Utah's National Parks, September & October 2014 - Under Development
The Natural Wonders of Utah's Canyons: Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon, a Road Scholar Program... and then we head off on our own to explore the rest of Utah's Red Rock Country.
Click on the map above to see a larger version. (Google Maps)
We began our adventure on September 20 with a long drive to Saint George, located in the south-east corner of Utah, via Las Vegas on Interstate 15. Saint George sits in a red-rock lined canyon at the western edge of the Colorado Plateau, a region that spans large parts of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The geology of the Colorado Plateau is what created the unique landscapes that inspired the creation of the six national parks, two state parks and a national monument that we visited on this trip.
And this trip is indeed one of geological discovery. Please refer to the map on the left for a diagram of our adventure. And in the paragraphs immediately below please click on the links to websites that contain more information than most people want to know about the referenced state and national parks.
Saint George is the place to begin an exploration of Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Besides its unique location, it is a small but modern city with all the amenities to prepare for an adventure. Road Scholar manages a modest motel called the College Inn that used to be a women's dorm near Dixie State University. Road Scholar maintains its regional headquarters in the College Inn and manages all their programs to the local national parks from there.
Our Road Scholar program began with a visit to Snow Canyon State Park, located just north of town, for a warm up hike and an introduction to the local geology, and the Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm, located in the south-east side of Saint George, where well preserved dinosaur tracks and fossils were discovered in 2000. The next day we drove to Zion National Park where we hiked a couple of more challenging trails before returning to the College Inn in the evening. We then drove to Bryce Canyon National Park for a day of hiking and then drove on to spend the night in Kanab, Utah. Kanab is a sad little town, but was well located for our next destination, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which we visited the next day. While driving to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon we passed through the western side of the Grand Staircase National Monument. We returned once more to Saint George and ended our most excellent Road Scholar adventure.
Road Scholar allowed us to stay an additional day to rest and catch up on our laundry, and then we headed off to Moab, Utah via scenic State Highway 12 and a night in Torrey in the way of a break. While on Highway 12, we drove over the most spectacular lithified sand dunes in a constant and heavy rain and before crossing Boulder Pass where it snowed on us, before descending to Torrey where we spent the night. Due to the poor weather, to my shame, I didn't attempt any photography. The landscape, however, was magnificent. We will be driving this road again someday, hopefully in fair weather. From Torrey we drove to Moab, taking a break to visit Capitol Reef National Park.
Like Saint George, Moab is a modest city but with all the amenities for adventuring, and is well placed in south-east Utah to visit Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park. We spent a day each in the two national parks. We visited Dead Horse Point State Park the day we drove to Canyonlands; they are really part of the same geological formation created by the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers.
From Moab we returned home through Salt Lake City and Interstate 80 across the breadth of Nevada to Virginia City. From there we drove home on October 4. Over 2000 miles, 6 national parks, two state parks, and one national monument in two weeks.
Please enjoy the pictures below. To see the full image, click on a thumbnail. To navigate through the images, click on NEXT or PREV to move to the next image or to go back.
College Inn at Dixie State University in Saint George, Utah: The College Inn at Dixie State University is administered by Road Scholar and was our home while we were in Saint George. From here we struck out to visit Zion and Bryce National Parks, Snow Canyon State Park, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (with an overnight stop in Kanab, Utah) as part of our Road Scholar program. Saint George is a modest but thoroughly modern and fast growing city of about 75,000 people that is well situated in south-west Utah for visiting Utah's magnificent national and state parks.
Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm: This small but very interesting musuem is built over the best preserved dinosaur tracks discovered on Dr. Sheldon Johnson's property in eastern Saint George in 2000. The site dates from the Early Jurassic, about 200 million years ago, and is of a lakeside environment where the dinosaurs left their prints while going about their business. The site was later donated by the Johnsons to the City of Saint George after paleontologists studying the site realized its importance.
Grand Staircase-Escalante & the Colorado Plateau: Blah... blah... blah...
Snow Canyon State Park is located a few miles to the north-west of Saint George, and is physiographically (look that one up) located in the transition zone between the Colorado Plateau to the east, where we spent the rest of our trip, and the Basin and Range Province to the west. Red and white Navajo Sandstone cliffs (Early Jurassic, 180-190 million years old) line the sides of the 5 mile-long canyon and more recent basaltic lava flows (10,000-20,000 thousand years old) cover the bottom of the canyon. A few isolated rounded Navajo Sandstone monoliths called "turtle backs" rise above the lava.
We made a couple of short "warm-up" hikes in the canyon and began our education of the geology of the Colorado Plateau.
Zion National Park: The main entrance to the park is located about 40 miles to the north-east of St. George on Interstate 15 and State Highway 9. There is another entrance further north off Interstate 15, but we didn't venture there on this trip. We would pass through the park on Highway 9 twice more on our way to Bryce Canyon and Moab. The day we visited Zion National Park it was very crowded and very hot, not a great combination. Nonetheless we managed to get in, disembark, and do a couple of 2-3 hour hikes, first the Emerald Pools Trail and secondly the Riverside Walk to the "Temple of Sinawava". The scenery was extraodinary, so we will have to visit again during the off season, hopefully when it is a bit cooler.
Geology: Zion Canyon's slab-sided cliffs are predominately Navajo Sandstone, up to 2,200 ft thick in places. As one moves towards the front of the canyon, the underlying Kayenta and Moenave Formations become exposed, layed down in the early Jurassic and late Triassic Periods approximately 200 million years ago. The Kayenta and Moenave Formations are softer than Navajo Sandstone so as they are exposed they weather faster, undercutting the Navajo Sandstone above causing it to flake off to form a talus slope that largely covers the softer layers. This weathering process causes the canyon to dramatically widen where the Kayenta layer is exposed at the beginning of the canyon narrows.
Bryce Canyon National Park: The next day we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park, about 120 miles to the north-east along Highways 9 (through Zion National Park), 89 and 12. We would repeat this drive again on our own in a couple of days after the Road Scholar adventure was concluded on our way to Moab. After our visit to Bryce Canyon we drove to Kanab to spend the night.
Geology: Blah... blah... blah...
North Rim of the Grand Canyon: On the fourth and last day of our Road Scholar adventure we drove from Kanab to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon where we hiked the so-called Transept and Bright Angel Point trails and had lunch in the old lodge.
Geology: Blah... blah... blah...
Capitol Reef National Park: After saying good bye to our new friends at Road Scholar we headed off to Moab via scenic highways 9 (once again through Zion National Park), 89 and 12 to Torrey where we spent a night to break up the journey. The next day we arrived at Moab via highway 24 through Capitol Reef National Park and Interstate 70. Highay 12 is a spectacular drive over a huge cross-bedded Navajo Sandstone plain.
Dead Horse State Park & Canyonlands National Park: Blah... blah... blah...
Arches National Park: Blah... blah... blah...
The Drive Home - Bonneville Salt Flats & Virginia City:
