ZION NATIONAL PARK PART II

July 9th, Monday

Morning temperatures were in the 70s so we decided we would take our bikes to the top of the scenic road by shuttle bus and ride down the mountain. We had talked about doing this the other day when we were on the bus and checked out the downgrade and turns of the road. It didn't look too steep and there were lots of places to stop if we needed to, so off we went.

We didn't go all the way to the Temple of Sinawava as we knew there was a steep hill to climb up from there to Big Bend where the road leveled off and began its descent.  We got off the bus at Big Bend, put on our helmets, our backpacks and our  biking gloves and waited for the next shuttle bus heading down hill to come by.

Waiting for the next shuttle bus to come down hill

The shuttle buses will not pass anyone on bicycles because their second car will swing and they are afraid they might hit someone. So the rule here is that, if you are on a bicycle and a shuttle comes up behind you, you need to stop and let the shuttle pass you. With that in mind, we waited and when the shuttle passed us, we hopped on and followed it down the road.

 We stopped at every turnoff looking for wildlife and taking pictures of the various sights along the Virgin River.

The Great White Throne

View Along the Way

 We would time our starts from these places to coincide with the shuttles so that we never had to stop on the road to let one by. They ran about every 8-10 minutes so we always had a good block of time on the road by ourselves. The only cars on this road were from people that stayed at the lodge and we only saw three of them the entire ride down. It was really nice to ride on a beautifully paved road with no traffic to worry about and the scenery was gorgeous.

A Brief Reprieve from the Heat

Swimming Hole at the Falls

A Quick Dip in the Virgin River ..BRRRR!

As we reached the Canyon Junction at the bottom of the Scenic Road, we climbed down the bank to the river and went for a dip in the frigid water. We had seen people here when we rode the shuttle that first day and it looked so refreshing, we just had to try it. We had worn our bathing suits under our clothing for just this purpose. What a great relief from the heat which by now had climbed to the low 90s. Still better than 104!

I really did go in.. honest!

Falls on the Par'us Trail

From there we got on the bicycle trail, Par'us Trail, and continued our ride along and over the river back to the campground. We rode about 10 miles in all but it was the easiest bike ride I ever had.

On the Par'us Trail