Hiking in Zion National Park

Finally! Andrew was wearing a nice bright coloured jacket this morning so I took a ton of photos. He usually wears black, grey or dark green which just blends into the scenery and it's sort of like "Where's Waldo?" when trying to find him in most of the photos I take.  :-( 

We did two short hikes in Zion National Park -- one after arriving mid afternoon and one before leaving just before noon. It was warm in the sunshine but deep in the shadows of the canyon was quite cold. Beautiful, but cold! 

The red rock of places like Zion or Bryce Canyon looks so beautiful with a little bit of snow on it.

This ice fall was in shadow first thing in the morning but as the sun warmed it, ice broke off and we could hear the thunderous sound of it crashing down to the ground below.

Water and ice.

Emerald Pools Trail

Wow! That pretty much sums up the views we had on our hike this morning in Zion National Park. The peaks were covered in a fine layer of fresh snow that had fallen overnight which added to the uniqueness of the area.

To give you a picture (pun intended) of how beautiful it was, the Emerald Pools hike is only 1.6 km long but, travelling at photographer's pace it took us almost two hours! (My photos don't even come close to doing it justice but Andrew's no doubt will.)

This sign was humorous at this time of year but it would certainly be a temptation in the heat of the summer.

A sideways panorama as I couldn't get the height of the cliff in a regular photo.

Sort of washed out at the top with white snow against white sky but
I like how Andrew's orange camera bag stands out in this photo.

We stayed overnight at Zion Park Lodge (good off season rates) and this hike is right across the road.

We were impressed by one of the eco initiatives the hotel has taken. A laminated sheet provides information about the rooms and a map of the layout of the lodge and cabins. The registration clerk wrote our room number on the laminated sheet, circled information of note as well as our room location. The writing can then be erased and the map used over and over again. "By laminating and reusing maps, we will reduce our paper usage by 32,000 sheets/64 reams of paper per year. According to Conservatree, this reduction saves the equivalent of 3.8 trees." What a great idea!