Apr 2 – Canyon Overlook Trail

Yesterday was a bit cloudy and kind of cool compared to weather predicted later in the week so we just took a day off.

Today start out sunny and a bit cool at around 8C this morning. It was supposed to rain in the afternoon but it looked OK now so we went out and did the short 1 mile return Canyon Overlook Trail.

The two roads in the park run in a T shape following the two main canyons. The main highway runs across the bottom of the park into Pine Creek Canyon.  The other road heads north from the middle up Zion Canyon itself. Pine Creek Canyon ends in a sheer wall. To continue the main highway snakes up the side and then goes through a mile long tunnel to exit on the high mesa.

At the top of the tunnel the Canyon Overlook Trail allows you to look down on Pine Creek Canyon from the top of the end wall.

The trail itself is short and mostly flat but it is carved in to the side of a deep creek valley.

As usual Jennie was very brave.

Walking through this interesting overhang.

And the final view with the highway snaking up the side wall before it enters the tunnel..

There were a lot (for us) people here. The main, small parking lots were full and we had to park farther up along the side of the highway. We had lunch and stared out into the canyon.

The tunnel runs through the left wall and occasionally they blasted out ports to let light and air in.

Jennie explored the areas away from the edge.

While I did the opposite.

 

Most of the wall of the canyon seemed as though it had been sheared off with an axe. I found this one section with great curves from water erosion.

Of course I had to go down.

It started getting cloudier, colder and off to the west the weather started to look threatening so we headed back to the car. We did a quick drive out to the east border of the park. We didn’t take a lot of pictures because we will be back here a lot to do it properly. The scenery is quite different once you pass through the tunnel.

As we headed back it started to snow.

Down at the canyon floor it was raining.

We stopped in at the park museum and watched a movie about the park before heading home.

It is supposed to be back to sunshine tomorrow.