Another Zion?

Yes, there is another Zion!  The northwest end of Zion is called "Zion Kolob".  Sunday was beautiful, and it was only 20 miles away, so off we went to another National Park.  Boy, Ron's $10.00 Senior Lifetime Pass sure has gotten used!

The road into the park has great views of the finger canyons.

We took the drive to the end, then walked the Timber  Creek Overlook Trail to a beautiful view.

Part of the walk was this log & clay/stone "sidewalk".  I think it was built this way so it wouldn't wash away in heavy rain.

Views on the way up...

and from the top.

We drove back down to Taylor Creek Trail, which heads into a canyon with a double arch alcove.

The canyon

We are officially in the "wilderness"!

The trail followed the creek...or rather zig zagged across the creek

about 20 times!

Had to step on rocks to cross the creek.

It was very pretty - gurgling along down the canyon.

It's interesting to see how the trees grow out of the rocks - this one was so twisted!

The trees are all starting to leaf out.

An old cabin - not sure how old, but cool.

I was amazed by this rock.  It was huge, black, with holes in it that looked like they had been eaten out, but I expect it was caused by water from what I have read. 

 

We are in our last few days here in Leeds, and will be heading over to the east side of the state to see the sights there.  More red rocks to come!

 

 

 

 

 

Brrr-ryce Canyon

On Wednesday, Ron & I decided to make the trek to Bryce Canyon.  It was about 80 miles away, but we didn't want to miss it.  It was about 70 degrees when we left our campground.  We did not take into account that the altitude at Bryce Canyon is 8000-9000 feet.  We drove up to Cedar City - a really cute town, then over the pass in Cedar Break, where the altitude was as high as 11,000 feet and the temps dropped into the upper 30's.  It was beautiful, but there was still a lot of snow in the mountains.  Then we dropped back down and all of a sudden we were in Red Canyon!

This just rose up out of regular brown dirt!

Fun rock formations.

Onward to Bryce Canyon.  As we drove into the canyon, we were advised to drive all the way to the end of the road, then stop at every stop on the way back.  First up:

Rainbow Point!!  And, yes,  it was cold up there! 

The canyon is unlike anything I've ever seen before.  The formations are called "canyon fins", then as they erode more, "windows", then, the freestanding formations are "hoodoos".

Besides the beauty of the canyon, the elevation also provided fantastic views of the landscape many miles away.  Again, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

This guy was begging for food!

I always wonder how these things happen, so I had to find out.  The weather has a lot to do with the formations.  Snow and ice seep into the formations and the freeze/melt/refreeze erode the sandstone.  There are 180 days a year that temps swing between warm afternoons and freezing nights.

I thought the choice of name for this point would have worked everywhere we stopped!

 

 

Needless to say, we really enjoyed our trip to Bryce Canyon, despite the cold & snow (which made us feel like real wimps!). Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I hope everyone puts Bryce Canyon on their Bucket List!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Road Thru Zion

Last week, Ron & I finally drove up to Zion National Park.  It is only about 35 miles from us, so I am surprised it took us so long to get there.  Boy, was I ever glad we did. 

Even the approach to the park was jaw droppingly beautiful (my computer is telling me that's not a word, but it does describe it).

The layers of rock are different colors.  The layers have exotic names like: kayenta mudstone, shinarump conglomerate, chinle formation (which is petrified wood) & Navajo sandstone.

The Virgin River runs through the park.

Everywhere we looked, there were amazing vistas & rock formations & colors.  This post will be mostly pictures - it was hard to decide which ones!

Because there is quite a bit of water in the park via the river & little streams everywhere, there is a lot of wild life.  We saw lots of little lizards - not one would sit still long enough for me to take its picture, though.

Now we know where our mallards spend the winter!

It's also hard to imagine how they built a road through here!  There were two tunnels,

this one was a MILE long!

It even had "windows" in it.

More colors.

We saw these Desert Mountain Goats - they are supposed to be shy, but these were right out there.

I found the layers of rock so interesting.

This is called "Checkerboard Mesa".  It is made of Navajo Sandstone which is formed from sand dunes that are compressed into rock!  The wind, rain & ice have caused the "checkerboard" grooves to form.

 

 

There are lots of hiking trails, both long & short.  Some are tough, but you can take your time.

This one had a stairway up the rock.

A lot of these pictures were taken as I was hanging out the window of the truck - sometimes I was even sitting on the window -

some of the turns were hairpin, and the drop over the edge was steep and long!

On the way back to Leeds, we passed through this area called "Coalwash".  The rock was scattered around and was pitch black!  It did look like coal.

 

Hope I didn't bore you with all of the pictures of rocks!  I have plenty more.  It was a wonderful place to see, and is another I highly recommend.  More rocks to come.