(Springdale, Utah, U.S.A.)

Talk about culture shock! After the sensory assault that was Las Vegas, a couple of hours on the road took us to a much different kind of sensation at Zion National Park in southwestern Utah (photo above is taken from the main lodge area). 

This is our first destination in a tour of the “Canyonlands” of the American southwest. While the weather started off overcast and soon turned to rain, we still managed to hike a few miles up and get a feel for the immense scale of the canyons in Zion.  It started off easy (see the photo below), but soon became much more difficult.

Once the rain began, the visibility got worse and worse…and so did the strength of my batteries! It didn’t make for my finest series of photographs, but it was awesome even with the ever-present mist.  You can get an idea of the scale by looking at the size of the trees in some of the “rock face photos”.

The sheer walls of rock reminded me a bit of the Italian Dolomites in places, or possibly the North Face of the Eiger. It was also a bit like ski touring, where you have to pay your dues climbing up the mountain…and you then get rewarded by skiing down the thrilling terrain.  As with skiing, the hiking was much easier going down than going up. However, with the intense red earth (all over my hiking boots at the moment), the experience at Zion was completely different. 

Tomorrow will be even more of an adventure.  The weather is supposed to be clearer, and we are hiking up a canyon for several hours. But not just a path alongside the river! No, the canyon is too narrow for that. Instead, we will be hiking up the river itself, wearing special neoprene hiking gear.  Considering how cold it is here now (around zero degrees in the evening), we are certainly going to putting this special equipment to the test!

Stay tuned to see how this all works out. The camera batteries have been replaced and I look forward to capturing some more of the splendour!