April 29

After eating a buffet breakfast at the Parry Lodge, we drove east 8 miles to Johnson Lake Canyon. About three miles up the road, old ramshackle buildings and a gallows are in a field on private property. They were the sets for some of the films and TV programs filmed around Kanab: Gunsmoke, Have Gun, Will Travel, Bonanza to list a few. Many of them were falling down or about to.

Drove back through Kanab in a little bit of hail, and headed for the east entrance to Zion National Park. Gorgeous scenery, After the first tunnel we parked the car, and John walked the mile long trail, the Canyon Overlook Trail.

We heard from a ranger that a woman fell 1,000 feet to her death on the Angel’s Landing Trail yesterday. She was about 60 and hiking alone, no identification. They

are looking for her car or accomodations to try to identify her, She had been sitting on

a ledge, about half-way up, with her feet dangling over the edge.

We went to the east entrance Visitors’ Center and then got a campsite in the Cotton-

wood Campground. All the electric sites at Watchman Campground were taken. So we are once again without power and internet. I’m typing this in Pages and will cut and paste it into the blog tomorrow night. We have a room reserved in Springdale because our tent zipper has broken, so this may be our last night of camping this trip.

After we set up the tent, we drove up the Kolob Terrace Road. It is west of of the main part of the park. We tried to drive to the end and the Kolob Reservoir, but we ran into snow, partially plowed road, and eventually heavy snow on the road, so we turned around.

Had dinner at the Pioneer Restaurant in Springdale. Stopped at an outdoor recreation shop, where John bought a pair of socks.

We are now in the tent, with out headlamps on, typing on our laptops. The campground is fairly quiet, except for the Virgin River, with normally runs no more than 40 cubic feet per minute. Right now it is running at 140 cubic feet per minute. They have closed the Narrows Trail, part of which is wading up the river. Two young men on a raft tried to make it down the narrows this week, sadly they drowned. Dangerous waters right now.

More tomorrow from Zion National Park…

John and Elaine