Zion National Park

As we drove from Nevada and Arizona into Utah we were greeted by spectacular mountain scenery.

Although very beautiful, the area is quite inhospitable.  Perhaps this is why it was a safe place for the early Mormon settlers who where forced out of other states in the east.  Most of the information we read about this area is tied in with the Mormon settlers.  For example, Zion Canyon was given that Biblical name by the early Mormon settlers.  And many of the stone structures have Biblical and/or Mormon references - like The Three Patriarchs and the Angel Moroni.

 The valley was carved by the Virgin River, named after an early explorer.

In many ways, this park is like the compliment of Grand Canyon in that at Grand Canyon you are at the top of the canyon, looking down whereas at Zion you are in the bottom, looking up.  In some cases the canyon walls are 2,000 feet above the river.  It's a spectacular site.

We took a short hike to some waterfalls and pools.

The grade was easy but the trail was a little muddy under the falls.

The valley walls show different colors based on their ages.  The lower parts are very red, like Sedona, while the upper park is grey/white.  Hundreds of million years ago there were sand dunes thousands of feet think and that is what is now the upper layer.

On another day we took a horse ride.  This picture shows a necessary preparation step before the ride - coffee and hot chocolate with spectacular scenery.

Beth decided to take a pass on the ride.  This was Matthew's first ride and he was given a mule to ride.

 Matthew's in control of a stubborn mule.

 Bill knows what he's doing, or at least looks that way.

Some additional shots.

 Bill can ride with one hand and take pictures with the other!

If you're interested in seeing more (a video) check out this link to Youtube.

Later that day we took another trail along the canyon floor.  The trail goes to a point where the canyon walls are about 50 feet across from each other.

 It was a hot day and Bill had to cool off his hot feet.  The water was rather chilly.

We enjoyed our time in the valley but we also wanted to explore the eastern approach, since this would be our way to leave the park on the way to Bryce National Park.  The road to the east is noted for having a number of switchbacks and for a one mile tunnel from about 1930.  The tunnel is wide enough for two way car traffic, but when trucks or RVs go through, the rangers allow only one way traffic.  We took this with the Jeep to check it out before we tried it with the RV pulling the Jeep.   There was one way traffic so we had to wait a bit.

 Behind us was an RV with some unusual passengers.  The woman driver had a dog in her lap and a monkey with free reign of the entire RV, both inside and out.  Here she is on the cab.

The east side road was interesting because it goes through terrain that is a higher elevation than the valley.

There is a well known hill with an unusual checkerboard pattern of erosion.

We took a hike on a rim trail just off the road.  The trail was very sandy, based on the erosion of the surrounding sandstone.

We also came across some big horn sheep.

We really enjoyed our time in the park, the scenery, hiking, and other activities. We also enjoyed the little town of Zion outside the park.  The RV park had a pool that was "sun" heated and Matthew and Bill braved it one afternoon.  We also had dinner one evening at "Blondie's Diner," a small mom and pop type of operation.  We also shopped at the local grocery store called Sol.  It was reminiscent of Sedona with lots of gourmet food (and sky high prices).  The store offered about six flavors of sea salt!  We passed on that one.

One last note.  There is a video on Youtube of the road we took to the east entrance of the park.  If you have 3 minutes, check it out.  This is sped up - a 10 mile drive in 3 minutes.  The tunnel park is cool.  I forgot to mention there are no lights, but there are about four "windows" cut through the stone.  Also, there are one or two small tunnels before the 1.1 mile tunnel.  Click here for the link.