Bucket List blog

  Zion was named by the Mormons (meaning a “place of refuge”) Its original name, used by Southern Paiute was Mukuntuweap (meaning straight up).  This is probably more appropriate considering all the tourists make Zion far from peaceful. Yet it is still possible to get away from it all. Get up early enough, walk where the tourists do not go (there is a river track between the Narrows and Zion lodge) and you can feel all alone. Our departure from North rim of the Grand canyon was in snow. The road in/out is a bit like a wasteland as a fire in 2006 got out of control and destroyed all the trees for several miles. Next stop Kanab for breakfast in a bakery and the Film museum. Sarah was hoping for a bit part as an extra in a Western – yet to by the boots and Stetson. The food wagon was named the “Chuck Wagon” (Chuck was slang for food as opposed to its use as verb “to chuck up/to vomit”) There are still chuck wagon races and even an association fo...

Sunrise in the Grand Canyon but this time the North Rim. Ever shifting patterns of light and shade on the red cliffs. It is much colder. 300m higher than the South. Photo is just before a snow storm, which finally caught up with us. We had an early start from Bryce, allowing time for a walk in the Red Cliffs, hunting for arches. Found a few arches and Spring flowers. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is a bit isolated. It has 1/10th of the visitors of the South as it is so remote and there are fewer walks. Due to snow, several of these and the main scenic drive had been closed. Not to be deterred by the weather, we started with the 16km Widforss trail. This follows the Canyon rim for 4km The canyon below is a tributary to Bright Angel Canyon – leading to the trail to the South Rim. then heads into the forest. This is full of young oak and maple trees (looking a bit like silver birch) Sarah got up close and personal with a 400year old Ponderosa ...

Snow has been following us as we drive between National Parks. Luckily, we have managed to keep dry on all our walks. In search of a cool place after more desert, we walked the Calf Creek Falls trail in the Grand Staircase/ Escalante National Monument. View of our canyon walk from the Hogs Back after Boulder. Excellent example of desert varnish in black and orange stripes. Desert varnish is caused by the activity of living organisms. Microbes oxidize iron and manganese found in clay minerals to create these black to orange yellow coatings found where water flows over canyon walls. The layering patterns of black (manganese rich) is caused by humid conditions and the orange (manganese poor) is caused by arid conditions indicating the dustiness of the depositional setting. More red sand, and sculpted rock; Sarah finally gave up her shorts for a couple of days. This canyon was the first we had found with a river running in it, hence lush vegetation and e...