Zion Nat'l Park, Day 3: Kolob Canyons

Thursday (March 9^th) we headed to the north-west portion of Zion National Park to an area called Kolob Canyon.  "Kolob" was named by the early Mormon settlers in the area for the star closest to Heaven in the Book of Mormon.  The soaring cliffs and towers certainly do seem close to Heaven!  

We did a 3 hr hike into the canyon along Taylor Creek, which thankfully is not a large creek right now as the trail crosses it 59 times in 2-1/2 miles (yes, I counted!).

 John commented that there was a great contrast between the beginning and end of the trail, and that he really enjoyed being up close to the walls of the canyon for better viewing.

John, before the snow line

We encountered lots of snow on the trail, despite that we were slightly below 6,000 ft., which we've come to understand is a pretty good estimate of "snow line".  We had to layer up a bit for this hike!

The hike ended at a double arch alcove that was very beautiful.  We both commented that we had never seen anything like that before!  The top arch is really a rockfall scar, and the bottom arch is the overburden for a large alcove.  The "tears" of past waterfalls were evident in the dark colourings on the rock ceilings and walls. And there was snow still hanging from the mid-level out-cropping.

It almost seemed like an "amphitheathre" with it's vast depth and breadth...

We saw our first butterflies of the trip on the way down from on his hike.  In March!! Such a welcome sight.

Hanging valley in centre

We continued our Scenic Byway drive after the hike, and did another short hike to the Timber Creek Overlook at the end of the canyon.  It was amazing.  The panoramic views were like nothing we'd seen so far, and we saw probably the best ever example of a hanging valley that either of us had ever seen (hanging valley being a valley which is isolated on 3 sides, above and below by cliffs, which creates its own micro-environment).

The sign said you could see the north rim of Grand Canyon from here... but we don't think today!!

This looks like Monterey, CA to me... weird. But it does! 

The views from this Overlook were to be admired

Our 2nd best Hanging Valley of the day. Note the waterfall "tears" on the face of the canyon wall

The drive back along the Scenic Byway was particularly beautiful because of the time of day.  The red rock cliffs tend to fluoresce in the late afternoon sun. It was a fitting end to our three days in the "Color Lands" section of southwest Utah.