Lan and I took a trip to Utah over the Memorial Day weekend (end of May) 2005. We saw rocks, a lot of rocks. However, many of them were very pretty.
On the way
We camped overnight at Kanarraville not far from the north entrance which was exciting if only because it was the first time we used our tent, bought soon after our trip to South Dakota in 1996! We weren't really prepared for how cold it was at night.
At a rest stop by I-70 in UtahSan Raphael Canyon - another rest stop by I-70
Zion National Park
The crush of people has forced the Park Service to ban private vehicles and introduce buses instead which works wonderfully. At Zion, you are in the valley looking up, way up. I think it is 2000ft (600m) down from the land outside the park and much warmer. Too warm in fact; July and August must be unbearable.
Waterfall near Temple of SinawavaGreat White ThroneView from the path to the Weeping RockWeeping RockWildflower. Let me know if you can identify it.Lan, hot and tired, finds refreshing waterfall.The Virgin River. It doesn't seem big enough to carve a canyon this large.The Three Patriachs.Come back in a million years and you might see an arch.Rock apparently oozing near the east entrance.Also near the east entrance. Note the color of the road.Did we really pay $70 for a night at this hotel in Panguitch?
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon is now my equal favorite National Park (with Arches. It is beautiful and unusual.
The first photo below was a panorama of “Queen's Garden looking from above.” but the Java applet required to view it no longer works and in any case, Google's StreetView has many excellent views of the canyon such as this one and you can see what a remarkable landscape it is. I can't find the exact location where my photos were taken which I later stitched together to make one large (2.1MB!) picture from which a .mov file was made.
In the QueenInteresting twisted tree truckThe view from Rainbow Point (over 9000 ft).Natural BridgeBryce Point (or was this Inspiration Point?). Either way it was stunningly beautiful.The cabin we stayed in at Teasdale. Just $4 more than a tent site, security from the wind and no setting up or taking down.
Capitol Reef National Park
We visited this Park because it has a star rating in the AAA guide for Colorado—and because we had to drive past the front gate to get home from Bryce Canyon. While not as spectacular as the other two, it was a worthwhile diversion.
Wildflower. Can anyone identify this?Somewhere in the parkSomewhere else, a little further in.Somewhere else nearby the other somewhere else.Interesting tree. It’s resting.On the way out. Same as the way in but we saw it going in this direction.
