Zion National Park

Last weekend, we took a trip to Southern Utah to visit Zion National Park. It's a beautiful area with many amazing rock formations, through all of which runs the Virgin River.

Here are a few examples of what we saw...


The Virgin River.

Cooling off in the river....

This picture was taken near "The Narrows" along the river. We hope to make it back this summer to hike the Narrows - an area through the Virgin River where sheer cliffs create a very thin passage way.

Many different colors show up throughout the park...

Echo Canyon.

To get to Echo Canyon, we had to hike up 12 or 13 switchbacks..... at 5 p.m. along an exposed cliff with the sun beating down on us. It was a tough hike in the heat!

"Court of the Patriarchs"

"Checkerboard Mesa"

Kolob Canyon.

Another great trip to a beautiful and strange corner of our adopted state - Utah!

Arches / Canyonlands (Moab, UT)

Last weekend's trip was to the Moab, Utah area. We visited Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We had a little bit of rain here and there, but overall the weather was good and it was not too hot.

Here are some pictures from Arches.

Balanced Rock


Double Arch

Windows

Delicate Arch

Broken Arch

Mid-afternoon storm rolls in....

On Saturday, we had about an hour of rain. After it cleared up, we drove in the back country on a four-wheel drive-only unpaved trail into Canyonlands National Park. Here's some photos of the drive (which was a little scary and included about 10 switchbacks up the side of a cliff).

Overlooking the Colorado River.

Near the top of the switchbacks, looking over the last leg of the main road we came up.

Overlooking canyons at sunset.

On Sunday, we headed to the southern end of Canyonlands - an area known as the Needles district. We took a long hike and saw some great scenery.

Another great weekend exploring Southern Utah!

Yellowstone

Our trip to Yellowstone!

When we came in to the park, it was dusk. But here's a bison who wanted to greet us!


Early on Saturday morning, we drove around the park and saw much wildlife. Here's a herd of bison.




Yellowstone is full of strange wonders - there are many geothermal features. It makes the park steamy in some spots!




There are also many beautiful landscapes.

A waterfall in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.

A mamma bear and her cub.

A river running through the park downstream from Tower Falls.

In the Mammoth Hot Springs area. Very strange!

Another hot spring.

Yet another.

"Dragon's Mouth"

Driving around the park = many views like this.

Geyserland! This is one of our favorite pictures from the weekend.

Dave walking through steam (it was also lightly raining at the time).

Rainbow + Bison.

"Artist's Paint Pots"

More geysers.

Geysers near a stream.

And finally, Old Faithful.

A very cool trip through another weird and incredible national park!