Cold, windy night in the tent again but wore my snowboarding gear and stayed toasty warm. First day in a while with 8 hours of sleep! Broke down camp and was in the park before 8am but found this wasn’t ideal to photograph the rock formations. Had to wait 30-45 minutes for more light to show above the canyon walls but nobody else was in the park yet. Had a peaceful sunrise all to myself.
Intended to hike some trails but all parking lots were full thanks to school tours and 3 of the biggest tour buses I have ever seen. Drove the entire main scenic route minus some of the heavily washed out gravel paths and did a few of the short hikes that weren’t crowded. As far as national parks go, it’s on the smaller side until you do the longer backcountry treks. Maybe someday if I go back for Zion, I would come back for a day or two and do these also. Still a cool place that is different due to vibrant green vegetation against the deep red rocks, and full apple orchards in the valley.
Left the park by about 12pm and headed to Arches National Park about 140 miles east. More photos of that to come in the next posting!
