Zion National Park Day Two

Zion Day Two

I Planned on one more day at Zion but entered from the East side this time, because I respotted the Motorhome in Kanab.  More central to what will come…I hope.  The East side drive is a great drive and worth the effort.  The scenery is a cross between Snow Canyon and the West side of Zion to some extent.  I’m going to say, It doesn’t seem as fractured.

Anyway, I’ll show some more of that  when leaving but my first stop was going to be this Grand Overlook where you could see down thru All of the Major Canyon.

 

There are two tunnels, the west one (still at the east entrance) is over a mile long and this Hike to the overlook starts just before I enter the tunnel from the East.  So I park and decide just to get a picture of the road leading to the tunnel.  by the way, I did not take this picture....I borrowed it from, well, you'll see.

I was trying to get a shot off before a car came but to my surprise, a car came!  And I got a picture of it!  That car pulled over into the parking lot and I looked into the driver window and there was…

Deb!!

What, who?  

Deb Clem just moved into the park in California this year and we have been hiking friends ever since.  I knew she would be coming on a similar path but neither of us had a schedule.  We just collided by chance!!

She was happy to see me!!  Actually, and this is hilarious, the only reason she stopped was she had been handed a batton by the Ranger at the start of the tunnel.  She was supposed to give it to the end of the tunnel ranger, but he wasn’t there at his booth….because he had to clean his face after swatting a bug!  Ok, start putting some of this together.  We both stopped at the same spot, at the same time because of coincidences. But I had left California a good week earlier!  Woo woo stuff?  Coincidence?  Fate?  Or just damn luck!

So she got the batton back to the ranger and we took a hike! (I mean we went for a hike!)  Birds of a feather Flock together…

This hike is supposed to subject you to all the major landmarks of the park, looking down river from east  to west (north to south)

But first we have to get to the overlook….over there?

While looking down there!

And squeezing under this!  Cliff dwellers were in this area and probably loved this spot.

Deb is pointing to….everything but the West Temple is that Plateau on the far left.

And this is called….BIG, Intimidating, and right above me, but awesome.

We made it to the overlook.  This is a Panoramic of Zion Canyon where someplace down below are tons of tourist.  We are not alone here but it isn’t crowded

From the East Entrance, after driving thru the tunnel, you enter this set of switchbacks down into the Canyon.  The overlook gives you a great perspective of all of this.

I’m sure a picture from here is in every brochure on Zion.

After Deb got on her way north, I went thru the tunnel and started down the switchbacks . I stopped to get this picture of the overlook from below.  Under that cloud above that dark ledge is the overlook

See us up there?  Well, not us but others representing us in kind

There are so many good shots of scenery.  If you ever do this, get a better camera than mine.  I have this Digital SLR but it is cheap.  iPhones take as good pictures as this with less work.

Just to let you know, Zion is like Disney Land.  If you time it wrong, this is what you do.

The ONLY way to get around in Zion is the shuttle…or walk, a long walk along the river.  I did a leg that was short, a mile or two

and got my rewards

And you see this unobstructed.  I don't know if your monitor screen or phone screen is like mine, but if I don't like the exposure on the picture I just tilt my screen and walla!  Maybe not, huh?

So this day was really just meant to see the east part of Zion and how different it looks

The mountains are more rounded as you come out of the Crack but still layered in years of deposits

And where it has fractured away is still has lines going multiple directions.  Here the rock is less reddish though.

It is evidently still the same make up of Navaho sand stone, it just doesn’t have the hematite or iron component so much.

Well, looks like the crowd has thinned out and gone home and I still have some other neat places to show you so that’s it for Zion.  Next stop is the North Rim and then just a short little treat before Bryce Canyon, if I make it!!