Stunning Zion.

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C: We arrived into Zion in the evening and the road in is probably the most awesome road we've ever driven down. Huge mountains towering over us with massive drop offs into canyons to the side. The road continues right down to the base of the canyon and then into the small town of Springdale where we were staying. The sun had gone down by the time we arrived and there was a different kind of crazy scenery - pretty much every building covered in Christmas lights, even the street lights had been lit up to look like candy canes! The town was completely dedicated to tourism, loads of hotels, motels and places to eat. We found a little Thai restaurant and had some excellent Thai curries.

The next day and we were ready to explore Zion properly. The main scenic drive goes through the base of the Zion canyon and there are lots of trails and viewpoints here. We started by driving to the very end of the road and walked as far as we could into the canyon without getting our feet wet! Next we walked up to the Weeping Wall which usually has water running off it but because it as so cold it as covered in icicles! You had to be careful though as every few minutes one would fall off and you probably didn't want to be underneath when it did! We then found the Emerald Pools trail which was a great hike up one side of the canyon to some sweet pools (they weren't very emerald however) and then fantastic views looking back down into and across the canyon. Most of the trails are one way so it was nice to do a round trip with stunning scenery all the way. We finished the day by driving up one of the lesser travelled roads in the park, not quite as dramatic but still lovely views and we met some rather nice cows too.

The next morning we had to drive back up the road we had come in on. This was no hardship though as it was just as beautiful in the full daylight. We did another little trail to a fantastic viewpoint overlooking the whole main section of the park canyon and once again the views were absolutely amazing. Rog found it difficult at times to keep his eyes on the road as every bend delivered another awesome view.

We then travelled east towards Lake Powell at the edge of Glen Canyon, the water was a wonderful blue and made a beautiful contrast against the red of the surrounding rocks. The lake was formed when the Colorado river was dammed about 50 years ago and we saw the Glen Canyon dam which is almost as big as the Hoover dam. We are staying in quite a quirky little motel tonight, tiny rooms by American standards but it has a shared kitchen and it was nice to cook in.

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Photos

Zion Canyon
From Canyon overlook

Weeping Rock
Ice over

Lake Powell
With Wahweap marina