This is typical of the East Entrance Plateau. It has multi-colored cliffs that are striated and twisted. Notice the red cast to the road, very cool!
When you drive into Zion NP from the east side, as soon as you go through the Visitors entrance you enter an amazing world of rock and color. The rock cliffs surrounding the road have swirls and lines of red, pink and whites and many shades in-between. If this is all there was to the National Park, it would be enough to justify being a National Park; it is that beautiful. One amazing thing is that even the “black-top” road isn’t black, it’s red. When the Park Service made the roads, instead of using plain old rocks they used the red rock from the Park and it has a distinct red cast to it, as you can see in the photos. I think it’s very cool!
The only way to see the country is to stop, park and walk around. I walked maybe 100 feet down the road from the pullout and spotted these Yuccas up on the hill above me. I’m sure 90% of the visitors to the Park never even notice them and even less take photos of them. It’s their loss!
As you drive along, there are quite a few turnouts to get off the road and take some photos. After a while I noticed nearly all the turnouts had a trail leading off into whatever was below or around it. When I came to a turnout with an especially intriguing canyon I decided I’d better follow the trail to see what was out there; so off I went. After a short distance I came to some slickrock at the center of the canyon and soon I came to a series of little pools that had been dug out by the creek that formed the canyon. Since it had rained before I got here, the pools were full and very pretty. Had I not gone off exploring, I would never have found them—to my regret.
The photo doesn’t really show it, but that is a trail. For some reason this canyon called to me!
Down in the canyon I found about 6 of these little pools. Had I come back at dawn or dusk I’m sure I would’ve seen lots of wildlife including Bighorn Sheep.
Another pool.
After a brief but breathtaking drive, you come to the tunnel which is the entrance down into the Valley below. It’s a long tunnel that was literally blasted right through the mountain back in the 1930’s. Back then the cars weren’t very wide, so it is a narrow tunnel. It’s just wide enough for two pickups to pass each other, but not wide enough for an RV and a car to pass each other. So there is a flagman at each end and when an RV needs to go through they close the tunnel to 2-way traffic and let the RV go through and take the whole road. It’s slow but well worth the wait!
At the end of the tunnel you come out high up on the side of this canyon. You can see the series of switchbacks that you take to get down it. Taken from Canyon Overlook trails end.
Just before you enter the tunnel there is a trailhead to the Canyon Overlook Trail. It’s a short hike of about a mile but at the end you are looking down at the Pine Creek Canyon below and the switchback down the mountainside. It’s well worth taking the trail!
Me having my breath taken away by the amazing view in front of me.
Here I’m parked by one of the switchbacks about half way down the mountain.
When you come out the other end there are a series of switchbacks to take to get to the bottom of the steep canyon formed by Pine Creek. There was water in Pine Creek when I was here so I took several very nice shots along its banks. I’ll finish the pot with some of those shots down the Pine Creek Valley. I hope you enjoyed our trip to Zion!
Every time I look at this picture, I see a heart made by the tree branches at the top. That says just what I feel about Zion: I love it!
Looking east at Pine Creek. You get to this shot from the very last pullover on the bottom switchback. Park there and get out and walk down the trail until it comes out on the creek.
This is Pine Creek looking west toward the Zion Valley.
Beautiful photos (as always)!
I notice you appear to have trekking poles in the one photo, I’ve used a staff before when hiking & felt it was a help.
Is there a thought or reason for the poles vs a staff or stick?
I’m just curious….
The poles are lighter, can be telescoped away for packing, and they appeal to gear freaks. Oooo, look! Anodized aluminum and ergonomic grips! 😉
Rob, I’m a huge fan of trekking poles! But, they have limited uses.
If I am just walking on level ground, I never take them. I think they are just a hassle. But if you you are doing much climbing or going downhill, then they really pay off. The steeper and longer the hill, the more essential they are. I would never do a hike with much climbing or descending without them.
I have two of these:
http://www.rei.com/product/847813/rei-hiker-shocklight-staff
I like them because they have knobs on the end and when going down steep hills I put the knob in the palms of my hands and brace myself for long steps down. It’s tremendously helpful for your thighs and keeping your balance.
The know screws off and it become a monopod for your camera. I carry a little ball head that lets me adjust the angel of my camera so I can do selfies from a few feet away and above and below.
Bob
And yes, paying the money for a top quality, lightweight pair is money well spent if you hike much with climbs.
Thanks again for the great pictures and tips.
From some of those pictures, I might not want to take an RV down those switchbacks. Maybe that Honda Rebel would work better.
Actually a bicycle can be a blast on the tunnel. When I hiked the Canyon Trail overlook the parking lot is just outside the top entrance. There were some young people unloading their bikes and then they rode them down into Springdale–much faster than the cars, they were passing us! I saw them loading them back into a car at the bottom to drive back up so it was a one-way trip.
Yes, the Honda would be a LOT of fun!
Bob
Once again your bringing back many memory’s. We had our 5th wheel with us on our trip to Zion but they said we were too long to make it thru the tunnel had to backtrack to the other entrance. Absolutely beautiful country!
Scott, you aren’t alone in that! They are very strict about the tunnel. I imagine turning it around was quite the adventure in itself!
Bob
BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPHY! Zion is a remarkable place.
Sameer
Tuba City, AZ
Thanks Sammer!
Bob
Amazing place! I think I’d LOVE to go there now too! Any black bears around? I’m curious if the bear issue is really that big of a deal if one is careful with this lifestyle. I don’t want to have to depend on bear boxes just to share space with them.
Gloria, no black bears in Zion as far as I know.
It’s impossible to generalize about bear problems. The great majority of the time they won’t be an issue even if they are in the area. But, there are places where it is very important to follow all the normal rules or you will have a bear in camp. They are the exception and not the rule and most National Forests will have signs posed telling you about a problem.
Bob
I’ve camped around bears a number of times and it’s never been a problem. They have never bothered food inside vehicles, even when the vehicle was unattended.
When I camped without a vehicle, the food was hung up high and they never bothered it. The mice chewed through the drybags to get at the nuts, though.
The bears that I have met have been either been polite or shy. There was a bear that made sure to let me know that he was moving through the underbrush and about to cross the trail in front of me – he kept coughing and breaking twigs. Until I saw him, I was convinced that he must have been an elderly chain smoker attached to a pickup truck I’d seen parked nearby!
Nice trip photos, thanks for taking us along. You remind me of my days of SLR film photography. I have still not outfitted myself with the digital equivalent. May I ask what camera gear you are using for these photos? I think that size and weight (of gear) and age (of me) are playing part in my indecision. That and the blistering pace of technological advances. Every time I turn around, there is something new to consider, like HDR.
Ming, I just have to ask…did you ever stay on a boat on Saltspring Island? I used to know somebody named Ming a long, long time ago…
wow Peggy, nice photos! Of bears and nice photos in general! Sadly, that was not me staying on a boat on Saltspring, though that sounds like a lovely alternate life I might have had. Years ago, you would have found me bike touring around the Gulf Islands and Sunshine Coast in the summers on my home made recumbent bike.
Oh well, I’ve only met one other person with that name so I thought it might be you. That would’ve been quite a coincidence though! Recumbent bike, huh? I always thought that would be the way to go, especially around here with all the hills.
Thanks for the compliment about my photographs!
recumbents are very easy on the backside and wrists, very comfortable for long rides, but your hills on the sunshine coast – ouch! If I were to do them again, I would want a motor on the bike.
Ming I’m using a Canon 6D full-frame DSLR. I just do basic photography and my editing is done with Picassa photo editor. It is a free download from Google. It’s very basic but very simple and does everything I need. I love to take pictures, not sit in front of a computer to play with them!
Today’s DSLRs are astoundingly good and very cheap.
Bob
Bob
thanks, Bob. I will eventually make up my mind to either go with a DSLR so I can take occasional advantage of my Nikon lenses or go with a MFT non SLR (smaller) camera. I agree, getting out there and immersing myself in the photography is what I prefer to do, over endless tweaking on the computer. Being able to successfully capture the feeling that a place evokes is what makes for a successful photo outing for me.
Ming, ultimately the DSLR gives you nearly total control over the image. That’s what settled it for me.
Bob
yes, control is where it’s at with photo gear. I’m old school, no “modes” for me. I will keep this in mind when camera shopping.
More spectacular photos, Bob! I also love that shot with the heart. Oh, and the red roads…how cool is that? The other thing that really jumps out at me is the blue, blue sky. We don’t get to see it that blue very often in the Pacific NW.
Really enjoying your posts and pictures!
Thanks Peggy! I love the PNW, but I just can’t handle the rain. I need my blue sky fix!
Bob
I feel like I finally made peace with the rain this past winter. I was determined to hike at least a couple of hours every other day (on non-dog-walking days) and it was quite often raining, albeit lightly. I actually started to enjoy it. But now summer’s here, so bring on the blue skies!
That’s good Peggy. Is it time to move?
Bob
The pools were a great find!
Thanks Al.
Bob
Hi bob.
I see the photos of all the vans out there and can’t help but wonder how much better the new ford vans are going to make van dwelling. You probably have seen the new ford transit L4 that’s going to replace the econoline vans. Once the transit vans can be purchased used they are going to make great camper vans. I am not talking about the transit connect. Ford is bringing in the new L4 in both diesel and gas. They look just like the sprinter vans with high roof and up to 28 mpg. About time. A van that gets good mpg and can tow up to 9000 lbs.
Absolutely right Bob! Everywhere in the world has many brands of fantastic vans that get great MPG but the US. The new Ford is the beginning of a sea-change to make vandwelling much better.
Bob
You’re doing it right!! Nice pics. Whatever happened to all the old stories you had on your original web site? Seems like it’s all gone now?
CAE, at the top of the Blog are the main Menu buttons. Below them are other buttons. Those other buttons are categories of the material from the old website. Hold your mouse over “How To Articles” and all the old articles are there.
Bob
oh, thank you. I was wondering that myself.