Driving Day - Zion to Bryce Canyon to Moab

I left the campground near Zion with the intention of going to Bryce Canyon and staying a few days...but the weather and altitude did not cooperate. I wondered why so many of the campgrounds were closed - Holy Crap that place is high, over 8800 feet and snow and windy and colder than hell...so I went in to the park, it was sunny and cold when I went through the gate, after a short stop at the visitor center and a rest room break I return outside to find the cloud level had dropped to the parking lot and it was snowing like crazy...only re-enforced my decision to head back down the hills and get to lower altitude and better weather...

Here is the parking lot...



And the view...



So I went inside the trailer and had lunch, took a snooze and waited for some sunshine as hard as the wind was blowing I knew this snow squall would not last forever....it never got real bright and sunny but at least you could see!













Stay tuned for more adventures as I explore Arches National Park and Islands In The Sky in Canyonlands National Park!

Capt Jim

More of Zions

I spent a week camp at a campground outside of Zions - By far one of the cleahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnest and nicest campgrounds I have ever stayed in. Wonderful restrooms with great tile showers and all spotless. The grounds were perfect with good hook-ups - level sites, some shade trees for the summer...not much now, but still a perfect campground. If you are ever in the neighborhood oz Zion and need a campground spend a few extra bucks and stay here. The name is Zion River Resort. LINK.

Anyway - I spent several days in the park and just had a wonderful experience...one of my favorite places to visit and one of the most beautiful places on earth. I went on a few hikes and the hike just past the big tunnel called the Overlook hike is well worth the time it takes...the view which you will see in a minute is outstanding and shows a little of how massive the Canyon really is.

On with the pics...

Checkerboard Mesa in Winter



On the overlook hike...



More views on the hike...



One of the more thrilling parts of the trail - it was very narrow and wet and slippery and the drop on the left of the picture was well over 300 feet or so...



This is looking back towards the peaks behind you at the overlook.



And finally the view from the top at the overlook - this is a 9 shot panorama, so you can imagine the expanse.



Some detail shots





A closeup of one of the millions of HooDoo's in the park.



On one morning I was able to literally walk among a herd of deer.













That is pretty much it for Zion - update on yesterdays trip through Bryce Canyon and on to Moab later this morning...

Captain Jim

Change of Venue - Back to Zions National Park!

I left Mesquite Nevada on Tuesday and made the short drive from there back to the Zions National Park area, found a great campground with reasonable weekly rates and will be here a week.

Got up Wednesday morning and caught up on a little work, then headed into Zions to shoot some pictures...had a great day, walked a bunch, nice fresh air and relatively warm in the 50's, it was a little cool in the morning and overnight, but not too bad, trailer stayed warm!

So the first picture is for all of the people who I used to work with back in the corporate world...I just had to buy this T-Shirt.



Now some more traditional photos of the great scenery in Zions!

















And now a few multiple shot pic - Panoramas












Still enjoying my travels and the little house gets more and more comfortable as I get things more organized and used to living in the small environment.

Capt Jim

Valley of Fire State Park

After several days in Mesquite, catching up on some work and some chores, like Laundry and continuing to re-arrange things in the trailer and pick up some supplies, I began to research things close by to go and see...a Nevada State Park about 50 miles away kept coming up as the place to go in my search. Great reviews for photography, camping and hiking, so on Friday I headed out...filled the car, bought some groceries and began the 50 mile trip.

I knew it was Red Rock Country one of my favorite types of landscape so I was anxious to get there, find a campsite and settle in for the evening. Sadly, I forgot this was a holiday weekend (Presdients Day), but I soon found out when there was one site left and it was a site without hook-ups which was fine, except it would limit my length of stay since I had neglected to fill my water tank.

But I got settled in a beautiful site with tremendous views...



I had the supplies necessary for a good evening...



And of course some wood for a fire and dogs for the grill!



Early on Saturday morning, after some coffee - I headed out for some hiking and some photography....the place was unbelievable!





















This was a worthwhile stop and some exceptional scenery...now back to Mesquite to plan my next stop and adventure....

Capt Jim