Day 14 - June 14th - Zion to Las Vegas

Today is Sunday, the last full day of travel before heading home in the morning.  We are up at 6:00, eating breakfast at 6:45, and on the road by 8:00.  Today we will be visiting the Kolob Canyon section of Zion National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument.  Both are part of the itinerary that we were going to do on the first day of our vacation, but had to re-schedule when my bag got re-routed by the airline.

We arrived at Kolob Canyon at 9:00.  It is one of the most spectacular and most accessible regions of the park, and is also one of the least visited.  Kolob Canyon is in the northwest corner of Zion National Park, easily accessible from I-15.  The colors are so vivid, red canyon walls rising suddenly and spectacularly out of the earth against a bright blue sky and lush green vegetation.  This section of the park is best viewed during the afternoon when sun is in a better position for picture taking.  We were there in the early morning so for most of our pictures we were looking directly into the sun.  Even so, there are some pretty awesome photos.

After Kolob Canyon we drove north on I-15 to Cedar City and then east on Scenic Byway 14 for approximately 20 miles, then north on SR 148 to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  We arrived at the park by 11:00.  The elevation of Cedar Breaks National Monument is over 10,000 feet, the highest elevation we have experienced on the trip.  The temperature was 44 degrees and we were not prepared for the cold as we had just come from Zion NP where we were in shorts and T-shirts.  I went to my suitcase and put on the two lightweight jackets I brought and made do.  The park is a natural amphitheater very similar to Bryce Canyon.  As with Kolob Canyon, there were very few visitors and this solitude was as welcoming as a warm  breeze.  

After stopping at all the overlooks we headed back to Cedar City by way of Brian's Head, a popular ski resort in the winter.  By the time we reached the bottom of the mountain, the temperature rose from 44 degrees at the summit to 66 degrees in the town of Parowan, a descent of 4,000 ft. in 16 miles.

We arrived in Cedar City at 12:30 in time for lunch at Wendy's and then it was on to Las Vegas where we would be spending our last night with Terry's nephew, Chad Forster and his lovely wife Kristen.  

As we look back on this trip and these photos, the beauty of yet another piece of God's creation is evident.  We were also awed by the flora, fauna, and fowl that we witnessed.  Such wonders of nature included: a Hermit Thrush building a nest on the threshold of our lodge window, a mother Grace's Warbler feeding a nestling on the ground, a rare white tailed Kaibab Squirrel running around on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the explosion of beautiful wildflowers at every park, the startling beautiful Western Tanager flitting among the juniper bushes, the brash Stellar's Jay squawking at human intruders.  These, along with other sights, blending with the majestic scenery of these arid parks will pack our memories for years to come.

THE END