Road to Nova Scotia

Our first stop in Zion was the Wright Family ranch (famous saddle bronc riders not air planes). It’s a 1,000 acre ranch that butts directly up to the national park. It was founded in the 1800’s by the family and has remained in operation since. In the early 2000’s their rodeo dynasty began, competing in saddle bronc riding. Since then multiple brothers and generations have won world championships in the event, one of them becoming the youngest world champion in history.

We spent four days boondocking here and enjoyed every minute of it. We hiked all around the property, enjoying the incredible views, and occasional visit from the roaming cattle on the property. Kida was born for this environment and had an absolute blast running around and playing hours of fetch, and hanging around the campfire willing a hot dog to fall off the stick and become a dog dog. She was successful.

The last day it sprinkled for about 30 minutes early in the morning, per the property instructions travelers are advised to wait an hour before driving, down the dirt/clay roads. Playing it safe with a 14,000 pound vehicle I gave it three hours before attempting our exit. Three hours was not enough. The back end slid about four feet and settled into to a washout. We spent the next two hours laying stones and our leveling blocks for traction and to prevent tearing up their road. We were able to crawl out bit by bit and pulled off to sit for awhile longer to let the road dry. We made our two mile drive in a record breaking four hours.

Second stop was in Zion National Park on a quiet little river that carved out the massive canyon we were in. We enjoyed an evening walk along the river, a yummy dinner walking distance to our spot and called it an early night. Our rig was unfortunately too large to travel further into the park and dogs were only allowed on a trail near where we stayed. With that we pack up camp and started making our way south.