Zion National Park
Located a hop, skip and a jump from Bryce Canyon is Zion National Park, another step of the whole Grand Staircase of rock layers that make up the Colorado Plateau. Bryce is at the top of the Staircase, which works its way down to the Grand Canyon. The bottom layers of Bryce make up the top layers of Zion, while the bottom layers of Zion make up the top layers of the Grand Canyon. While Bryce is mostly composed of eroding lakebed deposits, the sandstone structures of Zion are aolian deposits (a fancy word that means "deposited by wind".) The thick sandstones of Zion are petrified sand dunes.
Checkerboard Mesa, near the east entrance to the park.
Two views of the Virgin River, which cuts through Zion.
At left, the shorter of the two major tunnels in Zion. The long tunnel cuts over a mile through the side of a sandstone cliff, providing access to Zion Canyon from the east side of the park. On the right is a view of the beginning of the Narrows, a great hike up the Virgin River.
Trams are used to transport visitors through the main part of the park, Zion Canyon. You enter the park, leave your car near the visitor center and board one of these trams, which run up and down the canyon on a regular basis and make stops at all of the popular sites. Cars are only allowed in Zion Canyon if you have reservations at Zion Lodge. The trams are clean, quiet and efficient. They also cut down the frustration of trying to find a legal parking spot at the end of Zion Canyon, the Gateway to the Narrows.
Zion Lodge
A hike to Emerald Pool Falls.
Next...Yea, though we drive into the shadows
in the Valley of Death, we fear no evil
(although a low gas gauge maketh us nervous...)
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