Day 5 - Zion national park, Utah

Zion is really an incredible place. I can see now why people rant on about it so much. So much rock, and such colors in the layers. Woke up super early this morning for a ride through it without all the luggage on; free and unencumbered.

I rigged up a camera mount using some zip ties on the GPS suction mount in my tank bag, so was able to record some video of the ride through, both ways. They're big files but will transfer to DVD, and make available.

They blasted out the longest tunnel through the mountain back in the 30's; it's 1.1 miles long, through solid rock. There's no power or lights inside; cars have to have their lights on. It takes several minutes to go through, and there's gradual turns inside. There's like 4 spots, about 1/4 mile apart where they've opened up holes peeking out into the valley (guessing for ventilation). There's no walkway, and it's narrow two-lane road. They have guard towers at each end and control traffic. They thing is freaky to drive through...really, really freaky. Especially if you're even the slightest bit claustrophobic.

So I got that on video; twice. And the mountain run; twice. Got a bunch of mountain goats being cute on video too. Didn't get pictures on that, because the camera was mounted solid and couldn't easily change from video mode.

I had the mountain to myself that early in the morning; just me and those goats. Even the park rangers weren't at their posts at the tunnel. No other cars. So I did a couple slow video runs, trying to keep the camera steady with one hand, as it was shaking on the rough road pretty bad. Then I had to make a higher speed pass, as there's tons of switchbacks as you wind through the main Zion canyon after exiting the tunnel. It was great.

Now I'm on the road almost to St. George. Found this little internet cafe and needed my coffee. So thought I'd update the blog. Target today is to get back through Vegas, and catch the other road up to Area 51. Should be there tonight for the UFO or (Air Force) show.

- Mike