Zion to Bryce Canyon National Park
Everyone has seen the iconic photos of Delicate Arch, Bryce Canyon, and the Virgin River in Zion, but planning such a trip can seem difficult. Some try to see all five national parks in a week, which means too much driving and not enough time to do the premier hikes in the parks. We decided to do Bryce and Zion in winter (January) when there would be less human traffic but a possibility of a lot of snow. It was perfect. Few tourists, lots of wildlife, and spectacular scenery.
We spent two days at Zion exploring and then two days at Bryce Canyon, before heading south through Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, with a side trip to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. Couldn't have been a more relaxing, uncrowded and awe inspiring trip.
Snow was only heavy at Bryce and nearby. Zion and south to Lake Powell was mostly snow free. I wouldn't want to do this trip in summer as the warnings are everywhere about crowds, traffic jams, etcetera. To follow my latest adventures follow me on instagram or twitter. Its takes a while to get posts up on facebook and on these blogs and websites.
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Leaving Springdale, Utah and Zion National Park we took the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway east across the switchbacks and mountain roads of Zion National Park.
The peaks in this area rise as high as 7,709 feet (2350 m) at The East Temple
The roads are red throughout Zion National Park
The cliffs (no guardrails) will take your breath away if you look too often or try to take photos while driving. Who would do that?
There are two large tunnels through the mountains. There are air holes like this (above) carved out of the side of the tunnels. This gave me a little scare seeing the huge fault in the rocks just outside the tunnel air shute. Traffic only moves one-way when larger vehicles are trying to pass so expect this to be a long journey in summer.
At the end of the tunnels are ranger stations to collect the toll for large vehicles and to stop traffic coming the opposite direction. The roadway is obviously very narrow. We encountered no other vehicles on a very cold, windy, and occasionally snowy late February day.
Looking down from the Canyon Overlook Trail at one tunnel. I only climbed up far enough to get some photos. It was very icy and I did not have proper shoes for navigating difficult trails carved into slick rock.
As we exited the last tunnel and came out on the lee side of the mountains we noticed there was definitely less snow and it was slightly warmer.
The roads were still icy, especially near frozen waterfalls, and the back end of the vehicle would periodically shimmy.
Above, Checkerboard Mesa (6,670 feet; 2033 m) is so named because the striations in the rock (which are mostly covered by snow in this image) resemble a checkerboard.
Above, we encountered a lot of these Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) throughout Zion National Park, generally at lower elevations foraging on whatever grasses they could find. We saw a few Elk (Cervus canadensis) at higher elevation and some Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) mostly on the east side of steep rocky areas.
After leaving Zion National Park we kept heading east until we came to Utah 89 at Mt Carmel Junction. We took 89 north to Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park.
There are farms all along this route and as we headed north the snow became more persistent and deeper. There were some sights to stop and investigate like this 8-foot tall Native American Sculpture at Zion Lodge and this herd of Bison (below).
Bison (Bison bison, sometimes referred to as "Buffalo") seem pretty docile but there are lots of warning signs not to approach them too closely. While they might seem friendly, at 1,400 pounds (635 kg) they could easily hurt or kill a human by accident.
Humans were almost exclusively accountable for the near-extinction of the American bison in the 1800s. At the beginning of the century, tens of millions of bison roamed North America. Humans slaughtered an estimated 50 million bison. This overhunting reduced Bison population to hundreds. Today the population has rebounded to around 150,000 but they are still hunted in the west if they exit protected parks or fenced areas.
The Hoodoos of Red Canyon
Located in the Dixie National Forest near Bryce Canyon National Park, Red Canyon is the most diverse area of the National Forest. Red sandstones grab your attention as you enter Red Canyon. Especially unique are the hoodoos. Here, red hoodoos line the roads rather than being concentrated in amphitheater-like formations (like in Bryce Canyon). By definition a hoodoo is a natural column of rock found in western North America organized in often fantastic form. In Red Canyon, often larger rocks sit precariously atop smaller rocks forming these spectacular hoodoos.
13 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, Red Canyon is located on Scenic Byway 12. If you're heading to Bryce Canyon from Zion National Park you have to pass through this section of hoodoo-laden "forest."
The short tunnels of this stretch of Scenic Byway 12 are otherworldly for someone from Florida.
Below, a spectacular section of hoodoos in Red Canyon.
As we traveled further west toward Bryce Canyon National Park the weather turned significantly cooler and snowier. At the entrance sign I didn't think it was all that cold (with 6 layers of clothes and a wool sweater), but it would soon get much colder as we traveled up to almost 9,000 feet (2,750 m). More on that in my next post all about Bryce Canyon National Park.
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photo: @ayce09
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