Ever since renting e-bikes in Zion we wanted to buy one. We did research and decided on the Aventon Sinch. These bikes fold up and fit in the back of our truck so we didn’t have to buy a specialized rack as they weigh 68 lbs each.

We found exactly what we wanted at The Bike Works in Silver City NM, red for Bonnie and green for Bruce. The owner Dave was awesome and gave us lots of helpful suggestions and information. After some quick riding instructions we were ready for our first adventure. We headed off to City of Rocks to ride.

This bike can be ridden as a regular pedal bike, or you have 5 levels of pedal assist, or you can use the throttle like a scooter with no pedaling at all. Supposedly we have up to 45 miles per charge depending on how much you pedal,

The amazing thing about these bikes is they fold up and fit in the back of our truck, perfect for our lifestyle. Though compact they still weigh 68 lbs! The battery is 10 lbs so we remove it before lifting into the truck, every little bit helps.

We rode to the overlook, never could have made it up there with our mountain bikes, pedal assist is awesome! The bike can be pedaled with as much or as little assistance as you want so we can still get a workout when riding.

We can sure tell we are back in the southwest, our beautiful sunsets are back. Last night in Page AZ then head home tomorrow, good to be back.

Our last stop before heading home to Deming NM tomorrow. Took a ride to the dam and then drove through Glen Canyon. Pretty area. There are three nice rv parks alongside the lake, hmmm, maybe next time.

Antelope Canyon was high on our bucket list and definitely did not disappoint. Due to covid this area has been closed because it is located in the Navajo Nation. We were able to book our tour reservations 10 months ago and even now have to wear masks except for the one picture. There is not much I can say about this beautiful canyon so here are the pictures. The first one is a heart.

Outside of Zion National Park about 10 miles down dirt roads is the ghost town of Grafton. This is a historic Mormon settlement first settled in 1859 and currently under restoration by a local group, The Grafton Heritage Partnership, and funded by donations.

There were originally 38 people who settled here. Life was very hard, there were flash floods, disease and discontent with the local indigenous peoples. They tried to grow wheat, cotton and alfalfa but had a rough time of it.

In 1910 there were 106 people living here, which is the largest population recorded. Most of them were related because the men had multiple wives and many, many children. Unfortunately due to disease and otherwise harsh living many children didn’t live past 10 years old.

The last residents left in 1944, electricity and plumbing were never installed in this town. Just outside of town is the cemetery which is also under restoration.

The town was sold to a movie producer in 1946 who filmed a few movies here most notably Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969. In 1997 the Grafton Heritage Partnership regained ownership and began the slow task of reconstruction. Very cool place to visit.

Angel’s Landing is quite a challenging hike but we wanted to see how far we could go. It is only a bit more than 5 miles but the last half mile is up a narrow incline holding onto chains for stability and safety. Since the year 2000 fourteen people have plunged to their death on this last part of the hike. For this reason you must now obtain a pass to hike the chain section to cut down on the crowds here. Too many people in one small area made it extremely dangerous. Needless to say we did not have a pass and also had no intention of hiking that far.

We did hike up to that point and the switchbacks were as much as we could handle for a couple old farts but we had fun and the views were amazing.

The narrows hike is the main reason we returned to Zion National Park. When we were here in 2020 we didn’t hike it due to bacteria in the Virgin River. This time the bacteria levels were not as high so we went for it.

We rented neoprene socks and hiking boots so we wouldn’t ruin ours in the water, also hiking poles. I don’t like to hike with sticks but was happy to have it in the water current.

This hike follows the Virgin River into a slot canyon for nine miles.

The highest the water got was just above our knees, which wasn’t too bad. The hike into the canyon was against the current so it took a little getting used to. It was chilly starting out and the water was 57 degrees but because it was so beautiful it was easy to ignore.

Before going too far into the slot canyon a lot of the hiking was on rocky shore and shallow water.

As we went deeper the crowds thinned and it got a bit eerie but peaceful.

We saw some of the remnants of previous flash floods, something watched very closely here. On the day we hiked the risk of flooding was extremely low with a 15 percent chance of rain. When we got back to our motorhome the sky opened up with torrential rains, lightning and thunder. Boy were we glad we were out of there!

We are so glad we did this hike, it was one we looked forward to. It took us 4 hours and we only did about 3/4 of the hike but really enjoyed it.

We are back in one of our favorite places in the country, Southern Utah.

Took our last hike in the Tetons this morning to Taggart and Bradley lakes. We really looked forward to this hike because we had seen pictures of the lake reflection and wanted to see it ourselves. Definitely not disappointed! What an awesome sight.

Fall is in the air here, low 30’s at night and mid 60’s in the day. Nice sunny and crisp weather. Tomorrow we head to Zion where it’s in the low 80’s during the day, we love hiking there too. So much beauty in this country!

We are staying in Jackson WY, about 60 miles south of Yellowstone so got up early and took a day trip. We drove the lower loop road and stopped for sights along the way. There are so many waterfalls in the park, more than we thought but we enjoy seeing them.

We came upon a training rescue mission in these falls. The “lost hiker” was tracked from her car by a dog to a rock at the base of the falls. The park rescue crew and paramedics do the rescue as if it were a real lost hiker. They do these training drills about once a week. A park EMT was on the lookout area and explained it to us. Good to know they do these drills.

These are the Firehole river falls.

Upper and lower Yellowstone River Falls

Of course we went to see Old Faithful erupt, along with the crowds.

Then we went to see some prismatic springs. Those are so cool.

This looks like hoof prints.

And we saw some bison! Zoom lens is our friend.