On Our Way Home, Via Zion National Park, The Rock Climbers :: Winter Sojourn 2014/15

Copyright 2015, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

THIS POST IS GRAPHICS HEAVY.

Today, Man and I took a little country drive, 250 miles of mountainous roads from Leeds, Utah to Cedar City, over 14, to Utah 89, a little detour to Bryce Canyon National Park, back out to 89, where we headed south, and came home via Zion National Park.

After we paid our fees, we drove through the tunnels, heading west on Utah 9.  We stopped at a pull off after the tunnels.  Everyone was looking back at the tunnel area, of course, but, they seemed to be intently looking at one particular area.

Out came our binoculars and Sony Too.  With a LOT of zoom, the assistance of the steadiness of the back of Jolly and holding my breath, I bring you - - the rock climbers.  Not all photos are in focus, a few mis-fires, but, I am giving you every last photo I took, all 22 of em!  LOL

Man looking for the climbers,  hint, they are about in the middle of the photo from left to right.  Man tells me he thinks they were about 1/3rd of the way up.  

Zoom:

Zoom more:

Zoom more:

Backing off the zoom once again:

And, again, ZOOM:

Back off the zoom once more:

Let's watch the guy in the green t-shirt:

Back to the person in the red, I think it was a guy??

The guy in the green, check out the gear tied to his belt:

Person in the red does not have all those hooks and things:

Dude in the green, starting to move:

Almost looks easy with this much zoom, eh?

Stretching:

This one is a bit out of focus, truth, it was a fat finger, shutter went off a bit unplanned.  Excitement driven.

More stretch:

And, now, we cross the chasm.

More stretching, reaching for that "crack" on the left:

ALMOSTTTTTTTTTTT - - - - - 

Just about:

OK, Carol and Sony Too almost did not get the climber in this shot, sorry:

AND, we made it, err, he made it.

And, Man and I left, we were exhausted and could not wait around to see what these two did next.

Whew, wiping our brows!

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THE Trip, Zion National Park, The Ride Out, What a Finale'

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Our day trip to Zion National Park on May 11, 2011 is coming to an end, we have taken the shuttle bus for the entire route, we have had a visit to the Visitors Center and the Zion Human History Museum, we have been totally overwhelmed by the entire park, the towering formations, some a deep deep red, and others a stark difference, almost white.  Evidence of water falls, and some active water falls.  We saw a few examples of Flora and Fauna, although we did not see big horn sheep or other creatures said to be about the park.  This page reports that there are 68 varieties of mammals alone!

After viewing the movie at the Zion Human History Museum we had a snack on Big Butt's tail gate and started out for the return drive to Bryce, up that curvy switchback road, through the tunnel, taking our time and trying to absorb all the beauty, beauty like this:

Our take on the day, first, of course, for us, a day is never enough.  SIGHHH.  Next, the shuttle is necessary, we so get that, but, we felt we did not get to really see that part of the park very well.  The shuttle services the hikers quite well, but not those of us that gawk.  (LOL)  We came away from that experience a bit disappointed.  However, the drive into and out of the park via the tunnel and the switchbacks was by far, no doubt about it, the best part of the day.  (No, we did not get to drive the far west side of the park, and I just know we could have spent days doing that part!)  I'll say it again, the drive into and out of the park to the east was by far the BESTEST!!  AWESOME!!  BREATHTAKING!!  MEMORABLE!!

After the tunnel, on the way home, the sun sinking into the western horizon gives us different views of the formations, so, even if you think you saw them going in hours earlier, you will still enjoy them going out.

The day ended with a repeat visit to Bryce Canyon National Park's Sunset Point to try to capture, well, snicker, the sunset!  Attempt failed, but, we did not mourn, for we had the fabulous day trip to Zion remember.


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THE Trip, Zion National Park, Part 3

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Let's continue our visit to Zion National Park, which we actually did on May 11, 2011.

We were riding the shuttle bus:

We made another stop at the Lodge area where we took a 1.2 mile hike to the Pools.  Great exercise, great scenery, greatly enjoyed.

That would be the Emerald Pools, and you start your hike by crossing this bridge.

The scenery is spectacular, and I for one, NEVER get tired of all these huge rock formations, NEVER, oh, and that blue sky, how hard is that to take??

But, of course, there has to be at least one panoramic, takes my breath away, same for you??

And, if you have a pool of water, you really need a source of water, how's this for a pretty source?

A little closer it seems all you can see and feel is mist.

I did not get a good photo of the pool, did not walk all the way down there, we were, sighhhh, short of time, and had to head back to the shuttle bus.  The one photo I did take was pathetic.  On our hike out, I did however, get this stunning photo:

* I took a number of flower and fauna photos while on this hike, at least 2 of which have appeared over at Reflection's Flora and Fauna, my Poser, and this lovely flower, what I called the purple jewel of Zion.

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THE Trip, Zion National Park, Part 2

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Let's continue our drive into Zion National Park, the views are magnificent, really!!

Below:  Off to the far left of the photo, see that long dark, almost black streak, tis a waterfall!  Can't swear it was active, even zooming the photo I can't be sure - -

The Visitor's Center is our first stop, we manage to snag a parking spot in the overflow parking area, which gets pretty full the day we are there.  Lunch and potty stops, and then we jumped on the shuttle bus to take us into areas they don't allow cars/trucks to drive.  In the winter months, before April 1st you can drive this stretch, but for now, the only access will be the shuttle or our feet.  The shuttle makes 9 stops along the way, on the ride up there is a very nice taped dissertation on the park and the places the shuttle stops.  Only trouble there is that some times others chat in the shuttle and then it is hard to hear. so we missed hunks of data.

We got off several times, made one short hike up a very steep incline for a photo op of the Court of the Patriarchs, below.

Some more fabulous scenery, names not known, which means, I forgot to record them.  SIGHHH

Next, hiking to Emerald Pools.


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THE Trip, The Day Trip to Zion National Park, The Wild and Wonderful Ride In

CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Our visit to Zion National Park was on May 11, 2011

Wow, what a day!  A 12 hour day!  The weather at Bryce had been frightful, lots of snow squalls (in early May for goodness sake!) and, brrrr, cccooollllddddd (stuttering from the shivering and frozen fingers).  We (especially Man) desperately wanted to work in a visit to Zion National Park.  It is about 85 miles one way from Bryce, so that is almost 4 hours of driving just there and back, plus time to see the park once there.  Knowing us, that means a minimum of 6 hours once in the park.  We opted out of moving Tana over there, as there is no easy way to get there from Bryce with the monster truck and trailer.  There is a tunnel one must get through, and Tana is too long and too tall.  Several of the routes over there, that do not include said tunnel do include some pretty rough driving.  So, we opted for the day trip.

Figuring out how to include Zion was a bit of a challenge.  There is no way we can leave the fur kids for that long, there is no way they can be put in a day care facility due to their delicate health.  They cannot be taken on the bus/shuttle at Zion, nor into any buildings, and only on one hiking path.  They can stay in Big Butt, IFFFFF, the temps are below 65.  That is a lot of parameters to deal with.

The bad weather we had the first several days of our stay at Bryce actually worked to our benefit, as the temps were coolish.  We found one day when the forecast was for the moderate temps we needed and no snow to keep us grounded at Bryce.  We packed food, dogs, dog food, leashes, crates, water, several layers of clothing, the Sony, battery chargers (glad I took them, found out Sony had one battery that was in need of charging, did so on the trip over with Big Butt's invertor), and who knows what else, and we left early.

Below, the route, same both ways.

On the way out of Bryce we stopped and had a great breakfast, yum.  The drive over via 89 (south) was quite different than a lot of what we have been seeing, through a valley, lots of water in the streams, running fast with the snow melt from the higher elevations.  Green grass, cows and horses grazing.  Peaceful, restful.

Then we turned onto scenic route 9 west.  Soon we entered a new and different world.  Sandstone, white and red, different textures and shapes.  Below, this is known as Checkerboard Mesa.  How amazing are those grooves in the mesa??  It is like that all the way around!  Do you want red or black checkers??  LOL

Yes, it is ALL about texture, it just boggles my mind!  Every time, every change, boggles!!

The tunnel is interesting in that there are windows cut in the side so you can see out, of course, if you are going 25 MPH, it is hard to see more than a glance of something red out there.  (That said, friend Nita got a fantastic photo out one of those windows, and despite several attempts, I failed to get a photo, so go look at hers!  They are GREAT!)  I did get this photo when we entered the tunnel:

And, here is the same photo, close up, look at those numbers.  Goodness.  Just for reference, Tana is 13 foot 1 inch in height, and this my dear friends is one reason why we could not take Tana through this tunnel.

After the tunnel you begin a slow, awesome, breathtaking trip down into the canyons, the road is a bit steep, but, it is the switchbacks and the number of switchbacks that is so totally awesome.  The next graphic is a map thanks to GoogleMaps Earth View, showing the road after you leave the tunnel going west.  Note, to get the view I wanted, I had to print the map with north to the bottom of the graphic.  I don't like that, but, sometimes a gal has to do what a gal has to do to tell the story!  LOL  And, this is the second reason Tana and Big Butt are not allowed through this area.  There is just no way we could make these hair pin turns.

By the way, I took over 640 photos today.  I'll share only a very, very small fraction with you in the next few posts.


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