Hail and snow drove us from Bryce earlier than we wished, but as we travelled south and west to Zion National Park the weather cleared. We camped in the South Campground at Zion and while using this as a home base we travelled up the Zion Canyon, north to the finger canyons of the Kolob (in the north west part of the Park), and north via Cedar City to the Cedar Breaks national monument.

This photograph shows the sheer walls of Zion Canyon as you enter the park from the east. Rather than the limestone of Bryce, here the rock is sandstone and weathers much more robustly. The canyon is cut by the north and east forks of the Virgin River rather than just rainfall!The sandstone has been carved or moulded into different layered patterns throughout the park.Our friend, the prickly pear!This is the view of the canyon wall from the South Campground. The trees are aspen trees and the leaves of the aspen make a very loud noise (like heavy rain) when there is wind -- basically, they kept us awake most of the night!

 

Bryce Canyon National Park 1995
Cedar Breaks National Monument 1995