Thursday, September 22, 2011

Zion National Park, Utah


more red rock! we drove thru this park, stopped in at the visitor center, took a dip in the North Fork Virgin River and headed on to Upland, CA. Spring thru fall, Zion Canyon Scenic drive is only accessible via shuttle buses, so we didn't see many of the "features" but the drive was nice.


The Checkerboard Mesa is pretty wild. found this on Wiki...The Navajo Sandstone is a geographically widespread, pale tan to red cliff and monolith with very obvious sand dune cross-bedding patterns. The sandstone crumbles easily and is very porous. Cross-bedding is especially evident where Jurassic wind directions changed often. The crosshatched appearance of Checkerboard Mesa is a good example.





There's a cool "one way only" tunnel at the East entrance of the park, it's pretty long and dark! While driving thru you get brief glimpses of the canyon thru these tiny "windows".



crazy lines in this park








a hawk on the wind




1 comment:

Maya said...

More nice red rock shots. You are making me homesick!