Zion Park

As we entered Zion we saw some interesting formations. I didn't get a picture of them but it looked like someone had built a wall using blocks that decreased in size. After a few layers like this, they reversed and went the opposite direction, again starting with larger going to smaller. It was strange looking.

We also stopped along the road where the whole hill was just sand stone. You could see where the sand had drifted before it turned to stone. You can also see where stone has collapsed to form an arch. There are a lot of these throughout the park.
The next pictures are in the same area and show another part of the hill. You can really see the sand stone layers.

This just shows some of the colors up close.
On some of the sandstone in this area are black spots. B thought that these may have been iron deposits. It is the iron that has oxidized that gives the sand stone it's red color.
There was also a lone rock with markings or deposits on it that looked like the formations that we saw in the Wind Cave in South Dakota. In the cave they were called box formations, made from dissolved limestone seeping through. It was only on this one side of the rock.
We drove through on the highway until we came out on the other side. Then we took the shuttle up into the park. The majority of the park is seen by shuttle.

Zion park, compared to Bryce, is just majestic. The cliff walls are much higher and steeper. They go almost straight up. Since the road is in the bottom along the Virgin River, it is hard to get a picture of a lot of it because you can't get back far enough.

We did get off the shuttle and hiked up to Emerald Pools. Then we hiked to the next stop on up the road. There wasn't much water going over here at the lower pool. As it was, we got sprayed as we followed the trail around to the other side. There are some people on the lower right side.
For size comparison, note the people at the bottom of the next picture.
We saw this while hiking to the pools.
There are lots of trails here to hike also. If they aren't right in the bottom, they are on the rim or going up to the rim. We took this while we were on the trail going to the next shuttle stop.
The shuttle route ends at the Temple of Sinawava. This picture was taken just before this area.
From the end of the road, we went a ways on the trail that goes on up the bottom. We saw a deer and her fawn. They are smaller than a white tail.
The next two pictures were taken along this trail. We didn't go all the way because it was after four o'clock at that time.
It gets dark early down in the canyon.