Since we had so much of the day left, Lee said he wanted to drive on Kolob Terrace Road.  We stopped at the RV and ate some lunch, and then headed back out for the road that was pretty close to our boondocking spot.  Kolob Terrace Road is paved, and ends at the Kolob Reservoir.  It also winds in and out of the west side of Zion, and from a crowd perspective was the antithesis of what we had experienced in the morning.  There are several trail heads along the road that require a wilderness permit, but there are also several places to stop just to take in the views, and the views were really beautiful.  It was a steep road in places, and we wouldn’t want to take our RV on it, but we did see one Class C coming down, probably from the small campground that is near the top.

 

 

 

At one point there was a house incongruously on a hill by the road that was overlooking a canyon in the west side of Zion.  We stopped and walked along a dirt path to get near the edge.  Great view of the canyon, and we heard later it was one of the best places in Zion to watch the sunset.

We stopped several times and got out and walked a bit, and one of the best spots was a turnout right before the Wildcat trail head where we were able to walk through some trees and come out on a rock cropping and get a view of the whole valley.  At this point we were at 7500 feet elevation, and were starting to see small patches of snow.

 

 

 

 

 

Near the top there was a dirt road to a lookout that read “No vehicles over 20 feet”. We stopped and measured the truck, and we’re 20’6″, so Lee said we could risk it.  We were about 1/4 mile down the road when the it suddenly got very muddy from melting snow.  We had to back up and turn around and once again our lack of four wheel drive was holding us back.  We could have walked it from there, but it was at the end of a long day and I just didn’t have it in me, plus we still had to get all the way back to our rig.

We continued on up to the Kolob Reservoir, where I was happy to see they had unlocked pit toilet! The reservoir was nice, and open to fishing May-September, but most of the houses seemed to be summer cottages, probably because at a certain point the road was not plowed for snow.  It was a nice drive, and we were glad we got to see the canyon from that perspective, and it only took a couple of hours to make it.

On our way back we stopped near the main road and looked at a series of wooden structures and flowers.  The road was chained, so we crossed the road and stood on the hill, when the gentleman below said we were welcome to come down.  His name was Brent Fitzpatrick, originally from Kent Ohio, and he owned this small parcel of land along the road.  He spent quite a bit of time talking to us about what he was doing, and the story was pretty interesting.  Nine years ago he bought this little orphan piece of land and was convinced that eventually it would become prime real estate.  He is probably right about that, because crowd pressure in the park is making the Terrace road and west sections more attractive to people and he had a great spot at the entrance.

His vision is to have a Frank Lloyd Wright type set of buildings in the Asian style which blend into the surrounding area.  He shared some pictures of architectural drawings he had done and the concept is stunning.  You can check out the drawings at his website if you are interested.  He is looking for a “major investor” to handle the business end of things while he focuses on the creative. He does have vision, and is definitely passionate and we both wished him well with his endeavor.  He appeared to be close to our age and if nothing else sooner or later the land will definitely be prime real estate.  In the meantime, I appreciate anyone who is working so hard on their dream and I am glad we stumbled across him.

 

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