Friday, May 23, 2014

A Town Named for Virgins?


We moved on to the West side of Zion National Park to a nice spot 2 miles north of the town of Virgin, UT on the Kolob Terrace Rd. It's a primitive campground along the river, on private land. The caretaker originally wanted $20 a night each, but we found out that is highly negotiable. We settled on $50 each for the week.

The area around Zion has gotten like Moab. All public land is closed to camping, except in campgrounds, which are always full.


One hike I really wanted to do on this side of Zion is the hike to Hop Valley. I had attempted it once before but didn't make it to the valley. So this time we cheated. We drove on a dirt road about 1 1/2 miles paralleling the trail, then cut over through the brush .4 miles to the trail. Saved a little over a mile each way.


By doing this, we missed the uninteresting part of the trail, and almost immediately got to the scenic part.


After a while, the trail started to descend into the valley, and the scenery got even better.


And we got a great view of the valley.


Now, if we can just find the car...


Also on this side of Zion is the ghost town of Grafton.


It was a Mormon town in the 1860s and only lasted a few years, before everyone moved to safety in the larger town of Rockville.


Pretty scenery and rusty stuff, though....


Phil loves to go driving on dirt roads, so we did a lot of that, too.


Glad he didn't want ME to move that rock...


And rocks weren't the only thing we found on the road!


In town is a cute little commercial fake town, with a Virgin Jail. We also got a kick out of the real Virgin Fire Department.

Next - a trip into Zion Canyon...

11 comments:

  1. So, you're saying Virgin is a ghost town. kyuk kyuk

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  2. Oh, I'll have to start planning for a trip to the other half of Utah. I was so impressed with the East....the west will have a lot to live up too!!

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  3. Good idea to cut that hike down to size! I've seen a few photos of that old school house in Grafton under the night sky and long exposure shooting, I wonder who owns the town now?

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  4. Hop Valley really looks to be worth a hike. Do you need 4 wheel drive on the cheater road?

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  5. Well, gee I was there in mid-April. I boon docked on the other side of the highway outside Virgin. Spent a day exploring Zion NP. Your hiking avoids the crowds though.

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  6. 4-wheel drive would be best for the cheater road - a lot of it is sandy.

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  7. We went to the other corner of southern Utah last fall and hope to make it to this area soon.

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  8. I'm impressed with your negotiating skills. Can you teach me your secrets?

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  9. Good job on getting the rate down. You would do well where bargaining is a way of life.

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  10. Catching up on everyone's travels again, and you're in the place I'm drawn to the most. To me there is no part of Utah that I don't feel like jumping right into the picture and going until I drop. It will be a few years before we're up that way again, I don't want to go until we have a big chunk of time...so I don't have to leave! Good to know there is other camping options in Virgin, that area is on a proposed trip plan I have.

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