Images of Zion National Park – Southern Utah, taken in May 2018.

From the massive mountains to the sheer canyon walls and the odd sandstone rock formations, Zion National Park stands out as one of the most interesting and beautiful places in the nation. Wind and water are responsible for the creation of this masterpiece which gives a visitor something spectacular to look at no matter which way they look.

In the main, southern, area of the park are two distinct and geologically different regions; Zion Canyon with magnificent mountainous regions on both sides of the North Fork Virgin River and the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway range where windswept sandstone formations take on smooth and odd shapes.

Zion Canyon is closed to traffic so I jumped on the well run trams that ride up and down the Zion Canyon Scenic Highway from dawn to dusk. I hopped off at each of the seven stops to either hike or just gaze at the surrounding scenery. Later I would drive the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway for a view of the otherworldly formations on the east side of the park.

A day later I drove the Kolob Terrace Road which enters the west side of the park to give one a view of the canyon from a higher elevation at the Lava Point Overlook. It was there that I talked to some folks from Idaho who told me about an eagle’s nest that they stumbled across near the Kolob Reservoir to the north. Never one to miss an opportunity to see some wildlife, I took off in search of the nest. It took a while but I found it and was mildly disappointed to see that the eagle parents were not sitting on the nest so I could get “that” image. That disappointment turned to elation as I saw the eagle chicks poking their heads up over the edge of the nest…and I got “that” image instead!