Park Units 68 & 69: Zion National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument

7/29/16. We left very early to park at Zion, get our National Parks Interagency Pass, and get on line for the Zion Canyon shuttle since cars are not allowed in the summer. We waited about 30 minutes for the shuttle at 8am - that's how crowded the park was.

We first hiked up the Emerald Pool Trail. I had to nag Catherine to stop taking so many photos and slowing us down since everything was so gorgeous! 

We met a nice couple on the trail who we switched off taking pictures of each other. Everyone in the national parks is so friendly!

Next we took the shuttle to the weeping rock trail which was especially interesting to us since they had labels on all the flora. The trail was very green and shaded and the weeping rock provided a cool break from the heat. The views in the canyon were, of course, magnificent!

At midday we stopped for lunch and then drove up to Kolob Canyon, the northern, less crowded part of Zion. Wow, were we glad we did. The views were incredible! The iconic post-cards of Zion come from this section, we realized. We both felt this section of the park was more impressive and beautiful than Zion Canyon and many visitors don't make it up here. It was more than worth the extra hour drive.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

By now it was getting late in the day since we spent more time in Kolob Canyon than we planned. We hit the road, heading north to Cedar Break Canyon. We were tired and didn't really want to stop but we wanted the stamp. We were hoping it was a boring park and we could come and go quickly. We stopped at the visitor's center, got our passport stamps, then...we looked out the big windows unto the canyon. INCREDIBLE!! The colors, the shapes, the scale, the awesome view took our breath away. We couldn't get enough of this amazing sight. We both think it's one of our top favorites.

Catherine had her professional camera with her, so the photos are stunning. We spent a long time here, stopping at all the vista points and enjoying the work of the CCC back in the 1930's. We were so very glad we still had time to enjoy this park at the end of the day. We didn't get to our hotel in Lehi, Utah until 9:30 but it was worth the time at Cedar Breaks. We can't recommend it highly enough!!!!