We took the Park shuttle to the stop for the Riverwalk. The shuttle bus had special windows in the ceiling do you could see the high cliffs as you traveled the canyon. One cool feature of the Riverwalk were the areas where water seeped through the porous sandstone. With this source of water, plants are…

Along with the rains comes the danger of flash floods. The Virgin River that runs through the canyon usually has a current of 40 cubic feet/second at this time of the season. The night we arrived, the flow was measured at 2,000 cu ft/sec. We were hoping to hike The Narrows, where the canyon walls…

We drove into the Park after a day of rainy weather. My expectations of good weather were very low, but I found out that visiting Zion in the rain added something to the experience rather than taking away. We walked to the Lower Emerald Pool because it was a short, easy trail near the Zion…

Just a little lower in elevation than Bryce Canyon was Fairyland Canyon. The hoodoos were more visible in the fog. Hoodoos are formed by erosion caused when water soaks into the sandstone, freezes, and expands (hydrogen bonding in action.) Back in Red Canyon, below the clouds, we had a good photo op with Smokey Bear…

Bryce Canyon is known for its natural amphitheater filled with towering “hoodoos” (eroded sandstone columns with beautiful layers of color.) We had a glimpse of a few in Red Canyon on the way up to Bryce Canyon. Unfortunately, the high altitude (over 8,000 feet) meant we were in the clouds. The lodge where we stopped…

On a bus tour like ours (Caravan) regular rest stops are scheduled in. This one was to a unique place with a store, as usual, and restrooms, a must, but fun stuff to see and do in front and in back of the building. Kanab, Utah, calls itself “Little Hollywood” because of all of the…

This is an ancient dwelling over 800 years old. The inhabitants chose to build in a cliff side for protection. The model that shows daily life in the dwelling was constructed by Rangers when the actual dwelling was closed to visitors in the 1920’s. Inhabitants used sycamore trees in their construction and for ladders. The…

Lake Powell exists because of the Glen Canyon Dam which generates electricity and regulates the water used by Utah, Arizona, California, and Nevada. The tour was fun, even in the rain. The bridge next to the bridge, however, was very cool because it was built in Emeryville, CA, and trucked over here to Arizona. When…

Lake Powell used to be Glen Canyon discovered by John Wesley Powell. When the Glen Canyon dam was built, the Colorado River filled Glen Canyon to form Lake Powell. Our cruise day was rainy, but the trip was still beautiful. The interesting marks on the sandstone cliffs were carved out mostly by flash floods. We…

We spent the day on the border of Arizona and Utah. Mostly, we were on the Navajo reservation, but the Hopi reservation is inside the huge Navajo reservation. We visited a trading post where I got to watch a Navajo woman making a rug. I have grown up with native artifacts, since I am Native…