Three parks, three days

So I've managed to get a few days off unhindered by car repair. So what does a birder with spare time in southwestern Utah? Visit national parks, of course. So first on my list was to see Zion. Originally I'd planned to spend a few days exploring, but for all its beauty and majesty it's also incredibly overcrowded. The Park Service manages by restricting visitors to using shuttles, but it can still be a bit like waiting in lines at Disney World. Still a worthwhile trip. Saw a lot of big rocks, got some great views of mule deer, rock squirrels, yellow warblers, and waded a little into the park's main summer attraction "the Narrows". Finally ditched the crowds and meandered back to the visitor center on foot, and then ate a giant burger and drank a nice porter.

Zion's Court of the Patriarchs

Zion, heading along the Virgin River to the Narrows

Rock squirrel!

Mule deer near the Riverside Walk

So like I said, I was going to go back the next day to hike some of the longer trails. I could mostly blame the crowds, but I was also seized some laziness. Instead I slept in, and then journeyed north. I'd been around Cedar City, but I turned east on a little winding road up into the mountains to see Cedar Breaks National Monument. It's not a big place, and certainly not famous. They're pretty limited up there by the snow, so much so that most of the trails and the campground was still being fixed up or still snowbound. But it's a charming little place on the top of the world, cool air and alpine meadows and spruce, amber sand slopes and snowdrifts. I walked a little of the Sunset Trail, climbed over a couple of snowdrifts anyway. Spent a nice afternoon away from the heat of the dry desert valleys, and then headed out toward Panguitch and Bryce Canyon, camping the night near Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest.

Spruce forest in Cedar Breaks NM

The snow-covered slopes from Sunset View overlook

And today I finished the triad by touring Bryce Canyon National Park. I spent the morning hiking the Rim Trail to see the sights of the Amphitheater, where all of Bryce is laid open for the eye. It's been described as a cave without a roof, and there's certainly a merit to that. The "hoodoos", or pillars of curious sandstone, take on fantastic shapes. They are the forms of chess pieces, of trees, of bridges and arches, with names like Thor's Hammer and Queen Victoria. Afterwards, I had a picnic lunch and drove up the scenic drive, reaching the highest views in the park. The crowds and the thunderheads were rolling in later so, satisfied, I wandered the backroads to Cedar City. After a few days of adventure, I think I'll take the last day to be rather ordinary and get things ready for my next birding hitch.

Me and my face blocking the best of Bryce Canyon!

Bryce Canyon from Sunrise Point

Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon from Inspiration Point