Ken & Diane Travel

 March 10, 2023 Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day here in Virgin, Utah. A day for a little walk in the Park. Well that is maybe how it started but our first half mile walk ended in a dead end due to ice on the trail. So turn around and go back.  At the start of the trail you had multiple choice; Upper, lower and middle Emerald Pools, Grotto, and West Rim Trail leading to Angels Landing. Trail was closed under waterfall because of ice. So after the first mile, we chose to head up the mountain to the Emerald Pools. Middle pool was a 2.2 mile hike, As long as we were there we decided to head to the upper pool; one 3 tenths of a mile up. Well up was really UP a rocky path.  A lot of mud on the snowy side of the mountain.   Standing by Lower Pool, we used the running water to wash the mud off our hiking boots. We had to stop several times on the way up, catch our breath and check our heart rate. Mine was as high as 205 during our hike. Diane's was much lower.  ...

 Mach 8, 2023 We are at the Zion River RV Resort in Virgin, Utah and will be here until March 26th.  On Monday we took a drive thru the Smith Mesa Canyons located on the northwest part of Zion. The drive took you to snow covered mountains and ended in yet another road closure due to deep snow. Spectacular canyons and red rock lined the roadway. Tuesday it was into Zion National Park. First up was Bryce Canyon heading East. Switchback after switchback takes you to the top of the mountain. Around every corner there are breathtaking views. Diane took over two hundred pictures today throughout the park. On this road is a tunnel that spans a mile thru the mountain.  Once in a while the Garmin camera just doesn't want to listen to me.  The Zion lodge area of the park with its many hiking trails has a limited capacity of 300 vehicles so when we arrived in the morning we could not get in, so we did the Bryce Canyon trip and on our way back they motioned us into that section ...

 March 3, 2023 Yesterday we took a road trip heading to Hoover Dam. Along the way we toured the Valley of Fire State Park. The park consist of 46,000 acres. Temperatures in the summer can reach 120 degrees and many of the hiking trails are closed for that reason. The park gets its name from the red limestone that is found throughout the park. It is Nevada's first and largest state park. Several vet's in the park, great day for a ride in one. Our next stop was Lake Mead. We took one of the side (dirt) roads down to the Lake. Where we parked was under water several decades ago. Beautiful blue water in the lake. As we drove along the lake you could see islands that at one time were also under water. Next stop was Hoover Dam. Diane was there about 30 years ago and so a lot of the area has gotten built up since then. All to help the tourist industry at the dam.  The white markings on the lake wall was the high water line. The water level is currently 158 feet below that high water ...