Glorious Utah, an evening's venture into the Canyon

We returned from the Kolob Terrace Road and parked in Zion Canyon. It was now 6.30pm and so the visitor numbers had thinned out a lot. In Zion you cannot drive yourself up the Canyon road between April and October. You have to take a shuttle bus which leaves from the visitor centre and stops in a number of places until you get to the end of the road by the Virgin Narrows. Very necessary seeing the number of people who come here every day.

We waited for a bus which came pretty quickly and were driven up the canyon through spectacular scenery. Mike told me the names of many of the mountains and we got off near the top at Weeping Rock. In contrast with Bryce, Zion has more water features, the river and then pools and places where springs run down the rock face. we  walked the short trail to Weeping Rock which was oozing, rather than flowing, but the water on the surface was keeping a good selection of mosses and vegetation going. The water comes from a spring which is formed where the water can permeate the Navajo sandstone but meets the harder Kayenta formation and is forced out onto the surface. There were great views up the valley with the 'Great White Throne' mountain in the foreground.

After this quick excursion we got the bus back to Canyon Junction where the road crosses the river. Here I thought would be a good place to watch the sun go down. Well us and around 50 others, jostling for tripod space on the bridge. I had not looked up 'iconic views in Zion' before I went, but this was surely one of them. Fortunately most people were quiet and it was worth just being there. The prominent mountain is called the Watchman, appropriately. The view behind the bridge was almost better as the sky darkened behind the red mountains.