Thursday, December 8, 2011

Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park

We got up early to drive to Bryce Canyon National Park. There was a ton of snow! We drove the scenic drive up to the top of the canyon, Rainbow Point. We walked around for a while and took in the panoramic view.

Though the sun was out the temperature was only around 20. You can't tell by the photos.  How epic is this view?

We stopped at every view point, most of them we were alone. There are a few trails into the canyon, but our marathon didn't allow the time it would have taken to hike it. It looked like a good hike though.

One of the rangers told us we were going through the Utah parks at the perfect time, not many people get to enjoy the parks when there is snow on the ground. We agree.
For those of you who have read the earlier blogs you'll remember Logan, the raven who stayed with us in Glacier National Park. Well, he followed us. Josh swears it's him, and I have to agree. He stayed with our car as we drove through the park and then we even saw him in the Grand Canyon.

Zion National Park was our next stop. Amazing!! What a beautiful place. The snow started to disappear and the temperature rose, just a little. The canyons all along the road where magnificent!


The roads were paved in red and the mountains that grew up around us were red and white with green trees scattered all about them, very Christmas like.

About a third of the way into the park, we came upon a tunnel, a very long tunnel. Don't drive through if you're claustrophobic. Throughout the tunnel there are a few windows that you can look out from.


After the tunnel we drove down a very curvy switchback road down into the canyon. Once again we were amazed at the surrounds.
We took the scenic drive though the park and stopped at the picnic area so we could have lunch in the mountains.

The river was beautiful and so were the trees, even though they were bare.
We stopped at the Weeping Rock and hiked up to see the phenomenon. The water drips right out of the side of the cliff.
Because it was cold, the water had froze into icicles. As the sun warmed up the cliff side, the icicles began to fall. We had to duck and weave to stay out of the way of huge ice chunks.
But the risk was worth it, what an amazing sight.
I guess the hike was too much for Josh, he stopped to take a break along the trail.
When we got to the end of the scenic drive we were in a great canyon, surrounded by giant walls of red. You could yell and it echoed all around us. What beautiful parks and such a great day.

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