Kayla MathieuWe left Nevada and made our way past Arizona, into Utah, back through Arizona, and then finally back into Utah. We had to cross a lot of state borders to get to our next stop. I was really excited about visiting Kanab, UT because there is a hiking trail there called the Wave that is on my bucket list. I was so excited to finally check it out. During our drive, while researching the Wave, I discovered you can’t just go and hike the trail. Due to the popularity of the trail and trying to preserve it, in order to hike the Wave you need to acquire a permit. To acquire a hiking permit, you need to apply for a daily lottery. To apply for the lottery, you must be located within so many miles of Kanab within a geofenced area, and pay a $9 fee to be entered. As soon as we were in range I put our name into the lottery and we lost. We tried again on a different day, but lost again. Unfortunately, we never did win a permit. That was something that we discovered about hiking some of the more popular trails in Utah, like Angel’s Landing within Zion National Park. You need to get a permit to actually hike certain trails.
Since we didn’t win the Wave lottery, the kids and I decided to hike around the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. While there is no official trail, the park ranger did give us directions on how to find Bigfoot. The kids had a lot of fun when they found it. On the way back, since there are no trails, I figured we could easily cut across the dunes back to our RV. I miscalculated the direction a teeny tiny bit and got us lost. By the time we made it to the road we had overshot the campground. We did make it back though, and later took a trip toward the town of Kanab to check out the Moqui Caves. We saw some ancient artifacts and dinosaur tracks. We then went to explore the Sand Caves which were used during World War II. The Sand Caves were a bit tricky in finding an adequate and safe pathway. While you can climb the rock into the caves, there is no set trail and we didn’t feel comfortable trying to navigate up the rocks with the kids.
That was about all we were able to accomplish during our first week at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Starting on our 2nd day until the weekend, it snowed. The end of February when the weather was bad for everyone across the country, and even California was getting snow, this is where we were. The wind was strong on most days, which limited our outdoor adventures. During one late evening/early morning, amongst heavy wind and blizzard conditions, our Starlink satellite dish attempted to blow off into the sand dunes. Colton woke up in the middle of the night and had to run out into the blizzard to fetch our Starlink dish, fix the connection issues, and anchor the dish within the sand/snow. The temperature wasn’t bad, so as soon as the snow would let up, the snow would melt, but then it would start snowing again.
The weather subsided over the weekend, so we took a trip to Zion National Park. It was still considered the off-season when we arrived at the park and to our surprise, the scenic road which hosts the majority of the trails was currently closed due to a high number of vehicles already in the park. I didn’t know this, but during peak season you have to park your car and take a shuttle to the scenic drive trails. They do not let cars on the scenic drive road during peak season. During the off-season, you can drive the scenic road and park at the trailheads, but only so many cars are permitted in at a time. In the meantime, we hiked the paved Pa’rus trail, while we waited for the scenic road to reopen. We were able to eventually get onto the scenic road with the intent of hiking the Lower Emerald Pool Trail, but the trail was closed due to falling ice and snow. So, we instead hiked the Middle Emerald Pool Trail, which was not an easy hike on the snow. We had fun though and I’m glad we were able to traverse it. Even in the mud and the snow, Zion is a beautiful place. This is the first year in many past years where waterfalls are seen throughout the park, which made for amazing photo opportunities and breathtaking views of nature.
Back to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes just in time for round two of the snow and blizzardy weather. The park did a phenomenal job of keeping the roads clear the entire week. Even though the temperature wasn’t bad, the snow rarely slowed down long enough for it to melt. When it was all said and done, we had accumulated about a foot of snow. Talking to the locals, they have never seen so much snow. Seems to be our luck. Everywhere we go, inclement weather seems to follow. After two weeks of snow, our original plan was to stay at a state park in Bryce Canyon. Looking ahead at the weather, and temperatures well below freezing, we decided to double back and head south.
