Cedar City 3 - Bryce Canyon

Remember the balloon Peg photographed from our campground? Turns out Cedar City hosted their "Balloon Fest" this week - we got up early to view the lift off. Kiwanis put on a pancake breakfast, and the views were very colorful.

From there we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park. This canyon is viewed from the top, and although we saw it last, it was easily the most spectacular.

The spires that stand straight up out of the floor are called "hoo-doos" at Bryce. A ranger told us that visitors keep saying "who do you think that looks like?" I'll leave it up to you.

We have many more photos of Bryce, but space on the website is limited.

More in a week or so.

Cedar City 2 - Zion

Zion National Park is the canyon formed by the Virgin River in Utah, and like Yosemite, is first viewed from the valley. Unlike Yosemite, these are red rock cliffs that rise hundreds of feet toward the blue heavens. The valley is very fertile and green, making a beautiful contrast against the bare rock mountains.

One of the trails we walked took us to "Weeping Rock" where a ranger told us that the water seeping out there was up to 200 years old. It took that long to filter from the top of the mesa.

The canyon narrows at its head. The trail meanders for another two miles from here, but we demurred.

We drove the east road out of the park which winds through a mile long tunnel up to the top of the mesa. These last three shots were taken on that road. If you look closely at the middle one, called "Checkerboard Mesa", you can see the unusual erosion lines in its face.

Cedar City 1

Our next stop is Cedar City, Utah, where there are several national parks and monuments.

This is Cedar Breaks National Monument where the trail takes you to the top of the canyon, and you look down 1000 feet and more to the bottom.

These small formations are called hoodoos, and we'll see more of them later.

The canyon views are breathtaking, and the colors of different rock layers fascinating.

We see the first signs of fall, as these aspens are turning along the trail.

In the morning, Peg took this shot of a hot air balloon floating over our campsite. Found out later there was a balloon festival in town. More on day 2.

Capitol Reef National Park

From Moab, we took the RV to Richfield, Utah, and drove the Jeep south to Capitol Reef National Park.

The Fremont River carved this canyon. The park is entered from the bottom, and the formations and cliffs rise hundreds of feet from the canyon floor.

Peg is standing at the bottom of this cliff, which gives some idea of the scale of the formations.

There's a lot of red rock vistas in Utah, each one different and all beautiful