Now, how about we mix in a bit of culture. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night performance was a wonderful mix into busy schedules we all seem to keep. Sponsored by Zions Bank and KBYU Radio the show was offered in the afternoon in the air conditioned auditorium theatre. This is the forty-sixth season of the Tony award winning Utah Shakespearean Festival. The theatre is on the campus of SUU, also The Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery is within walking distance. The Iron Mission State Park Museum is a couple of blocks away with an interesting historic collection of pioneer stagecoaches and such.

The Shakespearean Festival line up includes Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, King Lear, Candida, Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical, The Matchmaker, Art, The Mousetrap, The Tempest, and The Green Show. The website is at bard.org.

In addition, The Neil Simon Festival is offering The Odd Couple (female version), Plaza Suite, and Prisoner of Second Ave. Their website is simonfest.

Now, what about the outdoor recreation part. The next day after the show was a wonderful visit to the high alpine meadows of The Dixie National Forest around Brian Head. The weather was just right and about 10 degrees cooler than Cedar City. Beautiful views of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Here’s a photo:

The website at cedarcitytours.com invite’s groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at

Rural Travel Website Focuses on Back Country USA - Seeks New Travel Suppliers

Cedar City, UT, Social Networking for Wilderness Areas, Parks, Monuments and Outdoors Recreation at AdventureZoneTOURS.
Most travel websites are focused on the large metro areas in the United States. one website has a different twist and has just launched a new feature.
AdventureZoneTOURS partners with small business owners in these over looked rural areas. There are thousands of small business owners located near wilderness areas,
many of them don’t have websites or are sometimes hard to find in a search engine. We add their products and services into our database.
We are unique since in the past two years we have posts about all the National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments and Wilderness Areas in one place, and the new feature
will allow adventure travelers to plan out all their places to stay and fun things to do all in one action! No more clicking and searching all around. All selected travel partners with available inventory in our system get notified of the reservations request.

The Outdoor Recreation Message Board lists the states, separated into travel region message boards where people can see the outdoor public land areas available with map, information, stories, photos and over 4,000 posts. There are park maps, webcams, directions and a search to located accommodations and activity providers in that state region.

Travel partners are invited to become part of the rural reservations booking engine that has just been launched. It’s social networking message boards are geared towards all four seasons.
Accommodations and Activities suppliers need only to visit http://www.adventurezonetours.com and click on the link at the top that says Travel Partners. AdventurezoneTOURS is simply the intermediary to assist the traveler and suppliers in creating an incredible adventure opportunity in rural America. The database is set up for most accommodations suppliers like motels, camps, lodges, campgrounds, etc. The activities database is set up for ATV, horses, hiking, tours, winter, water, rentals and more.

Bob Therrien, President of TrainingPASS Sales, Inc., creator of AdventureZoneTOURS.com, outdoor writer, and constant traveler commented,
“Over the years, the hardest part for me has been the research about which parks, hikes, climbs, guides I want to visit with my family and friends.
Exploring site after site, then mapping the distance from each area of interest is inefficient and many times lacking in information. To solve that inefficiency we (AdventureZoneTOURS.com) have collected all the basic information about our parks, wilderness areas and national monuments into one website. Because of the content rich nature of our website the internet search engines really seem to like us. Now
we’d like to be able to offer the rural small business owners and our internet users an opportunity to make the back country adventure easier.”

Please take the time to visit us online today at http:// www.AdventureZoneTOURS.com.

Glen Campbell and his daughter Debby Campbell played a benefit concert in Cedar City, Utah for the Iron County Care & Share. It was presented by The Hartford Insurance Company and Allegiance Direct Bank.

Do you remember songs like, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Galveston, Rhinestone Cowboy, Southern Nights, and Gentle on My Mind? What a fun concert and pleasure to see Glen and his band play.

Utah fire updates.

PL-5 is the heightened level of fire preparedness that Utah is currently in. It is the highest level of alert available. Saint George is smoky today with several fires in the area. Zion National Park has a fire that is now called the west fire and has grown to 7300 acres. There is also a fire called the radio fire, another called road Canyon Fire, as well as Black Rock Gulch, Sullivan-Clark Fire. I had heard that there were 1,000 lightning strikes that created problems in the past few days.

This is the update from the nps.gov/zion website.

The Dakota Hill Fire Complex showed moderate activity today. The fires continue to spread to the north and east. The east fire crossed Zion National Park’s eastern boundary last night onto private and Bureau of Land Management lands. Originally called the Zion 1, 2 and 3 fires, they are now being called the east and west fires, since last night the Zion 1 and 2 fires burned together. The east fire, located north of Orderville Canyon, is being estimated at 1,567 acres and the west fire, located south of Lava Point, at 5,776 acres. This includes total acreage, both in and outside of the park. Both of these lightning caused fires are in remote areas with difficult access. A Type 2 Incident Management Team from the southwest will take over management of the fire tomorrow morning from the local Type 3 team.

Kane County has issued a Mandatory Evacuation Order for the North Fork Road area, east of the park. For more on evacuation information call 435-644-2667.

A backcountry closure remains in effect for all of Zion National Park until further notice. No permits for canyoneering or backcountry use are being issued at this time.

Smoke will continue to be an issue in the park and surrounding area, especially in the evening and early morning hours as it settles into the basins and canyons.

A new fire was discovered today in the park. The Beehive Fire is located on an isolated mesa top near the Streaked Wall, above Zion Canyon. It is a holdover from the same storm on Sunday evening that ignited the others now burning in the park. It is currently being worked with aerial resources. No estimation of size yet, although the mesa top covers about 40 acres. At this time there is little potential for the fire to impact anything other than the mesa top. Zion firefighting personnel are standing by to respond if the fire falls off the mesa top into the canyons below.

Brian Head ATV Birthday Party

We had a fun day of riding in The Dixie National Forest at Brian Head, Utah. There were great views of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Here’s our trip report:

ATV Fun at Brian Head.

Trip report: We traveled up I 15 to the Parowan, Utah exit and through town and followed the signs to Brian Head. On our return trip we traveled thru Brian Head and followed the road thru Cedar Breaks National Monument to highway 14 and back down Cedar Mountain to Cedar City, Utah.

This website is geared towards people who love to enjoy the outdoors. You are invited to share your favorite trails with the world. Have you found AdventureZoneTOURS.com

It is an outdoors recreation message board and we really need you to post information to share your favorite wilderness riding area. This website at cedarcitytours.com is a user supported site and we need your comments and posts. If you have an article that you would like to post here, or give us the 411 on an awesome trail use the Contact Us form at the bottom of the page. We would be happy to put your family oriented information.

We rented 3 ATV’s and headed off for a 3 hour journey. We met James and Kelly at thunder Mountain Motorsports in Brian Head. Their phone is 435 677-2288. It was a perfect day for riding. It was sunny and warm, but not to hot. There was a haze in the sky from some of the Utah wildfires that have been burning lately. There is a great trail system in Brian Head and uses a combination of logging roads and trails. We headed up some old dirt roads and were able to see many of the new houses, condo’s and ski lodges that are build along the mountains.

Part of our trip took us into the Dixie National Forest. There were beautiful alpine meadows with aspen tree forests as you can see in the above picture.

We did have a map from the ATV rental store. It was sometimes hard to follow, but we made it work. From one summit trail there were views of Cedar Breaks National Monument and in the other direction a big valley’s where Cedar City was. We were told there were views of Arizona from there, but I think that the haze from the smoke in the sky, did not allow us to see that far. Here’s the valley pic.

Here’s a picture with Cedar Breaks in the background.

It was a fun day. We celebrated a birthday. Had great fun in Brian Head, The Dixie National Forest and had great views of Cedar Breaks National Monument.

WE NEED YOU TO SHARE YOUR INFORMATION TOO!

The website at cedarcitytours.com invite’s groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at

As always, there is lots going on around Cedar City, Utah. Glen Campbell and his daughter Debby Campbell is doing a benefit concert July 19th at the SUU Centrun Arena. It will benefit the Iron County Care & Share food bank. Glen Campbell is a country music legend known as the Rhinestone Cowboy, with many hit songs that have been played for four decades.

The Neil Simon Festival opens July 19th at the Heritage Theatre and features Eddie Mekka, who is well known as Carmine Ragusa of the Laverne & Shirley TV show. The website is at www.simonfest.org.

Being so hot, here are a couple of ideas to cool down:

If you’re visiting the Cedar City, Utah area and need some ideas to cool off, here are a couple of quick trips. Cedar City, Utah has several city parks. Here is the park information from cedarcity.org website.

West Canyon Park

400 E 200 S. 7 Acres.
Facilities: Pavilion, Volleyball, Restrooms, Playground Equipment, Water, Electric Outlets, Lighting, Barbecue Area, Barbecue Pits, Barbecue Grill, Benches, Tables, Horseshoe Pits, access to the Coal Creek Trail.

Coal Creek Trail

The Parklands path currently runs from the baseball park on 200 North through West Canyon Park and up the canyon approximately two miles. The paved trail parallels Coal Creek and is furnished at intervals with benches and water fountains. Native plants, trees and wildflowers bloom along the scenic pathway, where walkers, joggers and families enjoy fresh air and exercise in a natural outdoor setting.1.9 miles plus .6 miles recently added on.
Facilities: Benches, Water

East Canyon Park

500 E Center St. 3 Acres.
Facilities: Pavilion, Volleyball, Restrooms, Playground Equipment, Water, Electric Outlets, Barbecue Grill, Barbecue Pits, Benches, Tables, Horseshoe Pits

I headed up Cedar Mountain on 14 East looking for a place to cool off a bit. There wasn’t enough shade for me. It was a hot afternoon, but I splashed around in Coal Creek for a few minutes. Here’s a pic.

Then a day or two later on another hot day. I continued up the mountain for a visit to Navajo Lake. Being up on the mountain. It was much cooler. The water was cold and it was a bit windy. There were lots of people fishing and a couple of boats on the lake. Along the trip to Navajo Lake we saw many lava flow areas of lava rock and lava beds. As well as a viewing area for a volcanic cinder cone.

The cinder cone is located east of Cedar City, Utah, on the western Markagunt Plateau. The Virgin River is born here, springing from the cliffs on the south end of the Plateau before making its way into the slot canyons and cliffs of Zion National Park. The Markagunt Plateau contains the following wilderness areas, Mineral Canyon, Bear Valley Peak - Little Creek Peak, Butler Peak, Bunker Creek - Horse Valley Peak, Sidney Peaks, Ashdown Gorge Expansions, Hancock, Lava Beds, Hatch Mountain, Gooseberry Point, Pink Cliffs, and Dairy Canyon. The Markagunt Plateau is one of Utah’s highest and largest plateaus. The name comes from an indian term meaning highland of trees.

The lake is located in Dixie National Forest and the trip takes you through high alpine meadows. It is 1,500 acres, about 3 miles long and stocked with trout. Navajo Lake was formed thousands of years ago when a lava flow blocked the end of the valley. After thousands of years it is still blocked. Here is a picture of Navajo Lake, Utah.

Another picture of Navajo Lake, Utah.

I read that the Paiute Indians had named it Pa-Cu-Ay, which meant Cloud Lake. The name was changed later.

Cascade Falls and Mammoth Caves are close by. There are hiking and mountain biking trails near by.

Cascade Falls hiking trail is a one mile, round trip hike that leads you to a waterfall that is the outlet of Navajo Lake with viewsof the Zion/Kolob Terrace.

Virgin River Rim Trail is32 mile moderate trail that’s good for hiking, mountain biking and horses where you will see Cascade Falls and Strawberry Point trails.

Navajo Loop is a winding 12 mile loop for mountain biking around the lake that’s great for novices with just a few climbs.

Marathon Trail is a 27 mile advance bike route from Navajo Lake to Brian Head. The trail head is located at Te Ah campground.

The area is a great place to cool off on a hot day, with lots of activities for year round outdoor recreation.
The website at cedarcitytours invite’s Utah groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at

Right now The Utah Summer Games have begun. There are 52 different sports offered and thousands of people have begun arriving in Cedar. The events run from June 7th thru the 24th. The opening ceremonies are on June 14th which include music and large fireworks display. The Utah Summer Games website is http://www.utahsummergames.org and their phone number is 435 865-8421.

The Utah Shakespearean Festival opens on June 21st and runs into the fall time. This years festival will be featuring King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Coriolanus. In addition George Bernard Shaws Candida, Thronton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, Yasmina Reza’s comedy called Art, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap and lead tenor Tito Morelli. The website details are at http://www.bard.com and tickets can be bought at 435 586-7878.

The Groovefest American Music Festival opens June 21st and runs thru the 24th. This is a free admission family oriented festival with a great line up. Here’s the website: www.groovefestutah.com

After all the fun and events,please provide us with a trip report for all to see and enjoy. This would be the message board to post in: http://www.adventurezonetours.com/index.php?showtopic=3854

The website at cedarcitytours invite’s Utah groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at

Here is a close up of the historic place marker:

The ancient indian drawings are amazing and I took several photos to share:

Visiting the gap was an easy little trip while in Cedar City. In addition Cedar City is home to Iron Mission State Park. I have posted a trip report at the Outdoor Recreation Message Boards at this link:
http://www.adventurezonetours.com/index.php?showtopic=1270

There is a lot to do and see in and around Cedar City, Utah. Utah is home to 5 National Parks, 3 National Monuments, State Parks and wonderful Wilderness Areas.

The website at cedarcitytours invite’s Utah groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at

This trip report was written by Bob Therrien.

Not many people have heard the term Thunderbird Gardens and almost no one was able to provide directions. To get there our first stop was at Aardvark Paintball at 70 E. 200 North.
This is a paintball shop that is fully stocked and ready to provide a fun extreme sports paintball experience. Aardvark provides rentals in addition to hosting paintball games. They do a fun adventure in and around Thunderbird Gardens for groups and in the past have used the 3 peaks area for fun too. I’m told that they are waiting for some area to be set aside at 3 peaks to be able to fit in better with the multi-use nature of 3 peaks. In Cedar City they can be reached at 435 867-0408. Aardvark also has stores in Saint George and Sandy, Utah

Our trip to Thunderbird Gardens was a pleasant couple of hours hiking and walking around. Here’s a picture.

To get to the outdoors recreation area, just go up to the golf course and continue by following the dirt road to the end. According to the Cedar City website, Cedar Ridge treats golfers to beautiful scenery and some of the most challenging golf southern Utah has to offer. From short par 3s with cliff-top tee boxes to long par 4s into the wind, Cedar Ridge offers players almost every golfing challenge. “Because of the way it’s laid out, it will offer most golfers a chance to use every club in their bag,” says John Evans, Cedar Ridge head pro and former PGA golfer.
The website address is: http://www.cedarcity.org/parks_recreation/golf_course.html

After we parked our auto we started climbing rocks and hills. It’s an undeveloped area, with no trails that we saw. We climbed the hills and enjoyed the high desert climate and Utah blue skies.
While walking around I noticed a natural arch in the hillside. Here is a picture.

On another trip in the hills around Cedar City my friend Slim took a few of us to explore Ghost Towns and Lost Mines. You’ll find more information here at the outdoors recreation message boards

It was a pleasant ride in the high desert hillside around Cedar City. Here’s a picture of old mine shaft.

A lot of caution is required in these areas and we carefully explored a little bit. Here’s a picture taken just inside one of the open mines we saw.

http://www.adventurezonetours.com/index.php?showtopic=3270
The interesting part of riding with my friend Slim, is the history. He shares the stories of the miners that created these towns, that have now fallen down.

There is a lot to do and see in and around Cedar City, Utah. Utah is home to 5 National Parks, 3 National Monuments, State Parks and wonderful Wilderness Areas.

The website at cedarcitytours invite’s Utah groups to forward us their news to share here with our readers as well as at our outdoor recreation message board at http://www.adventurezonetours.com/

Author: Bob Therrien

http://www.adventurezonetours.com

Cedar City, Utah can be great during all 4 seasons, fall, winter, spring and summer. Any time of the year is a great time to do some cedarcitytours. Cedar City is close to Cedar Breaks National Monument, Brian Head skiing/boarding/mtn biking park, Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Dixie National Forest, seen the fantastic ancient Indian rock art in Parowan Gap? Have you see Mammoth Cave, lava flows, Panguitch Lake, Three peaks, Thunderbird Gardens, seen Flanigan Arch, Southwest Wildlife Foundation Nature Center, or Ashdown Gorge?

Visiting Utah can be quite an adventure experience. The major airport to fly into the region is normally Las Vegas for Southern Utah. Cedar City has a growing and new airport on the outskirts of town. The small 10 minute city is perfect for getting around. It has most of anything anyone would want, and you can get to most of it in about 10 minutes or less. It is home to a wonderful university, Southern Utah University. SUU enrollment seems to be growing each year. There is also Southwest Applied Technology as well as George Wythe College.

As a perfect location for outdoor activity, Utah has 5 National parks and 3 National Monuments, in addition to the dozens of state parks. There are plenty of adventure choices. Red rock canyons, sandstone cliffs, the desert, the best snow on earth skiing, Joshua trees, slot canyons, canyoneering, travel, tour & adventure await your cedarcitytours. The National parks are: Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, and Zion National Park.

If that’s not enough of the most incredible landscape anywhere, the 3 National Monuments are: Cedar Breaks National Monument, Dinosaur National Monuments and GSENM, Grand Staircase National Monument. How about adding two National Recreation areas to the mix and maybe you’ll never want to leave Utah. The Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area all add up to one of the most spectacular places on earth to visit. Here are some of the things you can do.

· Hiking

· Camping

· Biking

· Golf

· Boating

· Beaches

· ATV

· Museums

· Scenic Drives

· Dog Sledding

· Snowmobiling

· Horseback Riding

· Hunting

· Antique Shopping

· Festivals/State Fairs

· Rafting

· Ice Skating

· Fly Fishing

· Wildlife

· Lake/Rivers

· Alpine & Nordic Skiing/Snowboarding

Another city is Saint George in southern Utah and just a couple of hours north of Las Vegas. It has an elevation of 2,880 feet above sea level. St. George has an average annual temperature of 59.9° F with summer temperatures well into the 100s. Palm trees and red rock cliffs are the norm in Saint George along with all the convenience of a city of 100 thousand.

Cedar City is well known as festival city. It is home to Southern Utah University, The Utah Shakespearean Festival, The Utah Summer Games, The American Children’s Christmas Festival, The Cedar City SkyFest, Neil Simon Festival, Himmelsk Festival Royal, yearly Cowboy Gathering, Rodeo, July Jamboree, Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire, Groovefest, and Paiute Restoration Gathering & Pow-wow. Cedar City is very close to Brian Head Ski Area. Close enough to be in the Vegas desert, ski during the day with views of Cedar Breaks Red Rocks and back to the desert for dinner. You’ll enjoy your cedarcitytours!

Research, read and share trip reports and pics here.

We’d like to invite you to be a guest blogger on this site and to share comments on our Outdoor Recreation Message Boards at http://www.adventurezonetours.com

National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments, and Wilderness Areas, All in One Website!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT OUR NATIONAL PARKS –

On AdventureZoneTOURS.com

Cedar City, UT (February 27, 2007) The good news is that the United States of America has protected some of the most unique and incredible places to see on earth, and to encourage visitors, AdventureZoneTOURS.com brings all the parks, monuments, and wilderness areas into one online message board where people can share information about these fantastic outdoors resources.

The bad news is that the National Parks face a budget crisis. Struggling to protect the historic, cultural and natural resources, the parks are short of funds for operating facilities, repairs to roads, bridges, trails and buildings. In 2006, a $814 million shortfall was reported. With the National Park Service covering almost 400 protected areas, NPS has fewer employees to service the growing number of visitors per year. Over 273,000,000 people visited the National Parks in 2005, with reports of declining visitors.  AdventureZoneTOURS.com fills in the gap where information on locations and services are currently lacking. Instead of contacting a variety of parks or wilderness areas to compile your trip, now planning and previewing a vacation or adventure is just a click away on AdventureZoneTOURS.COM.

In a recent trend, volunteering has become very popular with more people willing to offer their time or vacation in assisting the parks and outdoor organizations with clean up, rebuilding trails and other important tasks.  AdventureZoneTOURS.com not only features a message board for each region of every state but under the category Special Interests members are invited to post messages for volunteer opportunities or find links to the volunteer opportunity just right for them.

Bob Therrien, President of TrainingPASS Sales, Inc., creator of AdventureZoneTOURS.com, outdoor writer, and constant traveler commented, “Over the years, the hardest part for me has been the research about which parks, hikes, climbs, guides I want to visit with my family and friends. Exploring site after site, then mapping the distance from each area of interest is inefficient and many times lacking in information. To solve that inefficiency we (AdventureZoneTOURS.com) have collected all the basic information about our parks, wilderness areas and national monuments into one website. We’re still working on the mapping solution right now, so that a visitor can visually see just a region of a state and distances between multiple areas of interest.  AdventureZoneTOURS.com is an outdoors recreation message board that now needs real trip reports from people who love these parks and are willing to share information on their special places.”

 
The Outdoor Adventure Message Board opens up to reveal historic park photos and a listing of U.S. States separated into travel regions. Click on search to find your park or any state region and there are sub forums for all the parks, monuments and wilderness areas in that region. You’ll find links to park maps, webcams and several interesting choices to pick from within a state region. Choose just the park to visit or check special interest message boards for posts on volunteer opportunities and travel for women only, men, training retreats, or shuttle posts.

 
For the activity-specific minded, AdventureZoneTOURS.com encourages users to share trip reports for a variety of outdoor activities from hiking, climbing, canyoneering, geo exploring, photography, ghost towns, mines, and cave to water sports such as boating, fishing, jet and water skiing, tubing, rafting, and scuba. Winter travel sports locations for snowmobiling, skiing and snowboarding are featured. Hunting locations, ATV and horseback trails as well as the most scenic areas for outdoor photography are also available as individual topic posts. To research or share your favorite adventure travel location, and for more information, log on to www.AdventureZoneTOURS.com.