Day 13 - June 13th - Kolob Terrace Road, Zion N.P.

Up at 6:30 ready for another beautiful day in paradise.  As we went to breakfast we were greeted by a flock of wild turkeys on the front lawn of the Zion Lodge.  After fueling our bodies for the day ahead, we headed out at 8:30 for Kolob Terrace Road.

Kolob Terrace road is partially in the national park and partially on private land.  To get to the start of the road we had to exit the park at the south entrance just outside of Springdale.  We traveled west along route 9 to the town of Virgin about 15 miles outside the park.  From here we picked up Kolob Terrace Road which headed north and east and eventually back into Zion National Park, then back out again on the other side until it terminated at Kolob Reservoir. 

We started up the road but after going about 1/4 of the way we ran into some rain.  Since the Ptarmigan was thirsty we decided to go back to town to buy gas and wait out the rain.  By the time we got back to Springdale and bought our gas the rain had stopped and the skies were looking promising so we ventured back to Kolob Terrace Road.

The beauty of Kolob Terrace Road is it's solitude.  Unlike the throngs of tourists vying for bus seats at the main section of Zion N.P. in Zion Canyon, we practically had this road to ourselves. There were some very dramatic overlooks, several hair-pin turns and a pleasant little reservoir at the end of the drive.  We saw more wildflowers on this drive than any other day of our vacation.  One other aspect which added to the beauty of area was the threatening skies which actually enhanced our photography opportunities.  It made for some interesting pictures.  You will notice in a few of the pictures what look like dead trees.  It's just that it was still early spring and the trees hadn't put out their new leaves yet.

After this excursion it was time to head back to the lodge for lunch.  At Zion Canyon (the main section of the park) the skies had cleared up and the afternoon turned out to be very beautiful.  After lunch we headed out on the shuttle bus to view what we did not see the day before.  We got off the bus at a stop called "The Court of the Patriarchs" to view the mountains named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  A lot of the names of the features of the park are biblical in nature ascribed by the early Mormon pioneer settlers.  Then on our next stop, "Canyon Junction", we got off and took a little hike along the Virgin River.  Along our hike we encountered many birds, but the most interesting to me was a Scrub Jay and a Great Blue Heron.  I was able to video tape the Scrub Jay preparing dinner.  Didn't your mom tell you not to play with your food?.  Not sure what dinner was but our guess is a small lizard, battered and tenderized to perfection. 

Warning, viewing this video could make you dizzy.  I had the camera on digital zoom and it is so hard to hold it steady in that mode.

I was really surprised to see the Great Blue Heron in Zion National Park.  For some reason I thought that the GBH was a tropical/semi-tropical coastal bird whose territory would be places like Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, etc.  Obviously I was wrong.  After checking the bird book, apparently they can be found all over the U.S. and parts of Canada.  You learn something new every day, don't you.

We concluded our hike when it looked as though it might rain again and were back in our room by 5:00 to rest up and clean up for dinner at 6:30.  Yes, we are creatures of habit.  After a wonderful dinner and a good bottle of wine we were back in our room by 7:30 where I took advantage of the free WiFi and posted a few blogs that I had been falling behind on since WiFi was not available in some of the other lodges at which we stayed.