onfocus

Imagine you're standing inside a Dalí painting (minus the ants, crutches, and melting things) and you'll have a pretty good idea what Bryce Canyon National Park looks like. The objects reaching out of the ground are called hoodoos, and they can look like different things at different times of day. Sometimes the sea of hoodoos looked like ruins of an ancient city. We watched the sun set in Bryce, and it was so spectacular that we went back to the same spot in the morning to watch the sun rise. The elevation is higher in Bryce than Zion, and the temperature difference helped us get the best night's sleep on the trip to that point. I took at least two rolls of film there, and several digital pictures.

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Zion National Park is just two hours or so outside of Las Vegas. We drove down the Vegas strip for fun since skp and I hadn't been there in years. It was a shock to go from the agitated streets of hyperreality and simulation to the calm vistas of Zion. We hiked Scout's Point/Angel's Landing one day, then hiked three miles or so into the Narrows another.

I hear that July is one of the only safe times to hike through the Narrows...and even then you need to check the weather carefully. A rainshower miles away can flood the canyons quickly. There's really nowhere to go if you hear that rumbling water coming. We dutifully checked the posted weather reports and talked with park rangers before going.

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Usually when I'm hiking, I see water as a barrier. It was strange to walk through the water to make progress. We started early in the morning, and only saw a few other people once we were miles in. We even took time to explore a side canyon. On the way out, in the afternoon, there were quite a few people coming in and the day was heating up. We were thankful for the early start. Next time, I'd like to backpack the entire length of the canyon.

We took along a cheapo waterproof camera, and the pictures didn't turn out too well.

- Basho

I found these on a roll of film I just developed. Three of them are from a trip to the Lost Coast. The last one is a view of fireworks from my backyard on the 4th.

After Zion, we plan on visiting Bryce Canyon, Arches, and/or Canyonlands National Parks. I was surprised to learn that southern Utah is home to the largest concentration of National Parks.

On our way into Colorado, we're going to try to visit the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. Then we'll spend five days in Estes Park, with several trips into Rocky Mountain NP.

I figure I need to experience these natural wonders while I still can. ;) And I plan on taking plenty of photographs. If you have any tips for me -- or know specific sites I should see on this route -- let me know!