Zion Canyon!

We arrived to Zion pretty early in the morning. It was kind of overcast so the light wasn't doing much for the rocks, but they didn't need the help. The folds and faults and long lines of erosion were going in every direction in many different colors of rock. My comment was that it seemed earth got a bit drunk before forming that part.

It was awesome. Really, really beautiful. In fact, the drive into the park from the eastern side (Mt. Carmel junction) was possibly the most incredible part, with all of the drunk geology. There's a mile long tunnel through rock, which is kind of man made marvel of its own amidst some natural marvels. Just... awesome.

Mike, Katy and I hiked the Watchman Trail, at which point we collectively realized... we'd hiked SO MUCH that week. We were so tired. We must have stopped three or four times to decide whether or not to press on. We did. The top was lovely, looking around the canyon and seeing cars that looks like little toys. We gained a few hundred feet, but had a nice sit at the top of the trail.

The rest of the day, we took it easy. We drove the scenic drive, stopping to look around at the Patriarchs and Weeping Rocks, the latter of which I thought was pretty cool. There were all sorts of funny little ferns and mosses growing out the side of this rockface that had water seeping right through. Ferns! I didn't even hate them!

We stopped in Springdale, a cute little town just to the west of the park, for coffee and lunch before checking out the northern part of the park, Kolob Canyons. It was a beautiful drive. We hiked a short trail at the end of the drive and had a view that seemed to go on forever-- we could actually see the faint outline of the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was crazy.

The drive back to Las Vegas and ultimately Bullhead City was just as weirdly interesting as the drive up, back through the Virgin River Gorge, back through the desert speckled with Joshua trees, back through the empty, empty part of the desert, back to the crazy city full of crazy lights and crazy people, and after a final meal together, dropping Mike's family off at the airport and heading back to Bullhead City, through what always looks like a moonscape to me when driving through at night. This time, it was a fuzzy looking moonscape, since the recent "rains" have brought a little life back to the desert plants. We saw an occasional campfire way out in the distance, perhaps ranchers settling down for the night. The emptiness was oddly serene, prepping us to sleep like champions upon returning to Bullhead after a week of long , active, beautiful days.