May 10 - From Zion to Snow Canyon and Quail Creek State Parks

We were up around 7:00, got packed, and hit the road before 8:00. We headed for the East Rim Road to see that part of the park on our way out. It did not disappoint. Grand monuments and a huge arch were the highlights before we went through the mile long tunnel. On the other side was a changed landscape similar to the desert landscape of Escalante. We stopped for a few pics before we made our exit.

The formations on the East Rim of Zion Canyon had many layers, which was different from the main Zion Canyon.

Checkerboard Mesa

Net, we headed to Snow Creek SP, which was about 90-minute drive. The park ranger there recommended some shortish hikes, so we heeded his advice, heading to Jenny's Hike first. This led to our first true slot canyon! At its narrowest point we could touch both sides. 

We had sandwich lunch and a break before we headed to the second hike, Butterfly Trail. We really enjoyed the landforms here, but the real highlight was the end - a lava tube. This was also a first for us. The tube was completely underground but a 50-foot section caved in revealing the tube for us. 

The formations on this hike looked like they were quilted.

Lava tube

This park was so cool because you could see amazing red rock formations along with evidence of its volcanic past. The black rocks are all lava rocks.

We enjoyed this hike, but the temperature kept shooting up, nearing 100 by the time we got back to our car - so hot! We skipped the next hike and headed to St. George to charge. We reached the Tesla Chargers to snag the last one available. All others were busy or out of order. This was the first time we've seen this at Tesla chargers. 

We walked for ice cream and got most of the way to Culver's when Leon asked "Do we have 50 amp power at our campsite?" Haley said yes, and we realized we did not need to charge here! Leon headed back, picked up the car, and we got our ice cream afterwards. 

Next, we headed to the St. George library for some free AC and to work on the blog. There was an Ironman competition headquartered in St. George the next day, and the finish line was right next the library. As a result, it was busy around the library, but we found the last parking spot and enjoyed the quiet of the library after several days of being around a lot of people in Zion.

After the library we had dinner and got groceries. Dinner was at Korean Picnic, a quality quick Korean place. We both liked it, then got groceries and headed to our campsite at Quail Creek State Park; this park is centered around a reservoir that is also used for recreation. We had a campsite in the newer park, which was really nice with amazing bathrooms and showers - the nicest we have seen in any park we have visited. The heat remained and we just hung out at our campsite for the evening. The campsite was great with a cool view of the lake and mountains in the distance. We slept with the AC on for the first time this trip. Unfortunately, we set the AC incorrectly and were freezing for the first part of the night. We ended up turning the car off midway through the night and were just fine without it on.