ZION NATIONAL PARK

It is hard to imagine the diversity of impact of water, wind and ice on this land, that is going to be revealed over the next week starting with Zion National Park.  It is red, it is sheer and it is magnificent.  Best of all is it is accessible to everyone.  They have a system of shuttle buses that keeps traffic off the one road along the floor of the park, stopping at every vantage point.  It follows the course of the Virgin River up to where no road can go any further as the canyon narrows to only the width of the river.

Once again everyone is doing an activity from keen photographers waiting for sunrise or sunset;  hikers and rock climbers; or just some out for a stroll.  We easily spent 6 hrs in the canyon taking walks or just admiring the grandeur.  At night we caught the bus up and back and were shown star constellations and the milky way, as well as some deer and racoon.  There is a lot to enjoy here and it is well supported by the town of Springdale, Utah.

Best of all is the drive east on the Mt Carmel Highway towards the Grand Canyon.  A tunnel completed in the 1930's travels more than a mile through the mountain with windows along the way peering down and across to the sheer, red, sandstone cliffs.