The SMB corner at Zion :-)

windom · 06-04-2008, 10:33 AM

We pulled into the South Campground at Zion looking for a spot and saw two SMBs next to each other, with an empty site next to one of them...we just had to take it! (Bigger picture here.)

It's great having the immediate social lubricant of the same vehicle. (Plus beer.) We had a great evening chatting with the SMB owners, and then the next day a guy in a Westfalia (a Eurovan, but we used to have the old model) wanted to talk Sportsmobiles so we spent the next evening drinking and talking with him, his wife, and the friends they were traveling with.

I haven't uploaded the rest of the photos yet but when I do I'll post a link. BTW for all you "2WD vs 4WD" people: we used 4WD four times on this trip, twice extensively to get to and from trailheads and twice briefly to get out of sandy or muddy spots near campsites.

cellularSTEVE · 06-04-2008, 11:15 PM

Hey Windom,
That is great. Funny thing is there were three Sportsmobiles when I was in the Zion campground too back in September. I met another member of our forum, Mike (Ford_6L_E350) and a guy with a Sprinter. We all toured each others rigs and talked for awhile. Out of us three there was mine from SMB West, Mikes from Indiana and the Sprinter from Texas. I also saw too others on the drive into Zion.

take care,

steve

NRL · 06-05-2008, 11:01 PM

Was it easy to find a Camp spot or did you reserve ahead?

Looking for a nice shade spot.. an awesome Sporto Camp spot..in Zion.

windom · 06-06-2008, 10:00 AM

The South Campground (which, oddly, is north of the other campground) doesn't take reservations. We got there shortly before noon and there were several sites available, although the nicest were taken. They're all pretty shady, as I recall. I don't think they filled up until around 3pm.

The Watchman Campground takes online reservations and they were booked solid. That's the one with electric hookups.

Note that we arrived Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend. I am guessing that things will be busier now that the summer season has started.

By the way, if you have bicycles, bring them - the canyon road is closed to cars other than shuttle buses (and cars going to Zion Lodge, who can't go past the lodge) and it's totally a delight to get around that way.

oclv · 06-09-2008, 04:22 PM

We spent three nights in the South Campground the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday before Memorial Day. We pulled out on Wednesday right before the rain. We were the only Sportsmobile at that time, and gave many tours of our van to people that were interested in them. It was amazing how many people were totally familiar with Sportsmobiles, and even how many were familiar with Salem Kroger. It was fun for me, but got a little boring for my wife to hear the same thing over and over. By the way, if you go to Zion and have the interest, do the Angels Landing hike. It is a neat hike, with a neat last half mile. Similar rush as doing Half dome at Yosemite. Then do the Observation point hike the next day so you can look down on Angel's Landing and take photos of where you just went. oclv

Jeffrey · 06-09-2008, 04:48 PM

I love Zion, but never stay in campgrounds. That's why I got the SMB!

windom · 06-09-2008, 04:55 PM

We rarely stay in campgrounds, too, but it made a lot more sense to stay at the NPS campground and bicycle to the various trailheads than to camp in National Forest/BLM land outside the park and have to drive in each day, park, and unship the bikes.

In two weeks we stayed at campgrounds four nights - two in Zion and two in Bryce.