Our next stop after the Moab area was Bryce Canyon.  Bryce is known for Hodoos, the tower like rock formation you see in the photos.  It’s pretty high elevation (close to 9000 feet at some of the rims), so G and I bundled up for a hike and tour around the park.  The hike went down into the amphitheater area of Bryce past the Hoodoos and into a Ponderosa forest which smelled wonderful.

Our next stop was Zion.  Driving into Zion is like driving into a stone fortress.  You’re surrounded by incredibly tall rock faces.  We did some hiking and bedded down for the night at the only open campground in the park.  The next morning we set off to grab  some breakfast before heading out of the park.  Almost immediately, we heard a terrible grinding noise coming from the back wheel.  We assumed the noise was coming from the brake after a little investigating.  This meant a day delay and a small detour to the closest town.  The good news is that it gave us time to refurbish our coffee maker.  The next morning we headed to a local mechanic only to discover that our brake problem was actually the mud flap grinding up against the wheel.  George had backed into a rock leaving the campground the day before and bent the flap.  Lucky for us, the mechanic didn’t charge us and topped off our tires to boot.