Aug. 26, 2014 --- Zion:
Time to hit another National Park.  Only about 40 miles from St. George, this seemed like a short ride.  We still managed to spend most of the day exploring the 229 sq. mile park.  This was another $25/car entrance fee (good for a week), but we were able to use Ken's senior pass to get in free.

 Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches and is mostly made up of Navajo Sandstone.

  During the summer, they don't allow anyone to drive their own vehicles into the main areas of the park.  So we parked by the visitor's center and jumped on one of their shuttles.  It was a neat system.  They had it in Bryce, too, but it wasn't required there.

 Just admiring some of the pretty flowers in the park.

  At various times warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments covered the area.  Streams in the area take rectangular paths because they follow jointing planes in the rocks

 The geology of Zion includes 9 formations from over 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation.

 The road the shuttles take into Zion Canyon is 6 miles long.

 The nine exposed geologic formations in Zion National Park are part of  the Grand Staircase--just as they were in Bryce.

 Uplift affected the entire region, known as the Colorado Plateaus, by slowly raising these formations more than 10,000 feet higher than where they were deposited.   Rivers then cut canyons into the area.

An elk grazing along the road

 The last stop before the shuttle turns around is at the Temple of Sinawava. You can see The Narrows by hiking along the paved, wheelchair accessible Riverside Walk for one mile from the Temple of Sinawava.  We decided my knee was going to do this hike.

 Seven trails with round-trip times of half an hour (Weeping Rock) to 4 hours  (Angel's Landing) are found in Zion Canyon.  We only managed to do the Riverside Walk.

Interesting bird we saw along our "hike".

 The canyon narrows and a foot-trail continues to the mouth of the Zion Narrows, a gorge as narrow as 20 feet wide and up to 2,000 feet tall.

 To continue up the Narrows means walking in the Virgin River.  Since we only had the shoes we were wearing, we elected to not go any farther.

 We saw many chipmunks along the trail. 

 Another view of the Virgin River from Riverside Walk.

 Some of the flora along the way.

Paintbrush?

 Getting artsie with shutter speed. :)

it really was a beautiful and easy walk.

 another interesting wild flower.

 view of the trail from one of the bends.

 Ken leaving me in his dust!

 Back to the shuttle stop at the Temple of Sinawava.  It is right about here I felt the all-too-familiar "twang" of a muscle pulling or tearing in my calf!  I had just finished physical therapy on that condition in my left leg, now with the stress of the torn cartilage in my left knee, my right calf decided to tear.  I was not a happy hiker, now having to hobble with both legs!

As shown here, it was not a good day to hike the Narrows anyway.  In fact, about a half hour after we got back here, it started pouring down rain and the news that night talked about flash flooding in Zion.  

Just another view of the many colors of the park!

 Back on the shuttle, we road straight back to the Lodge in search of food.

The lodge has a variety of accommodations and is the only place inside Zion to eat; either in the main dining room (Red Rock Grill) or at the Castel Dome Café (open seasonally). 

 We headed to the main dining room.

 they had a buffet, too, but it seemed smaller then at Bryce and we were ready to try something from the menu.  Like this panko crusted fish and chips which were very good.

 and a tasty rueben sandwich.

 At first we were sat outside on the patio, but that's when the downpour hit and everyone ran into the dining room.

 1933 brought great change to our county and Zion National Park. The Great Depression was ruling the country with a 25% unemployment rate and many people simply struggling to survive. In the midst of this national tragedy, a plan was developed by newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt to revive the people of this country and to improve our public lands. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was developed to take young, unemployed men and put them to work on public lands while providing them with skills needed to obtain future employment.  During their nine years at Zion they built and improved many of the Zion Canyon’s trails, created parking areas, fought fires, helped build campgrounds, built park buildings, and reduced flooding of the Virgin River.  Why can't our current presidents come up with such a plan???!!!!

Can't have a visit to Zion without checking out the lodge.

After lunch, we boarded the shuttle again and rode around the park one more time before heading back to our car.

The shuttles even had a map in them telling you what was at each of the stops.

 All these unlabeled photos were taken from the shuttle usually while it was moving. 

 

After riding the shuttle, we hopped back in our car and took the  the Zion-Mount Carmel highway.  The 28-miles (rt) road was a joint effort, between the National Park Service, the state of Utah, and the Bureau of Public Roads.

 Because of the significant planning, skills, materials, and overall design and engineering, the Zion Mt. Carmel Highway and Tunnel are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and, in May, 2012, designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

 All along the Zion Mt. Carmel Highway are plenty of pull offs to enjoy more beautiful views of Zion.

 We even saw some Big Horn sheep which were reintroduced in the 1990s.

Rain clouds moving in again.

 More Big Horn Sheep.

 Even a few little hoodoos.

 Despite the many challenges that the crews encountered building this highway back in the 1920's, the most significant challenge of the project was the construction of the 1.1-mile long tunnel through the heart of the sandstone cliffs to connect the new road from the east with the switchbacks to the west.

 We drove the 14 miles one way on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, then turned around and drove back through. 

After about 9 hours in Zion and a series of heavy downpours, we headed back to St. George.

Again, I would have loved to have hiked more, but we still found plenty to see by car.  I was surprised at how different Bryce and Zion are even though they are relatively close to each other.  I hope to get back that way some day and check out Arches, Cathedrals, and more parks in the area as well as explore these parks some more.
We made it back into St. George near sunset and went to Brick Oven pizza for a tasty pizza and brew.

After dinner, we tried to hit the pool and jacuzzi again, but a big thunderstorm decided to hit.  Can't really complain, though,---during our whole 3 weeks vacation, this was the only day we really had any rain and even though we had a few days of upper 90's, it wasn't bad up in the National Parks.