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Published: April 12th 2007
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Bryce Canyon Hoodoos
April Snowstorm View My busiest time of the year is typically around the “National Association of Broadcasters” conference in Las Vegas, NV in the spring. These six or so days (including a weekend) are very long days that go from 7:00 AM to past midnight everyday, so in order to prepare physically and mentally for the marathon, I usually take a day off prior to the show and visit one or two of the amazing places that are within driving distance from Las Vegas.
This year, the choice was to go to Mount Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. So, in order to have adequate time for the visit, it was critical to leave Las Vegas very early in the morning (around 6:00 AM local time). One of my colleagues from China, Sam Yeung, joined me in this one-day trek through Nevada, Arizona, and Southern Utah.
Even at that early hour in the morning, traffic can be a problem in Las Vegas but once we left the city behind, the traffic was not a problem and we made very good time to the first of the parks, Mount Zion. Once there, we left our rental car in one of the parking
lots within the park and boarded the local shuttle (a two-car bus/train) making periodic rounds through areas of the park that are closed to normal traffic.
Our first stop was in the area of Canyon Junction where we followed two of the scenic trails to their corresponding destinations. The first one, was “Weeping Rock”, an area were spring-fed water and other natural erosion and mountain-forming forces have created a unique natural alcove with an ecosystem with ferns and other plants around the large crevice in the side of the mountain. Because the climate was still relatively cold (not quite full spring yet), the greenery was not yet in full force in this area, but the view from the site was still quite impressive.
The second destination was “Hidden Canyon”, which required a more strenuous hike up one of the walls of the mountain. Sam was a bit reluctant to start the climb at first but perhaps the fact that I was carrying a much heavier load with my camera gear, compelled him to take the lead up the mountain without complaining at all. Along the way, we found many other people who were climbing the path at a
more casual pace than we were. The view from the top was worth the effort. We stayed there around twenty minutes before starting our descent. We visited a couple of other places deeper in the canyon before returning to our car to head for Bryce Canyon National Park.
In route to Bryce Canyon, we stopped to have lunch at Mount Carmel Junction, a small town along the way. After our meal, the jet lag finally took a toll on Sam and he was knocked out for the rest of the drive to our destination.
The road just before the National Park is full of very interesting rock formations due to the relentless wind and water erosion. I stopped the car several times to capture images and enjoy the incredible landscapes. About this time, I noticed that heavy clouds were closing in and the temperature was dropping quite fast, in clear indication that a downpour was imminent.
I had not driven more than a couple of miles from my most recent picture-taking stop when I realized that large ice balls hitting the windshield! The ice gave way to large snowflakes that very quickly started to accumulate on the
sides of the road. By the time we reached the gates of Bryce Canyon National Park, the landscape had changed from the deep orange hoodoos and canyons to a more abstract mix that was punctuated by rapidly accumulating snow. As we entered the park, there were already several inches of snow on the ground. Sam and I were very surprised to be in the middle of a major winter storm in April.
Though we were not prepared for winter weather, we witnessed an almost surreal view from the rim of Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos and other rock formations below were accumulating snow in a way that formed strange patterns against the bright orange hues of the canyon’s rocks.
I would have liked to follow the paths to the lower part of the Canyon, but the snow and ice were making walking around very hazardous, even on the flat areas around the rim. Besides the difficulty moving around, the snow started to fall hard and visibility was reduced considerably. We enjoyed the view and captured a few images as long as our not-so-warm clothes allowed it and then we started our long drive back to Las Vegas.
This
time, we used an alternate route that would take us to Interstate Highway 15 in a more expedited way. Unfortunately, the crossover road, State Road 14, had more climbs and descents that I remembered and the ice accumulated on its surface was creating some hazards for the various vehicles not equipped with snow tires.
Conditions would have been actually quite manageable if not for some of the other drivers that were obviously not used to driving in wintry conditions. At one point, a driver in front of me got so nervous about the ice that suddenly slammed on his brakes, sending his car spinning out of control over several meters (he was lucky enough not to collide with anything in its way down). I was forced to do some crazy controlled sliding myself in order to avoid colliding with him once his car came to a stop. I did not remain behind him for much longer and the rest of the way to the interstate highway was without incident.
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You took some beautiful photos! I'm going to be at Zion and Bryce later in September and am hoping for some good photos as well (minus the snow you had)! Just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your photos. Very, very pretty.