Ken's Journal
No. 4 - Summer 2004

Cedar City, Utah - 07/08 - 07/13/2004
Days 12-17 on the road. Part IV.
 
  I found a back-road that runs from SR14, south through part of Zion NP and terminating in Virgin UT (in Utah?). Of the 50 mile road, almost 40 miles were well graded gravel. I had heard stories about the crowd in Zion - so crowded that you can't drive through the park, you have to take a park shuttle - no driving yourself in the park. So a back road into the park appealed to me.
 


A meadow in spring bloom . . .
along the back road on the way to Zion.


. . . Along a back road in Zion NP.
 

Just another scene along the road.
 

Keeping your eyes on the road can be difficult!
 


 
 

This feature in Zion has a name, but I can't remember it!

 




I'll let you caption this one. Send me a short, snappy caption and I'll publish it. Keep it clean and not too political.


In Cedar Breaks, a sign for the stupid amongst us.
My guess . . . this warning is the result of a lawsuit or two.
(Brought by hungry attorneys on behalf of the stupid amongst us.
An example of Reverse Darwinism at work.)
 
 

After Cedar City, my next stop is Bryce Canyon NP. I have a couple routing options. I can take SR14 east to US89 and then north to Bryce, or I can backtrack a little north on I15, take SR20 east to US89 and then south to Bryce. The SR 20 route is a few miles longer but the grades are less severe.

  This is the first sign you see going east on SR14. Many grades on the east coast are steeper - but they're shorter, maybe only a quarter mile or so. The grades in the west, like this one, may last for miles. This road, Utah SR14, also gets very narrow with no shoulders, a cliff face on one side and shear drop-off on the other - all on an 8% grade with 25 MPH curves. The third sign here says, "Not Recommended for Semi-Trucks." Shortly after that is a turn-around for Semi-Trucks.
 

My motorhome and Jeep together total some 22000 pounds. Pulling long, steep grades is not a problem, I catch up to most mini-vans and some semi-trucks, but descending long, steep grades can be a problem for any heavy vehicle. So until I've more experience with the brakes on this thing, SR20 is my choice!
 
 

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* NM = National Monument, NP = National Park