ZION

Welcome to Zion National Park! Zion is within the Colorado Plateau which geologic forces pushed up across Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Wind and water erosion divided the plateau into what is known as the Grand Staircase which encompasses the national parks and monuments we have been visiting. At different geologic times this area was an inland waterway between two oceans, and a wind-swept desert. Evidence of its various lives are everywhere. Here are some sand dunes colored by iron oxide. Very lovely!



Zion is mainly divided into two sections: Kolob Canyons on the north west is accessible from I15 and has one road in to one viewpoint and three trail heads. Zion Canyon is located in the south east corner and accessible from road 9 off I15 on the south and off sr 89 on the east. From road 9 on the south Kolob Terrace road runs through the middle of the park to Kolob Reservoir, but most visitors are drawn to the Canyon. We entered by the east entrance.

This is Checkerboard Mesa, 6670 ft.

The east entrance runs through two tunnels--one short and one a mile long. Over sized vehicles like ours are required to have the assistance of the rangers. We paid $15 for two trips through the tunnel. The rangers stop traffic so the over sized vehicle can straddle the middle of the road.

The tunnels have several vista views within the tunnel. This is the Grand Vista.

Once out of the tunnel, the road twists in 7 switchbacks down the mountain. The "cave" below is the Grand Vista view from the second switchback.

Me taking a picture of me taking a picture of the road.

From April 1 to Oct. 30 the park is accessible by shuttle bus only. We first drove south to the visitors center at the south entrance. There is also the Zion Human History Museum close by. After our visit to the center we filled our packs for the day and boarded the shuttle. The shuttle system was created to reduce traffic congestion, parking conflicts, pollution, noise and resource damage. Each shuttle reduces CO2 emissions by over 12 tons per day. The shuttles visit every viewpoint, and park building every 7 minutes, so this is the way to go.

Zion is full of walks and hikes so we decided to see this park on our feet. First we took the Riverside Walk. This 1 mi. paved trail follows the Virgin River along the bottom of a narrow canyon. As the Colorado formed the Grand Canyon, the Virgin formed Zion Canyon. We had met the Virgin before when we went through the gorge outside St. George. Now we met again and enjoyed our lunch where the river entered a gorge. This is actually a water trail which was closed by high water.

The Riverside Walk goes between the mountain wall and the river. All along the wall water seeps and plants grow in what is called hanging gardens.

Lots of waterfalls and seeps make this a very cool and beautiful place.

We were going to skip Big Bend but got off to ogle the rock climbers.

From my bench view, I would not have known these people were there. They were little ants on the wall.

After watching the crazy people for a while, we jumped the shuttle for the next stop and a short walk to Weeping Rock (not pictured) where the trail let to an undercut ledge. Our view was through the dripping and misting water seeps. The real hiking began at the Grotto. We skipped the roadside Grotto Trail and took the Kayenta Trail along the unpaved climb to the Emerald Pools.

The walk was not too difficult until we cut off to the Upper Emerald Pool Trail. This was .6 mile up about a 6% grade over sand and uneven rock. The pool was formed by this seep in the cliff face.

The pools were named Emerald for the alga. In the late afternoon the sun was down over the cliff rim and the pools reflected the cliff faces, turning them brown.

Upper Emerald pool

Down we went to Middle Emerald Pool. We could hear a frog singing here. To my left the pool dripped

over the ledge to the lower pool. Sorry no pic, slight error.

From the lower pool we continued on the Lodge. The path ran across the Virgin River via foot bridge.

One side and the other from the bridge.

Footsore and very satisfied with our choice of hikes (about 4.5 miles total) we rode the shuttle for one last stop at the museum. This is very small, but very nice with a large theater and good film about the canyon. Some people might prefer to see the introductory film first, but we liked revisiting the canyon this way. Back at the truck we wound our way back to the tunnel. We took a lot of pictures, but I couldn't resist this little hoo-doo on the way out.

Next time, more touring--maybe.

Louise and Duane

GRAND STAIRCASE and BRICE CANYON

(Before you begin this tour with us, be aware that we posted our previous trip today too, so you may want to start there.)


Sunday Duane took me to church in Kanab. We decided that since we were close to Grand Staircase--Escalante National Monument, we would take a Sunday drive that way. Eight miles down the road we turned left onto Johnson Canyon Road. This is an unimproved road that runs north for almost 30 miles through sage desert and Juniper forest. We passed several signs of human occupation, deserted and


modern.

These white limestone cliff were an interesting feature.

This is what we saw most. The draw to this area are the several hiking trails, but since we weren't hiking, we kept on.

Another interesting feature was water. This area was criss-crossed with a number of snow-melt streams, creeks, and rills, many of which ran across the road.

We were excited to see these hoo-doos, but soon found that most of the really interesting features were located in the north east corner of the Monument.

At the end of the road we turned right and continued on the Skutumpah Rd. to the visitors center at Cannonville. This was another Mormon settlement turned village. All of the cities, towns, villages, and hamlets for miles around were settled by the Mormons in this way: Brigham Young picked couples and said you will go there and homestead, and the couples picked up and went. Interesting.

Since it was again chilly and windy, we sat in the truck for our picnic lunch. Across the street we saw this rig. We decided it was the best way to visit all the national parks and monuments in this area!

From Canyonville, we could drive back the way we came (not happenin') or go north to rd 62 and take an afternoon tour of Bryce Canyon. Good choice. Here at last was the interesting and jaw-dropping scenery we were hoping for. This is the land of hoo-doos! The one below was a tiny taste of what was to come.

As usual, we drove through ever-changing scenery (upland meadow here) to the entrance of Bryce.

Once again our parks pass got us in free, and I got my passport stamped. (Unfortunately, none of these places have a pressed-penny machine.) Since the Memorial Day weekend make this very popular park crowded, we were advised to park and take the shuttle. We decided to ride to the end of the park, then get off at each vista in turn. The shuttle is free and circulates every 15 minutes. Unfortunately, this shuttle only circulated around the four most popular vistas at the head of the park. We skipped the third and fourth and got off at the second--Sunset Point.

We walked the short rim trail to the next vista--Sunrise Point. There vistas are around 8ooo feet. We had sunshine with big puffy clouds and a brisk wind which made waiting for the shuttle uncomfortable, so we shuttled back to the truck and drove all the way to the end of the park.

There were several grassy meadows where wildlife crossed the road. We happened along as this herd of antelope was grazing and crossing.

Bryce Canyon is located on the Paunsaugunt Plateau (one of the plateaus that make up the Grand Staircase) and within the Dixie National Forest. It was named after the Mormon settler that homesteaded there. The Bryce homestead was a regular stopping place between Tropic on the north and Canyonville on the south. The canyon was formed by water and ind erosion which sculpted the soft rock and divided the plateau by deep gully's. The plateau on the left was once part of the one where we are standing taking the picture. Now it is 30 miles away.

This formation is called Natural Bridge. Technically, a bridge is formed by water running through rock. This was formed by erosion and is really an arch. In this visitors are invited to get up close and personal with all rock formations. The Under-the Rim Trail runs the entire length of the park. From every viewpoint there are connector trails to it. These trails also serve as short walks to see the various features up close.

Hoo-doos and valley floor. The town of Tropic is somewhere out of sight at the end of the canyon.

We both love the hoo-doos, but I especially like these Creme-Cicle rocks. (You do remember Creme Cicle push-ups, don't you?!) This was our last and best stop of the day. This amphitheater of grottos and spires was truly amazing. There were three more vistas, but we spent the day at 9000' ft with a cold wind blowing and were very cold!

On our way out of the park, we were on the lookout for wildlife. Just before sunset seems to be the ideal time to spot feeding animals, and we weren't disappointed.

Mule deer crossing the road in front of us.

Well pleased with our day of touring we headed home. It was 100 mile of scenic drive and we arrived home with enough daylight left to enjoy it all.

Next time--more shuttle fun.

Louise and Duane

GRAND CANYON--PARASHANT

Friday May 27 we stayed home to rest--sort of. We did drive down to the visitors center to take the little 1/2 trail up the hill behind the 'castle'. The trail switchbacks under these rocks.




Visitors center from the top

Part of the Arizona Strip. This is now mostly sage scrub land. When the Mormons first settled here it was 12000 acres of native grassland. The little diagonal dirt line in front of the road is called the Honeymoon Trail. Mormon couples took this trail to St. George to have their marriages blessed in the temple there.

back of Winsor Castle. When the Winsors were caretakers here a friend commented that they lived in a castle, hence the name.

Saturday we packed our cooler and our friends Gail and Keith into the truck and took off for Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument. This wilderness area is adjacent to the National Park, but has unimproved roads and mostly composting restrooms. It is even less visited than the North Rim. First we traveled paved road through The Strip. Imagine all this in knee high waving grass!

This lone antelope was the only big wildlife we saw all day.

Tuweep is a little composting restroom and ranger station and primitive campground.

Inside the park we found upland meadows full of wildflowers.

Parashant is one of a number of plateau which make up this area. Others include Grand Canyon, and Grand Staircase.

Inside the park we could walk anywhere but here. This is a special kind of 'living soil'. It is unlawful to walk on it and could get you a hefty fine. It contains a kind of fungus that clumps it together and keeps it from eroding as well as adding nutrients. Very fragile.

By this time our paved road had become dirt road, then this--very uneven rocks which made us feel like bobble heads.

Our goal was the end of the road--Toroweap Overlook. From here it' is 3000 vertical feet to the Colorado River.

From this unguarded rim we could see a long strip of the Colorado River, and volcanic features, cinder cones, and lava flows. Also visible is part of the route Powell took looking for his lost crew members. Four hiking trails start from here. They are not for the casual hiker. This area was custom made for off road bikes, Jeeps, and back country hikers.

Time for pix with a jaw-dropping background. Gail and Keith,

and Louise and Duane.

The white water below is Lava Falls which we believe is a class 5. Just after it is a gravel bar. If you click on the pic and enlarge it you should be able to see the 5 or 6 red rafts beached there.

We ate our lunch here, sharing a picnic table (there are 2) and conversation with a nice young couple from St. George. On our way out we took a side trip to Nampaweep. From the parking area is a 1/2 mile trail. The wildflowers were profuse here and made the pinyon pine forest walk very pleasant.

At the end of the trail the end of a lava flow--and one of the largest petroglyph sites on the Arizona Strip.

Here the lava cooled and stopped, then broke off in chunks over time. There are more petroglyphs here. Just click and find.

We made one more stop on our way out. This was the site of a sawmill that made boards for the Mormon Temple at St. George, and for the buildings at Pipe Spring. The lumber was harvested from Mt. Trumbull, seen here far in the background.

By the time we exited the park and got back to the main road it was after 6 pm--AZ time 7 Utah time This is important to note because all the areas we've been touring are all along the border. AZ does not recognize Daylight Savings Time, but Utah does. We were hungry and decided to turn left for Colorado City. This was our first glimpse of this openly polygamous old order Mormon town. We headed for a nice cafe that Gail and Keith knew about. They didn't know that in summer it closes at 4pm! Our other alternative was a carry-out pizza place that closed at 8pm. We found out in a hurry that even though it was in AZ, it went by UT time, since the people that owned it and worked there lived and or did business in UT and it made it easier for them to keep track of the time! Nevertheless, we did get our pizza ( our first sprouted wheat crust) and found a nice little park to eat it. It was a little chilly and windy, but the pizza and the company was warm so we all enjoyed ourselves.

Not done touring yet!

Louise and Duane