ZION NATIONAL PARK (click on first picture for slide show and larger pictures only)

We took a road trip this year and logged about 7000 km. driving from site to site in the US. Zion was the first park we stopped at. The rocks were amazing, the town (Springdale) in the park was very interesting with lots of galleries and shops to explore as well as some great restaurants. We were  a bit disappointed in the actual park as we'd heard so much and seen such beautiful pictures but two things were against us, there hadn't been much rain so the water features were quite low and to see the truly amazing parts you have to be able to do some strenuous hikes into the back parts.  Hope you enjoy the pictures, only one has been altered by photoshop and that was to remove some car window, as the colors are incredible on their own

Above is the approach to Zion Park, looks promising doesn't it. Below is one of the many rock faces that tower over the park. Most of my pictures were taken through the car window while we were moving so it there is a bit of blur or sunspots please excuse it.

To get into the park you go down into the valley and when you leave you drive up numerous switchbacks that seem like they'll never end.

This is the entrance to the Emerald Pools hike.



































See the little sprinkle of water coming down from the top middle of the picture? Normally that is a waterfall that you can walk under.

Here is what it looks when you do walk under. It was so hot that everyone was looking forward to some cool water on them but it was not enough to do the trick. I didn't take a picture of the Emerald Pool because it was a pool of stagnant water, not impressive.

Sunset from our motel area.

Sunrise with some rain clouds coming in, time to leave.
                                                                                                                                                                 

There are a couple of tunnels through the mountains. This is not the longest, the long one is dark and very long so my pictures didn't turn out. This one looks pretty however and a tunnel is a tunnel.

Some of the rockscapes below.

This is called Checkerboard Mountain and it is quite impressive to see. It's obvious where it gets it's name from although why it is different from all the other rock around it puzzles me.

A close up of what it looks like. It is the only one in the area that looks like this.