Leaving Zion Park today. We got up early so that we could have a good breakfast and head up the canyon on one of the first shuttles. T wants to visit the Weeping Rock stop. We were going to do that yesterday, but ran out of gas. We packed the car and got to the restaurant at 6:30 am (when they opened) and had a good buffet breakfast. The shuttles start running at 6:30 am and we caught one at 7:15 which took us up two stops to the Weeping Rocks.
From the shuttle stop, it is only about 1/4 mile hike to the weeping rocks, but it is fairly steep. The weeping rocks is an area where the water seepage from above runs into impermeable stone and is forced out the side of the mountain. Being late summer, the water falls created were not impressive. We really need to come back in late spring to see the REAL thing.
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| Stream from the weeping rocks |
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| Canyon view from the weeping rocks |
T wanted to test the "force" at the weeping rocks with her divining rods. She was impressed with the forces.
We finally went back down to the shuttle stop and went back down to the lodge. The turkeys were waiting to greet us
We got in the car and headed on through the Zion Park toward Kalob. Stunning scenery. We even saw some long horned sheep on a steep mountain side.
We traveled south/southeast and passed by the Lake Powell and Page, AZ. We stopped at the lake for a couple of shots.
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| Lake Powell Dam |
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| Lake Powell |
We thought about detouring over to Monument Valley (where the westerns were made), but it would have added 150 miles AND five hours to our trip. Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park. Their web site describes the valley as "
A minimalist look at the American Southwest, Monument Valley has big rocks, big sky, and…nope. That’s it." We decided to leave it for another trip. The highway (US-160) did skirt the south side of the area. We took some pictures of the type of structure we might find in the park.
We continued on US-160 through Four Corners to Cortez, CO. Mesa Verde National Park is just east of Cortez. We entered the park and drove 20 miles (most of it was switchback up) to the lodge. The lodge is at an elevation of about 8,000 feet, about 2,000 feet above Cortez. The highest point we passed on the way up was 8,376 feet. We checked into our room and enjoyed the view.
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| Our room with the door open |
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| The Lodge |
A panoramic view from our hotel room.
Tonight we ate at the lodge restaurant. Started with a rattlesnake/pheasant sausage. T had the elk wellington and I had the prickly pear pork belly. For desert, we split a prickly pear creme brulet. Tomorrow morning we have scheduled an early morning (8 am) tour of the Puebloan civilization during the time they occupied Mesa Verde (550 AD to 1300 AD when they abandoned the area and moved south).
