The four of us split into pairs: Adam and Ryan did some more hiking and spotted Thor’s Hammer, which Ryan found unimpressive. Evan and I went horseback riding.
We didn’t want to tire ourselves out too much since we had a long, long drive ahead of us to get to Zion.
We’d planned on staying one more night at the RV park, but the timing worked out that our day ended earlier than expected. Adam and I thought to take advantage of that and considered our options for starting out early for Zion National Park. So, we readied the rig, pulled up stakes, and headed southwest . . . because you can do that in an RV. Most excellent.
We drove a few hours towards Las Vegas and stayed the night at the RV park on Nellis Air Force Base. Pretty neat perk of Adam’s Air Force years and current active duty status with the Public Health Service.
The next morning, fully refreshed, we took off again with Zion National Park as our destination.
There was just one teeny tiny, itty bitty, little obstacle to getting in. This:
The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel is a marvel of human imagination and engineering. It was finished in 1930. And, yanno, vehicles weren’t as tall or as wide as they are now. So, the current policy for oversized vehicles is simple: Any vehicle that is 11 feet 4 inches high or higher and 7 feet 10 inches wide or wider needs the one-way traffic control service.
Our RV is 13 feet 5 inches tall and, thus, required the one-way traffic control. Please fork over $15–thank you. Not bad as toll roads go.
Park rangers are stationed at both ends of the tunnel and convert the two-way traffic flow to a one way direction. When the tunnel was clear, we were released to drive down the middle of the tunnel.
And, damn, that was scary. Adam drove, but we both puckered for the 2-mile stretch of pitch dark interrupted periodically by cut-outs in the tunnel side that opened out to towering orangey-yellow mesas and lots of nothing down below.
16,467 thoughts on “Day 9: Friday, August 6, 2021”