Zion National Park is about 78 miles from Bryce and is part of the Escalante Grand Staircase which takes in a number of our National Parks, like steps going up. The Eastern entrance to the park invovles going through a number of natural tunnels as well as a 1.1 mile man-made tunner through a mountain - quite awesome! They were doing road reconstruction and paving so the usual turnouts for scenic views were closed or full of heavy equipment. At some portions of the road we had to wait for oncoming traffice to pass on the single lane highway. That provided us a time to read up on the park, take some pictures and just chat with fellow travelers. Nobody was in a hurry, and we even saw some bighorn sheep that came down the mountain to see what we were up to. In one shot of the top of a canyon there are several hikers who made it up there after a very difficult climb. We also saw people preparing to scale the surface of the canyon in several locations. They have got to be nuts!
I decided to take the shuttle bus, the only way to see the park in the summer, to the last stop to do the 3 mile hike along the Virgin River, where it becomes the "Narrows", where you actually have to walk in the water to get through the canyon. There was a huge thunderstorm the other day so they advised that those who might have difficulty walking in the swollen river should probably forgoe that part. I followed their advice and had a most enjoyable walk in this part of the park which is green and cool and home to all kinds of water plants and small animals. Even though it was almost 100 degrees the air and shade in the canyon along this walk made it quite bearable. Here are some of the shots I took along the way. I even convinced a couple from Italy to take my picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment