert, but the climate has also changed towards WARM. Nevertheless, we are prepared for the nighttime temperatures, especially in the desert, to continue to reach 3° to 5° at night. Autumn has now arrived here too, although it is still 25° to 26° during the day.