I will start this post with an apology. I tried to reduce the number of photos in the galleries but these two National Parks (Zion and Bryce National Parks) have so much gorgeous and unique landscapes that it just was not possible. So I am sorry for overwhelming your senses.
River Deep, Mountain High
We’ll start with Zion NP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_National_Park Located in the south west of Utah state just above the Grand Canyon, Zion is noted for it’s huge, red, vertical cliffs that nature produced out of the Navajo Sandstone here. We visited for a day and enjoyed spectacular scenery in the 15 mile (24km) valley with 800 foot cliffs towering above us and this is just a small part of the 230 sq mile NP. Zion has a way of making you feel very small indeed.
Getting there.
Getting down into the heart of the valley is a wonderful drive. After you pass through the NP gates (Our Annual “America The Beautiful” National Parks Pass has paid for itself twenty times over at least) the first feature you see is a chequer board hill of monumental proportions. At this stage we’re still getting to the valley but just the same the features here are weird and wonderful. The colours here are mostly sandstone yellow and pine tree green. A ranger was on hand here for a chat and to answer our questions.
Tunnel Visions
From there we proceeded down the valley road to find ourselves on the end of a long line of cars waiting for our turn to traverse through the tunnels. (More precisely at the second tunnel.) This tunnel is 1 mile long and due to its relatively small diameter they were only allowing traffic through one direction at a time. The tunnel descends through the mountain and because it has no mechanical ventilation, at several places the engineers have broken through the cave wall to the fresh air outside. We wish we could have stopped to look out of those ‘windows’ but stopping is a definite ‘no-no’ so glimpses of what was to come flashed by as we passed through this man made tube.
No Warning
When you get to the end of the tunnel they should place a sign saying “Be prepared to be stunned”. What we hit when we exited the tunnel was a matchless combination of nature at its’ glorious best and man’s attempt to scare the ‘you-know-what’ out of you with a steep, windy, no fence with a near vertical drop, zig-zag road to the bottom of the canyon. Wow! It just hits you in the face. You can see in one photo two of the ‘windows’ in the mountain wall and that was taken still only one third our way down to the valley floor. In the pics that follow have a close look and you’ll see the roadway winding and twisting below us.
Isolated? No Way.
When we got to the village we found to our chagrin that the isolation of Zion doesn’t stop the world from visiting. We happened to have picked a Saturday when they were celebrating Octoberfest which would have been great if we had lodgings in the park. There’s no way you could have a drink then drive these roads home safely. There were a gazillion people there and parking was at such a premium that parking (even kerbside) was $20/day. We luckily realised that a local shop was also charging $20 but you got the parking voucher by spending that money in the shop so we bought lunch (check out the thickness of the sandwiches) and parked for free.
A Ride in the Valley
After eating we fought our way through the crowd and got to the end of a queue we estimated had at least 600 people all waiting for the shuttle bus to the valley proper. Because of the delicate nature of the park and the sheer number of cars vehicles are not allowed up the valley but National Parks provides a free hop on-hop off bus that stops at points of interest up and down the valley. Fortunately the 2 carriage shuttles come every few minutes and hold almost 100 people at a time so we didn’t really have that long to wait. Keep in mind as you browse the photo gallery that many of the photos were taken from the inside of one of these crowded shuttles.
Nature Impresses Again
I won’t bore you with long narratives about the sights. Just enjoy the pics. I will tell you though of the encounter with some condors in the park which the rangers were watching. The rangers had set up telescopes for us all to see and I managed to snap a pic with my phone through a telescope eye piece. That condor (in close-up) is the 1000th California Condor species known to be alive. It is part of a rescue mission that started with just 22 surviving birds back in 1982. As we watched this young bird both of its parents arrived and in the 2nd photo after the telescope shot you might be able to make out the father feeding the young one on top of the rock in centre picture. The link here makes interesting reading. https://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/nature/condors.htm
Two Deer For Us
Back at the ranger HQ Shane and I were wandering around checking out the place when we stumbled on two wild deer in the bushes just behind the HQ building. They have such little fear of humans that we could get within arms reach before they felt threatened enough to move. Most of the photos from this point are of the sights on our way home. It was a fantastic day in a wonderfully unique place. Anyway here’s a video for you to watch. https://youtu.be/pQlV-ohm448
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Not Enough? Cop This.
If Zion NP wasn’t scenic enough for you then you’re hard to please but I think I can satisfy your hunger with Bryce National Park our next visitation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon_National_Park Again a good part of the day was the trip to the park. Besides some unusual shops we passed a paddock of bison by the side of the highway. As we drove alongside a trout filled creek the hillside showed patches of lush greenery before we arrived at the start of the park. We knew we were getting close to Bryce when the Hoodoos began to appear on the roadside.
What Are Hoodoos?
We first saw hoodoos back in Big Bend NP in Texas http://volitans.net.au/2019/03/ridiculously-sublime/ but the ones on the Rio Grand were nothing compared to the thousands of spires we were to see here. Basically hoodoos are formed when the softer layers of rock lying under a harder surface layer are eroded gradually forming pinnacles of rock towering above the ground. These can range from inches to hundreds of feet high. Seeing a few in one place is wonderful but at Bryce National Park there are thousands of them and they are huge. These towers are awe inspiring and we were just stunned when we first drove up to them. Like Zion we were on a shuttle bus through the park and from start to finish we just couldn’t stop taking photographs.
Just Enjoy The View
I have said it a thousand times, the camera diminishes the power in so many photos so when you are looking at these pictures look to see if there is something to give you a sense of scale. I try to include a person or item in my photos to do just this and once you see the scale you begin to get an idea of just how big these towering pinnacles are.
Walking the Rim
There is a photo of the sign marking Inspiration Point and another for Fairyland Canyon. We walked right around the rim of this huge amphitheatre, some 2 miles, and as you move around the rim the view changes radically and you see different spires in different lights. All of the photos between these signs are from that walk. Bryce NP is such a fantastic place to visit.
Homeward Bound
We had lunch at the lodge at Bryce then caught a shuttle bus back to our car and headed for home after what was a fantastic day at a fantastic location. Just another day in an American Iconic landscape.
Cheers for now
Garry & Shane