Eight in O-Eight: Gulches are Great - Utah 2008 - March 2008

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The Last Few Days

Sunday, March 16, Monday, March 17, and Tuesday, March 18

We awoke to... snow! and a fair bit of it, too. Our extended period of nice weather was over, at least for now, and Springdale and Zion were getting coated with an inch or so of soft, wet snow. Given the weather, there was going to be no extensive hiking possible, so we decided to go for a short walk in Zion canyon, then head back to Vegas one day earlier.

courtesy JInnes

Zion Snow Squall

Weeping Rock View

Weeping Rock closeup

Zion canyon is a magical place, and the big flakes and white dustings made it beautiful in a different way. I took several high-dynamic range images to try and capture the huge range of light present in the scenes of the canyon, and I think they do a good job of capturing the essence of the day. We walked up to Weeping Rock and stood underneath the overhand of rock, observing the mists and clouds swirling about the landmark features of Zion Canyon.

courtesy JInnes

Fab Four?

Snowy Mists of Zion

Zion Canyon

Snowy Angel

And with that, we headed back down, back through Zion canyon, Springdale, and back along the highway to points south. That was it for the hiking.

As we drove back to Las Vegas, the weather improved and the weather warmed, and we could see that the trees in southwestern Utah were starting to bud. Soon splashes of bright green would be everywhere. Back in Las Vegas, we spent the evening doing a bit of clothes shopping and dining out; the next day, we worked to clean out the rental vehicles, return our unused camp fuel (which took us a while, finally locating a place called big 5 Sports that would take our fuel), and buying some knick-knacks and souvenirs. We caught a showing of Cirque du Soleil - Mystere (first time to a Cirque show for me), and had a final, delicious meal at an Italian Restaurant.

Room with a view

Back in Las Vegas

just like the FBI!

courtesy JInnes

All Dressed Up

Southwest 737

Familiar Territory

During our flight back the next day, the plane's path was fortunate enough to pass over much of our hiking terrain over the past week. I could see Buckskin Gulch, the Paria River, the Escalante River, Capitol Reef, and the Henry Mountains. Nice to get a final look over this grand terrain....and it won't be the last look, either.

Bye for now, Color Country, and we'll see you soon enough!

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