Muley Point, Utah |
Utah - Arizona - New Mexico
We decided to travel a little further in the American Southwest for our 2010 Spring Break trip after spending Spring Break 2008 in Texas and Oklahoma, and our 2009 Spring Break in New Mexico and Texas.
Kellisa and I flew direct to Las Vegas and left the city for Zion National Park as fast as we could. We spent the night in St. George, UT before spending a day hiking around Zion. We hiked the paved trail to the start of The Narrows. This lit a bulb inside my head and we returned to The Narrows a few years later.
Zion National Park is one of the most visited parks in the USA, so they limit passenger cars in the canyon. The National Park Service provides free bus service with many stops. This is great, unless you are there visiting with someone trapped in a wheelchair. We waited like everyone else to board the bus leaving the visitor center. The driver had to rearrange a few people so he could lift a row of seats to have a spot for a wheelchair. He then had to tie the chair down. I didn't hear any direct comments, but I could sense more than a few people were irritated to have to wait a few extra minutes after already waiting a long time to board.
However, things we far worse when we tried to catch a return bus back to the visitor center. Every bus was completely full with people standing in the aisle. In other words, there was no room for us and a chair. After missing a half dozen buses, I ended up pushing Kellisa for 8 miles all the way back to the visitor center. We enjoyed the walk and besides the occasional bus, we had the road to ourselves. This was addressed by the Chief Ranger when we returned by giving us a special permit to drive our rental car along the closed road. Thank you Chief Ranger Cindy!
Kellisa and I flew direct to Las Vegas and left the city for Zion National Park as fast as we could. We spent the night in St. George, UT before spending a day hiking around Zion. We hiked the paved trail to the start of The Narrows. This lit a bulb inside my head and we returned to The Narrows a few years later.
Zion National Park is one of the most visited parks in the USA, so they limit passenger cars in the canyon. The National Park Service provides free bus service with many stops. This is great, unless you are there visiting with someone trapped in a wheelchair. We waited like everyone else to board the bus leaving the visitor center. The driver had to rearrange a few people so he could lift a row of seats to have a spot for a wheelchair. He then had to tie the chair down. I didn't hear any direct comments, but I could sense more than a few people were irritated to have to wait a few extra minutes after already waiting a long time to board.
However, things we far worse when we tried to catch a return bus back to the visitor center. Every bus was completely full with people standing in the aisle. In other words, there was no room for us and a chair. After missing a half dozen buses, I ended up pushing Kellisa for 8 miles all the way back to the visitor center. We enjoyed the walk and besides the occasional bus, we had the road to ourselves. This was addressed by the Chief Ranger when we returned by giving us a special permit to drive our rental car along the closed road. Thank you Chief Ranger Cindy!
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteelectric wheelchair with commode
Keep Posting:)