I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes

For me, being among mountains is always an experience that is both humbling and uplifting.  It's been many a long year since I would have described myself as conventionally religious, but I always felt a strong emotional response to the Psalmist's words (quoted in the title).  The author, whether King David or some other person, certainly shared similar feelings.

But then, there are mountains and there are mountains.  Sometimes, you can find yourself at close quarters in a place where the only thing to do is to look up -- look way up -- because the tops of the mountains are farther away vertically than they are laterally.  Zion National Park in southern Utah is such a place.

The glorious centrepiece of the park is Zion Canyon.  It's been a place of deep significance time out of mind for the Paiute tribe, whose traditional lands include this place of wonder.  Indeed, the broad natural amphitheatre at the northern end of the scenic road is called The Temple of Sinawava, in tribute to the primordial coyote god of the Paiute.

Many of the other names were added to the Canyon in 1916 by a Methodist minister from Ogden, Utah, Frederick Vining Fisher.  Angels Landing, East and West Temples, The Court of the Patriarchs, and The Great White Throne are among features named by him.
 

From April to October, the scenic road through the canyon is closed to private motor vehicles.  Free shuttle buses run a frequent service up and down the road from the Visitor's Center at Springdale, with eight different stopping points along the route.  There's also a connecting free shuttle running along the lengthy main street of Springdale, stopping at a number of locations: hotels, shops, and restaurants.

Arriving in Springdale at 2:00pm and leaving at 11:00am the next morning still left time for two excursions into the park, with stops at different locations along the way, plus meals (a delightful pub supper on an outdoor terrace facing the mountains was one) and a nice evening swim and hot tub at the hotel's outdoor pool (seen here the following morning).

The weather on the two days was completely different, so the sky keeps changing from one picture to the next.  Also, it's sometimes hard to realize that most of these pictures were taken with the camera pointing up at the sky at an angle of 45 degrees or greater.  With that, here's my scenic tour of the majestic mountains and cliffs of Zion Canyon. 

As the shuttle enters the scenic drive, you get a good view of the range of peaks on the east side of the valley.

The next big sight is a mountain called The Sentinel, with the broad swathe of rock slide on its face which periodically drops another mess of rocks to block the river and cause an unexpected flood.

Just past the Sentinel is The Court of the Patriarchs.  The three white-topped mountains, from left to right, are named Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and Jacob Peak.  The smaller red crest in front of Jacob Peak is named Mount Moroni, after the angel of that name in the Book of Mormon (the actual religious book, that is, and not the musical!).  These two pictures show the difference between the afternoon, with the remnants of a rainstorm still blowing away, and the next morning with clear skies and glorious sunshine.

The Big Bend gives a good illustration of the narrow, steep-sided upper part of the canyon.

The Great White Throne is the most eye-catching of all Zion's mountains, because of its different colour.  The entire region is covered with a thick top layer of this pale grey sandstone, but this is the one major piece of it that's easily visible from the canyon floor.  Its crest is 2350 feet (720 metres) above the canyon floor, yet only 1500 feet (460 metres) back from the base of the cliff next to the road and river.  The Throne can be seen from many parts of the canyon, peeking around the other red sandstone cliffs and mountains. 

The Big Bend offers the best view of the Throne's imposing bulk, especially with a little help from a zoom lens.

This dramatic view, also at the Big Bend, clearly shows the cracks and fissures where the erosion of the canyon's features continues.  The river flows in a 180-degree loop around the base of this promontory, right between the rock wall and the bus stop.

At the end of the road, The Temple of Sinawava is a huge natural amphitheatre.  I've included the tour buses in these two pictures to give a bit of an idea of scale.

Beyond this point, travel is on foot only.  A mile north of the Temple, even the footpath disappears as the river flows between the vertical cliffs of The Narrows, filling the entire space.  Hikers have to wade through the water for a considerable distance to reach the far end, climbing all the way.

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A few helpful hints to conclude:

Waiting lines for the shuttle buses can easily grow to over an hour during the midday hours.  To beat the lines, you either have to go around/after 4:30pm or else get there first thing in the morning (the first shuttles roll during the summer at 6:00am!).  Even at 9:15am, I had to wait 35 minutes.

If you only plan to visit Zion Canyon, get a walk-in pass -- half the price of a car pass.  Leave the car in Springdale and just ride the shuttles.  Other areas of the park, including the Kolob Canyon, do require a car for access.

If you are desperate for brand-name restaurant food, your only choice in Springdale is Subway.  The town has many really good restaurants of all kinds, from counter cafes to brew pubs to fine dining, but none of these are national brands.  Look on it as an adventure.  If you really, really feel that you have to have Mickey Dee's or KFC, you'll have to drive back down the highway 50 minutes or so to get to St. George.

If you plan to do any of the famous hikes like The Narrows or Angels Landing, be sure to read in advance all of the detailed advice on the park's website, and come fully prepared.  The river came up in a hefty flash flood after that big rainstorm yesterday, and the Narrows had to be closed.  When they give you safety advice, they aren't joking and yes, it does apply to you, no matter how tough you think you are.

Even if you only have one night, as I did, do try to go up the Canyon twice, evening and morning.  If it's clear, the spectacle of all spectacles would be the sight of the Great White Throne lit up with nature's colours at sunset.  But it's better to try to stay for 2 or even 3 nights, and really get into the whole experience.  Your park pass is good for 7 days, so you can make the most of it.

Rock Gardens

Each summer, I travel to the annual Convention of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, an organization which I joined in university -- and in which I have remained active for most of my adult life.

Often the Convention is in some location which I've visited before.  But every so often the site turns up in an area I have never seen, and that becomes my cue to add on a few days of before/after sightseeing.  This year it's Salt Lake City.

Utah is one of only eight states which I've never visited, so it was high time I got to see some of the natural wonders of this western domain.  As well, there's some remarkable human history, not least the history of the settlement of the Great Salt Lake region by the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- the Mormons.

Although I flew into Salt Lake City, my schedule was set up for me to drive first to southern Utah and some of the spectacular natural wonders to be seen there.

This trip put me within fairly easy driving distance of the man-made "wonders" of Las Vegas, and many people might wonder why I didn't add that on.  Simply put, I have no desire at all to visit Las Vegas.  Everything I have seen and read about the place tells me that it exemplifies many things that I can't abide and/or try my hardest to avoid: gigantic resort hotels, massive crowds of people, glitzy stuck-on "glamour," lavish floor-show entertainments, huge buffets, party central atmosphere, and so on.  For me, the idea of a side trip to Vegas suggested a Detour to Disillusion.

But to get down to business.  My first port of call was Bryce Canyon National Park.  The drive there took me a good solid 4.5 hours plus stops from Salt Lake City, and that's on a highway where the speed limit for most of the distance is 80 miles per hour (that's about 130 kilometres per hour, by the way).  The highway threads its way along open valleys between two mountain ranges, and occasionally has to climb up and over a lower mountain range in its path.  The hill climbing gets a bit more serious when you turn off to the east on a secondary state highway.  Grades are steeper, curves are more pronounced, and the speed limit is lowered to 65 mph or less.

Bryce Canyon isn't really a canyon at all, but a series of eye-catching rock formations etched into the eastern edge of a plateau.  The access road takes you up onto the plateau, and on the way up you get a sneak preview as the road winds through Red Canyon.

 
Those rock spires, by the way, are known as "hoodoos" and Bryce Canyon has far more of them than any other place known on the planet.

Like many National Parks, Bryce is nearly overwhelmed with visitors, many wanting to drive to every inch of the park in their own cars.  There is an (optional) shuttle bus service, included in the price of a park pass, and it's a far better bet.  The shuttles take you in turn to the main viewpoints overlooking the Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre, which forms the main scenic highlight.  No need to waste time driving around and around looking for non-existent vacant parking spots in the limited parking areas.

But those viewpoints are all within the first two miles inside the park.  There are many more fine views along the road to the south end, 15 miles farther down.  To get to those areas you need your own transport, or have to pay for a tour.

As it worked out, I was ready to check out of my hotel and go by 0715, and the shuttles don't begin to operate until 0800.  So I ended up taking the car after all.   I had the road almost all to myself for much of the time, until I was almost back at the park entrance two and a half hours later.  So I drove first down to Rainbow Point, making a number of stops along the way, and then returned to the Big Number One at Sunset Point at the end of my drive.  With that, here are some selected pictures (I took well over a hundred altogether -- Bryce Canyon is the sort of place where, in the old days, photographers kept running out of film!).

The distant Aquarius Plateau, at its highest point (Canaan Peak) is over 2000 feet higher than the 7700 foot elevation from which this picture was taken. 

 

These pictures give you a good impression of the dazzling variety of colours in the rocks, as well as clearly showing how the land falls away east of the plateau, so that the "Canyon" really isn't.  Farther south, The Natural Bridge is one of the scenic highlights that you will miss if you stick just to the areas served by the shuttle buses.  It's hard to get the scale, but at a rough guess I'd say the section right above the arch is perhaps as thick as the height of a 2-3 story building.

At the very south end of the park is Rainbow Point, also the highest spot on the road, over 9000 feet above sea level. Here, and only here, there is a clear panorama of the whole east side of the plateau clear back to the park's northern edge.

But it's the Bryce Canyon Amphitheatre which draws the most attention and the most visitors.  The best views of that incredible sight are found at Sunset Point.

After leaving Bryce Canyon, I drove across country over the mountains to Cedar City and on west into Nevada (another state I'd never visited before).  On the way, crossing a vast plateau of farms and ranches, I saw a dust devil -- a first for me.

In Nevada I visited Cathedral Gorge, unmistakably reminiscent of a smaller-scale Bryce Canyon in monochrome, except that this one is a true canyon -- but with only a dry river bed at the bottom.

Later in the evening, I saw a flash flood warning taking in Cathedral Gorge and other places I had driven through during the day.  Of course, it's thanks to these sudden monsoonal thunderstorms in the summer that such a canyon has formed in an otherwise near-desert climate.