Saturday, April 26, 2014,Hike to Mossy Cave With Kate, Snow in Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, UT

We awoke to some really pretty snowfall. Big heavy snowflakes covered the car quickly but never accumulated on the roads allowing us to venture back into Bryce Canyon National Park, UT, to see it in a different light. There were certainly a lot fewer people milling around the park. 

The red in the hoodoos was very nicely accentuated by the white of the fresh snow. It made for a wonderful photo op (as long as you could keep the camera dry!)

The lodge and all of its associated buildings had a unique wavy roofing style which the snow highlighted.  

Inside the lodge, the roaring fire was very inviting and just a bit difficult to leave. The nice lady at the reservations desk practically insisted on taking our picture - I think she just wanted something to do. I believe she did a fine job given here subject material.

The ranger had said the town of Tropic was a veritable hot spot compared to the park and that seemed like a good idea for today. Leaving the park we thought it would be good to first revisit Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest  It was only a few miles out of the way and the skies looked promising. When we arrived, however, the snow had caught up with us.

Kate claimed her place as "King of the Hill"

Heading down from the plateau this beautifully weathered tree demanded our attention. While we were there another man stopped for pictures. He said the tree has looked exactly the same for as long as he could remember. He reckoned that was more than sixty years.

We saw the same guy in the valley where we stopped to hike to Mossy Cave. He was in the Ranger program for two summers during college and really enjoyed it, but after leaving the Air Force he chose a career as a pilot instead of the NPS. As much as I like the parks, I suspect I would have done the same.

As I snapped the picture below, part of the formation suddenly leaped out at me.

It was Mr. Peabody! I never did see Sherman.

In the tiny town of Tropic, we had a really nice lunch at Clarke's Restaurant. They had really good French fries! We explored the town looking for the lower entrance to the Bryce Canyon trails, but never found it. When the clouds cleared enough we did find beautiful vistas of the snow-covered Aquarius Plateau far to the east.   

An old wooden fence post always makes a good subject for a landscape, especially when there is some nice cloud drama. Of course, when you see a herd of deer it means a quick stop and some more pictures.

Later that night (at 8:00), there was a Ranger talk about the night skies in Bryce. The cloud cover never gave the slightest indication of clearing, so observing was out, but the Ranger did his talk anyway. There was a pretty sizable crowd - maybe 20-30 people. The Ranger said they have two 16-inch scopes they use for public observing. I was very sad to have missed that!

A photo (unsigned) of what we would be missing due to clouds was hanging in the auditorium.

On the drive back to Ruby's Inn RV Park, just outside of Bryce Canyon there were so many deer we lost count! It made the drive home longer and added some excitement to help keep me awake - it was after my bedtime after all.

Friday, April 25, 2014, Ranger Talk on the Geology With Kate, Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, UT

It was another extremely cold morning but determined to see more of Bryce Canyon National Park in Bryce, UT, we (Joani, Kate and I) headed out early, starting at Inspiration Point. What you cannot see in the pictures is the 40 mph wind that must be giving us a wind chill well below 30 degrees. Even with the wind, the view was so incredible we took pictures until we could no longer feel our hands.  

At 11:30 we headed back to Sunset Point for a Ranger talk on the geology of the park. I felt like we heard more about dinosaurs than geology - that was clearly where our Ranger's passions lie.  All of Utah's geology is connected with the different layers exposed in different areas. Joani talked to the Ranger afterward and asked him for a recommendation for further reading. She bought Geology Unfolded, An Illustrated Guide to the Geology of Utah's National Parks in the Park Gift Shop. It was very informative and included several other parks we have yet to visit.   

He's showing us a Velociraptor claw

Later we joined another Ranger for a walk along the rim trail. The very Irish Sean did a great job telling us about the National Park Service and its mission. Some NPS parks are dedicated to the preservation of unique geology while others preserve unique animal or plant life. He actually had us sniffing lots of different plants. We found out that the Douglas Fir has a very sweet scent deep in the furrows of its bark. He was very entertaining and clearly loved his job (he had been with the NPS for more than 29 years.) Later, we found him in several YouTube videos doing similar talks about parks where he previously served.

Enough fun and learning for one day. Even though it was early, it was time to head back to the coach and crank up the furnace in preparation for another cold night.

Thursday, April 24, 2014, Zion National Park With Kate in Springdale, UT

Kate had seen our pictures and researched Zion National Park in Springdale, UT, so she was anxious to see it for herself. It is only about 90 miles from Bryce and we headed out early to maximize our time in Zion getting there around 10:00 am. It seemed like there was a reason to stop around every corner and over every hill. The striking geology did not fail to amaze!

Below you can see, like mother, like daughter. They both like to get "up close and personal" with their landscapes sometimes. You can see there certainly was a lot of color in the different layers.

After the tunnel and at the bottom of the switchbacks, we got out of the car to check out the 80-year-old bridge again. I believe there was even less water in the stream than the last time we were here, but this time there was a crescent moon rising over the mountain that was in the perfect position for a shot by the river's edge.

Of course, we had to stop by the turn into the Scenic Canyon Drive for the standard photos of the Watchman. Note that our friend, Eeyore, got along pretty well with Kate's friend, Pingu. 

The park trams were standing room only, but that was OK since we got off at nearly every stop. At the Weeping Rock stop, we did a little warm-up hike on the short, but very steep trail to see the rock that weeps and the hanging gardens above them. 

After a lot of discussion, everyone agreed on taking the East Rim Trail at least as far as the slot canyon. I forgot just how challenging the trail was - it was very steep for the first mile, before finally leveling out a bit in the canyon. We found every excuse, I mean opportunity, to stop and enjoy the local flora and fauna and geology along the trail. The breaks could almost be considered mandatory since I don't think we had it in us to have climbed the trail any faster.

The slot canyon (maybe named Echo Canyon?) had much less water than before, but it still was a beautiful subject for many photos. I was trying out a new polarizing filter which had the effect of making the sky a deeper blue and just generally saturating colors overall. It is especially noticeable when there are fluffy clouds in the sky.

Heading back down, Kate and Joani were surprised by a young mule deer behind them that wanted to use our trail. It was just as surprised that we were using its trail. Fortunately, it scampered right by us without incident. We watched it continue down the mountain taking several short cuts which allowed him to cover in minutes what would take us another half hour to hike.

He managed to surprise a few other hikers along the way as he continued his downward jaunt.

On the canyon floor, the "cotton" from the Cottonwood trees was blowing in the air looking a little like snow.

Back at the tram stop, we were happy to be able to sit for a while, but it did not take long to stiffen up. We did take the tram all the way to the Temple of Sinawava, but the hiking was extremely limited for the rest of the day. I talked to the woman next to me on the tram who said she was in Anchorage, AK, only the day before. She had taken the red-eye back to Denver the night before and flown to St. George earlier that morning. Now that's some traveling! Lucky for me it was only an hour and a half drive back to the coach where I could have a few Advil and about 10 hours of sleep to recuperate.