Zion National Park

Well, finally . . . here is the second part of my December trip!  My little quick romp through Zion!  

I drove through on the highway through the park on my way to Bryce, but didn't stop except to snap some shots from the highway.  I didn't drive through the the park "proper" until on the way back.

On my way to Bryce, I first saw the frozen waterfall and screeched to a halt.  Grabbed my camera and jumped out of the car.

Then I saw the wall of icicles!  Some of these babies were about 2 feet long or longer.  Holy guacamole, batman!  I got as close as I dared. But, it was starting to warm up, and they were beginning to fall.  I had one fall right in front of me so I really had to keep an eye on where the pieces were heading to keep from getting a chuck flung into my shins! That would have hurt!  :)

Along the way you drive through arches . . .

and tunnels . . .

and are treated to some very scenic eye candy.

You turn a corner and come face to face with this . . .

or this . . .

When you see formations like this, you can't help but wonder at the forces, the time and types of changes that were required to create such beauty.  It was tilted this way and that like one of those sand paintings you tilt to one side and then the other to create layers of beauty. Except these took eons to create instead of a few seconds!

On the way home, I did drive through the part of the park that usually requires that you take a tram.  

Even though it was off season, there were still enough traffic that I was not able to stop at some of the spots because there just weren't any parking spots left. 

It made me appreciate that the trams are available during peak times, otherwise, you would never be able to stop and get out to enjoy and take pics.  I was grumbling about having to take a tram in October, but, this certainly cured me of that!

I really didn't spend a lot of time there, but I did do a quick drive through and did do the little hike back to the Temple of Sinawava.  But, one day, I am going to go prepared and actually hike further than the spot where the trail hits the river.  I really would like to see the narrows sometime!

Since there wasn't any snow to speak of, and I had just been there a couple of months ago, there wasn't really a lot more that I could add to those pics I had already taken in October.  Still enjoyed it.  It was still beautiful, but the pics would just have been pretty much duplicates of what I had already done.

And, since the time of day was approximately the same as well, I just felt like I was being repetitious.

But, still, just to be able to spend time in natural cathedrals such as these, is well worth the time and effort to do so!

So, I hope you enjoyed this little trip through Zion!  I am thinking one of these days I might share some of the photos I took on a trip up highway 1 to Victoria/Vancouver Canada that I took several years ago.  It is a beautiful drive!  I wish I could do it again, soon!

I'll leave you at this peaceful little spot on the Virgin river for now. Hope to see you back here again soon! ! !