8. Grand Canyon, Northern Arizona, and Nevada

Arrived at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (in AZ) on May 27th. Spent two night at the Park's campground - no hookups. Drove the scooter around and did a few hikes, including one 3 miles down into the canyon. Amazing place, the canyon is so large it is hard to imagine. Camera shots not very good.

Drove to Page, AZ, stayed two nights at private campground. Visited Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, another dam of the Colorado river. Took a boat tour of the Lake which was very boring.

Right outside of Page was Horeshoe Bend, where the Colorado River does a 180. A 15 minute hike to see it was very loud as a bus tour full of Israeli's had arrived a few minutes before me.

 Drove 2 hours to Navajo National Monument, site of some cliff dwellings. Did the 3 minor hikes and stayed overnight in the campground there.

The morning of June 1st, drove two hours to the East entrance of the South rim of the Grand Canyon. Spent two hours stopping at the Eastern viewpoints and museums on the way in, and arrived at the private, full hookup camground at about midday. Spent the rest of the day on my bicycle riding the fantastic bike path and walking around the village. The South rim is packed with tourists, but it is so big, that it is not too bad. The Park is amazing, a place which everyone should visit at least once.

At the end of Day 1, rode my bike back to the RV, and this was waiting for me, just outside my door.

Next day, moved to the Park's public campground - no hookups, then went on an 11 mile hike on the rim from the visitor center to the Western part. Amazing views, but the camera lens can't capture them.

Final day, moved my RV to the parking lot, then did a 3 mile hike into the canyon. The trail was the Southern end of the same trail I did at the North rim, so I now only have to complete the 18 miles in between.

Drove 2 hours South and stayed overnight in Williams, AZ, at a private campground.  Next day drove West on I-10 for an hour then took the longest remaining stretch of Route 66 for three hours. Stopped in Oatman, an old ghost town turned into tourist trap complete with wild burros roaming the street.

Spent the night in Lake Havasu City. Saw London Bridge and took a 15 minute boat ride across the Lake to a small casino on the CA side, which was more than enough.

Next day drove to Laughlin, NV, where I stayed overnight in a casino RV park. Laughlin is on the Colorado river but there was not much to do there except lose money at the Craps table. Next morning, drove towards Lake Mead, via Primm, NV to a large outlet mall, which was a disappointment. On the way, took a road called "Joshua Tree Highway" which was the first time I had seen them.

Made it to Lake Mead, where it was 105 degrees. Spent the night at a private campground, which was good as I needed the A/C to run all night.  Next day, toured the visitor center, and did a 6 mile bike trip (not smart given the heat) to Hoover Dam.

That evening, drove 20 miles to Las Vegas, where I will stay for 2-3 weeks to take a break and plan the next leg of my trip. Arrived on June 7th, which is exactly 3 months from when I started my trip in Florida.

7. Utah

Drove 3 hours into Utah to Natural Bridges National Monument. Arrived at 10:30AM, and got one of the last available campsites - no hookups. May is the busiest time of year for the Utah National Parks and Monuments, and campgrounds fill up very early.  Spent the rest of the day hiking down to and up from the 3 beautiful arches that make up the park.

Next morning, drove another 3 hours to Canyonlands National Park, the Needles section (this park has 3 huge sections). Arrived around 10AM and tried to find a campsite inside the park, but they were all full. Luckily, a ranger directed me to a site where the people were getting ready to move to the group area, so got the last open site in the park.  Lots of Europeans were there; this is the norm in Utah in May, as they rent motorhomes for 2-4 weeks from Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and do the National Park driving loop. Used my motor scooter to drive around the Park, and did a few hikes. The scenery was amazingly beautiful. (Camera had bad dates so it shows April.)

Next morning, drove another 2 hours North through the town of Moab, then another hour to the "Island in the Sky" section of Canyonlands National Park. At the start of the drive was a layby called "Newspaper Rock". Pictographs a thousand years old.

Spent the day touring this section of Canyonlands, which was very crowded as it was so close to Moab. My camera does not show the views well, but they were spectacular, looking down to the Colorado and Green rivers.

That evening drove back into Moab, where I stayed at an expensive campground for 4 nights. It was nice to have electric, water and showers after two nights of dry camping.  Took a day off and rode my bike around Moab. Following day toured Arches National Park, on my motor scooter; it is only about 10 minutes drive North of Moab. Most crowded place I had been to so far, with loads of Asian bus tours.  Nice, but way too crowded for me.

Following day, drove my motor scooter on a windy road by the Colorado river. Really nice drive with cliffs and rapids.

Next morning, left Moab and drove North and West to Capitol Reef National Park. Stayed in their beautiful campground called Fruita, in the middle of an orchard. Rode my bicycle all around and did a bunch of hikes. A real nice place, and not crowded like the parks around Moab.

Next day, drove 3 hours West and South over a 9,200 ft. pass to Bryce Canyon National Park. Stayed two nights at a private campground 10 miles outside of the Park.  Drove my motor scooter around which was real cold in the morning as the Park is at high altitude. Renee Schneider said this was her favourite national park and I agree with her as the scenery was spectacular.

After two days of Bryce, drove to Zion National Park. This was Memorial Day weekend, so was lucky to get into a private campground 13 miles outside of the park. Used their shuttle bus for the first day, then my scooter for the second day. The park was super crowded as was to be expected. Did almost all of the easy and moderate hikes, some were good, others way too crowded to enjoy.

After 3 days at Zion, drove 3 hours South and East to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. About halfway, stopped for an hour at Pipe Springs National Monument, which was a real nice surprise. Took the short tour of "Winsor Castle", and checked out the animals.