Zion National Park

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We arrived late in the afternoon at Zion. The Watchman Campground was a little “close to other campers” but our campsite was between two canyons of Navaho Sandstone and views were spectacular. Zion has huge (the largest I have ever seen) rocks. The top layer is Navaho Sandstone (laid down in the Jurassic Period) that is much younger than any the rocks we saw at the Grand Canyon. Under this sand stone is a layer of Red Sandstone created in the Triassic Period (still younger than the Paleozoic rocks on the rim of Grand Canyon). The rocks still contain beautiful swirls from the sands that covered this area in the Jurassic (larger than the Sahara Desert of today). Two to Three thousand feet of sandstone stand in the canyons. Debi and I hiked trails along the base of the sandstone cliffs where water seeps through the sandstone and creates and ecosystem that is like a mini Hawaii in the middle of the desert.

On Monday we watched the sun rise over the canyon and then went for a bike ride up Zion Canyon. The road is closed to cars but bikes are encouraged. What a great way to look at the canyon at your own pace. The mornings at Zion are crisp and cool but as soon as the sun hits the canyon, the temperature increases rapidly and can be uncomfortable even in mid May. We packed up as the temperature slowly increased and headed for Brice Canyons about 80 miles away.

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