Travels in Utah - October 5 - 15, 2015
This has been an amazing trip marked by extremes in altitude and scenery. Martha and I flew into Las Vegas, rented a car, and drove to our lodgings at Cedar Breaks Lodge in Brian Head, Utah - altitude of 10,000 feet! The 40 minute drive climbing 5000 feet to the lodge at sunset was one of the most beautiful evenings I have ever experienced. We started off from Cedar City streets to a winding road going up. Soon, shear cliffs were on each side of us then forests of 100 ft.tall spruce trees. A little higher were pine trees with stands of quaking aspen trees with their bright yellow leaves shimmering in the breeze. You would have thought we were in Minnesota! Now the sunset was bright orange and the light landed on rock formations and canyons of various colors. Eventually we got to the top of the tree line where the horizon opened to vast meadows of golden grass dotted with stands of Engleman spruce trees - those tall, slender pointed tops. We were told that in July and August these meadows are filled with blooming wild flowers of many colors. When we saw the ski slopes we knew we had arrived. The Milky Way Galaxy was visible overhead as we checked in to our condo.
We kept our travels in the following six days to this corner of Southern Utah. The photos go as far north as the Parowan Gap with the petroglyphs; south to Zion National Park and the city of St.George; east to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and of course the "home" area of the Cedar Breaks National Monument.
Since our idea of hiking is the path from the car to the restroom or gift shop, we used the Scenic Byways and turnouts, and the scenic overlooks in the parks to take these photographs. We took Route 12 to the East, Rt.89 south to Rt.9, then used the Patchwork Byways for travel between Cedar Breaks and these other roads. We were lucky that the weather was unusually warm and the roads were open because the snow had yet to appear.
Since our idea of hiking is the path from the car to the restroom or gift shop, we used the Scenic Byways and turnouts, and the scenic overlooks in the parks to take these photographs. We took Route 12 to the East, Rt.89 south to Rt.9, then used the Patchwork Byways for travel between Cedar Breaks and these other roads. We were lucky that the weather was unusually warm and the roads were open because the snow had yet to appear.
To see more photos and information about these places, click on the photo.
Petroglyphs
Grand Staircase-Escalante
Zion National Park
Brian Head
Hitty Moonbeam
Bryce Canyon National Park
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