Zion National Park, Utah to Sedona, AZ
We follow through on our plans to actually use the Tandem and are so glad we did. Since cars are not allowed most take the shuttle, and a few walk and now more bike – mainly E-Bikes.
It makes the park much more intimate. No crowds, lots of time just by yourself, and a slower pace so you can look up and even stop to take in the expansive views.
And the natural canyon views are still amazing.
We stop often – to let the shuttle pass, to catch our breath, and take in the views -and take even more pictures of Rocks. We will have several albums of them by the end.
We were at Big Bend, where yesterday there were no condors to be found, and find a person with some hefty binoculars looking up the canyon walls. We stop and ask (of course).
Ken, is from Yakima, WA, and is on a year long journey across the lower 48 states to count as many birds as he can. He started on Jan 1 in Blaine, WA to find birds that only migrate that far south from Alaska in winter. By the end of the year, he hopes to count as many as 800 of the possible 1,500 in the US. He only counts them if he sees and can clearly identify them, a higher standard than just hears them.
We ask him the number he is up to so far, “408 as of today, with the condors above.” We look up and see several large black wings floating up the canyon walls. We spend the next 15 minutes just watching them catch currents right above us, just below the popular Angel Landing hike.
We have a hard time getting a good count as their shadows seem to increase their number. They finally get above the cliffs and we count seven (!) condors. Our last time in the southwest at the Grand canyon we were impressed when four condors floated right by us on the south rim of the Grand canyon. Seven is our new lucky number.
We stay a bit longer and find out about Ken’s story. He tells us he has finally recuperated from an accident, and so planned this trip. He just finished building out his custom Sprinter van and this is his first trip. We ask him what has been the highlight or best bird so far and he points up, “Number 408, California Condor, is pretty spectacular.”
We say our goodbyes, wish each other safe travels, and we move on. It has a different feel than the Camino in Portugal and Spain from last spring. Then we would often meet fellow travellers again since we were all on the same path. Here, everyone is on their own journey and these will be one-time meetings. We don’t exchange our WhatsApp contacts and promise to stay in touch, but we do stop and recognize that this time won’t happen again. It does make me want to linger just a bit longer, to hear more of their story.
We hop back on the tandem and head out, fortunately, downhill back to our camping cabin. I try to take it all in not knowing when we will be back again.
Siri and David Adventures 