zion part 2

continuing on from yesterday one more set of pictures from our day trip to Zion

due to it being February most of the trails were closed at points  this is as far as we could go on the river walk further in if you have the right gear you can walk the narrows next trip!!



beautiful river water



took the drive up through the tunnel and this was such a pretty site to see



the tunnel has carved in sections that let in daylight which is really cool here you can see one of them carved into the wall



and a close up



a bit of snow left



saw some deer but forgot to add to flickr to add here oops.  but did get this mountain blue jay



and of course the squirrels have to have pictures of that



and now time to say goodbye



if you haven't been to this park it is well worth going.  gorgeous.

zion national park

we added on some time while in Vegas for a quick day trip to Utah.  We have been to Zion once before and loved it spent several days there hiking and thought it would be fun to see this time of year.  its only about a 2 1/2 hour drive away

this is angels landing which we hiked the last time we were there, well I only got to scouts landing and hubby went the rest of the way.



most of the hikes were closed at certain points so you could only go so far like weeping rock



an overhang that usually has water falling over it but instead had deadly ice falling instead this is as close as we could get



seeing the ice and snow on the mountains was fun





we spent several hours in the valley.  will post one more set of pictures tomorrow

zion: heaven on earth

Continuing with the words I revisited this photo that I took last year.  Zion means Heaven and it truely is a beautiful sight to see

red rock canyons are a natural beauty

tower mountains of multiple colors take your breath away

thankfully they are protected so that our children's children can enjoy them.

goodbye Zion.  until next time may your rivers run clean and mountains soar high.

angels landing in zion national park

last leg on our way to the top.

I look at this now and say why was i wearing that shirt. oh yeah when we left it was 60 degrees on our way back it was 90.  good reason to leave early in the morning.    This is the spot I camped out and waited.  I lost my nerve and couldn't make it the rest of the way.  I was disappointed in myself but with my fear of heights I felt good that I made it this far. 

my little friend that kept darting around me while I waited.  he wanted that trail mix bad.  But there is a $100 fine for feeding the wildlife.  One I wasn't willing to pay even this high up. 

this is as far as I made it.  That's hubby on his return from angels landing.  He noted that there were several spots he had to go it on his rear so i am glad I stopped.  maybe another time I can make it. 

the notch.   sheer cliffs on both sides most areas are 3 to 5 feet wide. 

                                                      the top of angels landing.

a view from the top thanks to hubby.  I am proud of him for making it and his reward you ask?  a t-shirt that says I hiked angels landing, i had to settle for the i hiked Walters wiggles t-shirt.  :)

that's the end of that story and most of my Zion pictures.  I have a few miscellaneous pictures I will post for tomorrow.  If you ever have a chance to go here go!!! you don't have to do any of the hikes just stay on the bus and tour the park its a grand site.  we live in a great place that we are able to have parks set aside like this unspoiled and beautiful. 

God Bless America and all its beauty.

scouts landing

almost there.  this is scouts landing.  over 5000 feet up what a view.  This is also where we saw the condor in an earlier post. 

proof I made it this far

the red rock canyon is a beauty.  I have a cousin that lives in Florida that vacations here every year and has been telling me about the beauty for a long time.  I am so glad I finally took a few days to get here. 

watch that edge Dave

doesn't look so bad right?  well that was my next stop around that outcropping and the chains are there for a reason.  because this is what is below them

well after navigating these chains I thought we were at the top. NOPE wrong again.

but what a view.  see that trail to the left that leads to the top.  and that is tomorrows adventure.

walters wiggles in zion national park

 zion park a great place to hike or just enjoy the beauty of it.  we are just a little ways on our trail at this point its around 8 am and the sun is peeking through.  NOTE we are so happy we left at this time in the morning. 

Destination Angels landing a 5 and half mile round trip. 

another view from the trail looking the other direction.  thankfully the trail is mostly paved so its easy going. hahaha well no boulder climbing at least

destination.  well only about 1/3 of the way as we find out.  can you spot any people?  lower center in the blue are the easiest to spot they get smaller after that.

part of the trail we have accomplished.  we started across the river just past where the river ends in this shot.

we are now at the top where I showed you was part of destination.  wow we thought that was tough but those switchbacks weren't bad.  we THOUGHT this was Walters wiggles.  we were wrong.

this is our payoff at this point.  hubby carried the pack with our bottles of water which we were very thankful for later on.

refrigerator canyon.  They call it that because it is nice and cool and much needed after hiking in the sun.  luckily we were not to hot since we left earlier.  when we came down the mountain, yes you have to go down the way you came up, we saw at least 100 people going up at 1 in the afternoon.  crazy. 

we made it to the wiggles.  a set of 21 switchbacks that are steep very steep.  this is a shot looking up you can see the person in the blue jacket is about mid way.  we are not use to this elevation and it really takes your breath away. lol

you have arrived!!!! (in my GPS voice)  that is the top of Walters wiggles.  we made it and neither of us old people had a heart attack.  lol  but this was only the destination for today's post.  and only about 2/3rd of the way to angels landing our ultimate destination.  to say you made it this far is a great feat. 

what is inbetween here and there?

opps a bit behind in my postings sorry about that.


A tunnel of course. this one is in Zion (of course are you sick of these pictures or what? to bad)

a crazy windy road gets you up to this point. And of course the road had to be under construction since it is summer and that is the only time they can do road construction there. Sorry shot from the car window .



The above picture was taken going about 30 mph through the tunnel. crazy thing I had never seen before. they had several of these opening in the tunnel where you could see out. the best we figure is it was for natural lighting to save on not putting lights in there.

here is a shot of one of those wholes in the tunnel. at first we thought it was for water drainage which it very well still could be. you see in sandstone its like a sponge it soaks up the water and then it travels through it till it can find an out. that out is when it hits no porous rock like granite and then it drips through. probably saves from having a mess inside the tunnels too.

ahhhh the light at the end of the tunnel. this shot was a bit erie looking when I first saw it not great but had to include it in the story.

flying high

not sure what kind of bird these are but they were courting for sure. tooo cute.

this little guy was really hard to catch they would move so fast throught the scrub pines. I tried for days to get him finally this is my best shot while hiking to angels landing that I was able to capture of a mountain blue jay.

yeah I know not in focus but it was such a quick shot didn't have much time. we were stoked that we finally got to see a carnial and shocked that they came this far south.

I believe this is a scrub jay. we spotted several of them in snow canyon.

we thought it was so unusual to see a dragonfly without its wings spread open as it rested. the only thing we could think of was because of the heat. anyone know???

i know you already saw this and some other pictures in a post a couple of days ago but just couldn't resist putting it in again. afterall it isn't every day you get to see such a rare bird as this condor. truely an excitement for me.