A Visit to Zion

Exploring another beautiful national park in Utah.


Quite a contrast from the delicate hoodoos of Bryce to the rugged formations of Zion. Another contrast is the weather. Bryce is refreshingly cool (higher elevation), and Zion was still quite hot at times.


The reddish color is similar...or should I more accurately say that it's mostly burnt orange around there?

The T-shirts we purchased from Bryce and Zion were actually dyed using the natural stone coloring of the area--just like the big boulders in the picture above--and they match our Longhorn shirts pretty well, so... I'll just call it burnt orange. Hook 'em! =)


The roads are even the same color as the surrounding landscape of Mesozoic-aged layers.

Bighorn sheep

We went on a hike that was supposed to be an ambling little jaunt to Lower Emerald Pool.

taking a snack break

Bonus:
We ended up on a much more strenuous hike that led us to ALL of the 3 pools!


Mary Kate patiently waited to see if a little frog would hop onto her leaf at the Middle Emerald Pool.


Her virtue paid off.


A tiny little amphibian


Kids playing at the upper pool

Way down in the corner of the picture

Water and rocks are kid magnets.


Rocks that are IN water are just too much for any child to resist!

river at our campground

In the morning we hiked to the Narrows.


A chilly wade/swim jaunt.


Hiking back from the Narrows
it warmed up


Would you believe that, on a hike in Zion, I almost literally ran right into a grade school classmate I haven't seen since 5th grade? That would be...er, about 3 decades ago. It, indeed, happened!

She looked just like some recent photos she posted of herself on Facebook, so I blurted out, 'Anita!?'

Totally validates Facebook for me.

This weeping rock has some OLD tears.

O-L-D

Some of the water Jimmer collected in his hat and splashed over his head is said to be up to 800-1200 years old coming out of that rock.

Yep, kind of hard to believe.


Sandstone is like a big sponge...except it can't be squeezed, so the water S L O W W W W W L L L Y makes its way out when it finally hits harder stone, like granite.


We're not talking pioneer days old. This stuff is closer to biblical!

And it's on tap at the visitor center for free. There isn't plastic-bottled water for sale in this green-thinking park, so bring your own containers and fill 'er up. You'll need it!

Now leaving...and going down. Way down.

Bryce Canyon

Hoodoos


The bluest sky you'll ever see


A natural Wall Street


Enveloped

Resting


Reaching tree duo


Natural arch


Different jungle gym


The Marys


The monkeys


Colorfully geared

Ready to hike back up


Our crew near the bottom of the canyon

This is where we played a brief game of charades with a kind, foreign tourist who was willing to take our picture. (Four adults acting out, from afar, how to rotate a camera isn't as easy as it may seem!)




Thank you, children, for carrying my water in your CamelBaks.

Learning greater independence in packing and carrying your own gear because your mother rarely carries a purse has served you (and me) very well.

Thanks for the hand sanitizer, Kathleen.
Mary Kate, I thank you for carrying my chap stick.
Thank you, Mike, for the granola bars and trail mix.

Just remember when you hike at Bryce: It's easy going down, tougher comin' up!

On this day 09-16-09, our elevation here was about 9,169 ft.

...at least at some point during the day!

This day was also Grampy's birthday!


Showered with homemade cards


Treated to a rootbeer float.

Have you ever had a rootbeer float on a camping trip? Tastes better.

All food tastes so much better on a camping trip
(especially when enjoyed out of doors in a forest of Ponderosas).

Now leaving...

North Rim

Heading back south a bit from Lake Powell...

...we stopped at the Navajo Bridge on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.


Forever energy


The North Rim spectacle:

A calming sight even for four rambunctious little bodies.



Don't be fooled by the foliage.
Just beyond that tree trunk and bit o' shrubbery is
a very high cliff.

Basically,
straight down.

I recently read about some of the most common reasons for people falling to their death in the Grand Canyon. As you can imagine, overzealous photographers have had their share of falls. Other noteworthy reasons though, that fall into the usual high risk taker category (males between the ages of 19 and 41), tell me that people in this particular group should all make great efforts to resist the urge to 1. urinate off the edge of a cliff, and 2. pretend they're falling off a cliff.

There's a whole book written on this subject called, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon.

You really don't even want to look over the edge on one of these natural (i.e. no restraint features) trails.

But yes, I do suggest that you warm your chilled bones with some yummy tortilla soup,

because you'll probably notice a temperature change at the north rim.

I think cool weather makes all the difference in the world for our loving natures.

See how loving our children are when they're cold?


The spirit (akin to but not quite as sharp as the spirit of Jack Frost) just moved them to snuggle

and get their blood pumping.


A girl with camping hair that now doubles as a shawl--

at least before she gets it all cut off and gives it away to Locks of Love or some other charity.

Won't it make a nice shawl (or wig) for someone in need?

If there was a way to donate eyebrows, she's got a good crop that she could also share.

Hello, favorite pine tree of all time!


The magnifi-scent Ponderosa (a.k.a. Butterscotch Tree)


Can't you almost taste the butterscotch just dripping from this beauty? Well, the drippy stuff is the sap, but the bright orange part between the rugged bark is where you want to give it a sniff. Some think it smells like vanilla. Whatever the opinion, it's fabulous and gives its forest a gloriously sweet fragrance.

Smell all the Rosas you can find. Then pack that scent away in your little gray memory box and pull it out when you need a nature break.

Also, don't forget to file away the sound of the cool breeze blowing through all those long pine needles. It almost sounds like running water!

Onward we go to a most lovely little in-"spiring" city.