Hello everybody! I woke up to catch the sun rise at Zion. It was pretty seeing the sun pour on the gargantuan rocks. I didn’t sleep all that well. I went to bed chilly—mostly because I didn’t use my insulated reflectix to help keep the warmth in…I wanted to look out my windows and see the stars! I used my hand warmers to help keep warm, but I left my gloves in the front seat of my car, so I couldn’t put the hand warmers in my gloves because I didn’t want to get out of my nest😩. So after holding the hand warmers until my hands were warm, I placed them in my beanie hat on my head by my ears. I woke up warm and one of the hand warmers moved between my beanie hat and forehead, so I have a nice red mark on my forehead from the heat pack left there for hours🤣. It was also incredibly quiet at Zion so I could literally hear the leaves falling on my car from a tree I parked under and that kept waking me up (no joke). I also think it’s because I’ve acclimated to the hustle and bustle noise of truck stops and Cracker Barrel’s, too.
Anyway, I woke up early, and the moment I hopped out of my car, I felt sore EVERYWHERE from that TRX class I did. Omg. I somehow still managed to want to hike the Watchman Trail, which is labeled as moderately strenuous.
I asked a woman where the trailhead was because I was having difficulty finding it. She helped me navigate and let me know she saw sheep up there yesterday. I was so excited to see more wildlife.
I found the trailhead and began hiking. The first 1/4 mile was fine—some ups and downs, but then it was only uphill. I kept thinking these sheep better be cute as fuck, especially as every winding turn only revealed MORE uphill climbing. I made it to the top without seeing any sheep but I was happy I made it all the way. On the way back down, a woman kept looking up the mountain side and I asked if she saw anything. She said, “yeah! I saw some mountain goats and thought I could get a better view of them over here.” I WAS SO EXCITED TO HEAR THERE WAS WILDLIFE. A couple passing by overheard and said, “they aren’t mountain goats, they are ‘bighorn sheep.’”
THIS WHOLE TIME I WAS LOOKING FOR CUTE FLUFFY SHEEP LIKE THIS:
But what the ‘bighorn sheep’ really look like is this:
😑😑😑😑😑😑. Next time, I think I’ll Google wildlife in the area so I have a better idea what to look for.
Here are some shots from the Watchman Trail:
I was on a time crunch so I could visit Lake Powell & the Grand Canyon so I jogged my way down making up some time.
On my way to Lake Powell, I got to drive through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel!! It was sooooooo cool (could not stop and take pics tho). It was a little more than a mile driving through a tunnel that had window coves for you to lookout and see the beautifully colored and textured mountainous rock (Google it).
I drove for a couple hours and got to Lake Powell and took Randi (my beloved SUV) off-roading in the sand, which was fun😎
I made my way to the Grand Canyon all to find out the East Entrance was closed 😑. There was no way I could make it to the South Entrance in time before sunset, so I decided to take my time driving to Flagstaff. Along Route 89, there are a bunch of Native Indian shops with handmade jewelry and art pieces.
I saw a sign for Sunset Crater Volcano National Park, and that sounded like a pretty gnarly park, so I went.
Afterward, I headed to Flagstaff, found where I was going to sleep and ventured into downtown Flagstaff — it is a CUTE town!! I only captured this photo, but there was much more charm to this town for sure! Lots of artsy shops, breweries, restaurants and coffee shops. I may explore the town a bit tomorrow unless I decide to head east.
Hopefully tomorrow I will see the glorious Grand Canyon! Thanks for reading!
P.S. if you have recommendations for the Grand Canyon (or nearby parks etc), and/or have questions about solo car camping, send me a message or leave a comment💙💙
today's memoir 