Daily Didactic
The day started in the spectacular Cathedral Gorge campground. For state campgrounds it doesn't get much better. Half full, fourteen dollars a night, big sites with trees, a shaded picnic table, nice bathrooms, free showers, donation supported firewood, and a crazy natural phenomenon around you. We had breakfast at a bench with a view on a rise in the middle of the campground, in an early morning desert temp in the lower 70's. After a bunch of nights in the near freezing Sierras, it might have well been the Caribbean.

We left the campground for the namesake attraction on the opposite side of the small valley. We know we were amongst hoodoos and spires, but aren't entirely sure which is which. What we do know is that there were these awesome "slot caves" (Brian made that up) that you can go back into for quite a ways in the eroded mud that forms them. Look at the pictures below, you'll get it. It was incredibly cool. Along with the hoodoos, spires, and slot caves there was some great old CCC work and a prison work gang with a guard. They appeared to be raking and weeding the desert. We would not want to be in prison in Nevada.

We got on the road with high aspirations to be in Zion in time to get a first come, first serve campsite. We reckoned being there around noon. Ultimately we had to get some groceries in Cedar City, missed the northern entrance and ended up on the freeway south to St. George, and from there gave up and went to the St. George Costco for some to do list items. We reached the southern entrance at a respectable 5:00, but all Zion campgrounds had been full for hours. We retreated a few hundred yards out of the park to the Zion Canyon RV Park and Campground, intending to be earlier in line for a park campsite tomorrow. We snuggled in with the big rigs, and made two attempts to find dinner. The first had us running back to the bus in a rain squall. The second left us fed and back in the bus a few hours later happy to nod off.

Morning in the superb Cathedral Gorge campground		Theresa whips up something healthy
Our neighbor, we like the looks of Little Joe		Hare or Jack Rabbit? Feel free to help make one of us right
Leaving the campground, heading to the natural phenomenon		Hoodoos or spires? Seriously we need to do a little reading
The entrance to Moon Caves		In Moon Caves, looking up
The route is awesome and made for the narrow		Looking up where the moon would be
Tumbleweed sanctuary		Looks like elaborate mud work to us
Pretty bird		From the top looking down
Looking up out of another cave		A strange and very old 2x4 mid way up
Close up		The bus, not made nervous at all by the prison work crew behind
There is some good CCC work here		Okay, educate us. Spudnuts?
The roady up and out of Nevada		Utah welcomes us with an odd collage
East of Hurricane on the road to Zion		Ditto
The park entrance		The very pretty visitor center where we learned the inn was full tonight
Escaping the rain after an aborted hike through Springdale		Brian watching the weather go by

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