Dring!Dring!Dring! 4:50AM, the clock is ringing… We follow the sun rather than the time zones, that’s why we decided to get up so early. However, we are not ready to wake up, the sky is still dark, so we sleep for another 20 minutes. When the sky starts to brighten up, we get up.

It is cloudy this morning, even a little rainy. On the trail back to the main road we meet an antelope.

The road to Great Basin Natl park.

Before exploring the park, we stop at Baker, in the only restaurant of the village for the breakfast. Amazing, it’s at the same time the only restaurant, the only bar, the only cinema, the only proximity shop, the only motel and probably many other only things beyond that in this village! (about 50 persons live here). Anyway the coffe is good, the pumkin cookie is really strange and the granola is exquisite.

We head as far as we can in the Great Basin Natl Park, but not to the top of the Wheeler Peak as the road is closed again due to the snow. However the views from 9000 feet are impressive! We disturb a lot of wild turkeys on the road. We even catch a glimpse of a bobcat on the way up but we were not able to take a picture.

Before leaving the park we study the map. Tonight the goal is Zion, but we decide to enjoy the area a little more before moving towards Zion. That means going throught a non paved road from Garrison back to the road 93. The first part of the trail is in very good condition and rewards us with amazing scenaries of this wilderness. From Atlanta (a mine), we decide to go South instead of taking the shortest path. This brings us on a roughter road, but still passable. We are glad to have a real 4WD.

It is really amazing to see that such big areas remain so wild, only a little changed by human presence, in the lands of the first world economy country.

A few miles after coming back to the road 93, we enjoy Cathedral grove, and the showers of the campground!!!

Map of the morning & trail:

Back on the road again, till Zion this time. The closer we get from Zion the more impressive it gets.

Bad news at the entrance of Zion, campgrounds are full, no car allowed in the canyon… It is already 6PM but we manage to catch a shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava and there we do a small walk to the start of the narrows.

The pictures are hard to take due to the light contrast between the gorge and the top. This is even more fantastic in reality.

Exiting the park itself, we manage to find a campground in Sprindale, with a place near the river.

We hesitate between a BBQ or going to a restaurant. As we don’t want to stink for the rest of the trip we choose the restaurant. The food is great, local. Lamp chunk and game meatloaf. We head back to the campground for the night.

Map of the afternoon