Day 206: Zion National Park

Cottonwoods

Zion is one of the places where I could easily have spent more time.  It is at a pretty low altitude, and so warm that there were even mosquitoes in the campground.  This is a very good time to visit: you get red rocks, blue sky, and yellow cottonwood trees that haven't quite lost their leaves yet.  The shuttle had another four days to run, and private car traffic into the canyon is still banned, so it was not a madhouse.  That snow that was forecast for Bryce started falling on us as rain just as soon as we got settled down for the night.  The temperature had dropped by quite a lot of degrees by the morning but it was still kind of OK.

Fall droplets

We took the shuttle ride and a short hike, but then because we were pushed for time, we split up.  Mike went off to do photography on the east road into the park and I went to be with Antonia while she finished her junior ranger book.  This is Antonia's last park. We think she has done about 17 Junior Ranger programs and been to a couple of parks where we didn't do one.  This is her last National Park.