May 27 -- part 1: leaving Zion

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Here is a link to the interactive expedition map.


We had thought we would go back into Zion on the morning of the 27th of May.  There was another trail we wanted to walk.

But.  May 27 was Saturday, and May 29 was Memorial Day.  Springdale, Utah (right outside the southern entrance to Zion National Park) was **JAMMED** with cars, and with people waiting for the shuttle into the park.

Note to self -- next time, pay attention to holiday weekends when planning visits to national parks............

We decided to evade the crush of humanity and go west, away from the main entrance to the park, to visit Kolob Reservoir (in the park, but not the most heavily-visited part of the park) before we left Zion for Kanab, Utah.

Before we leave our hotel, and Springdale, let's admire this pecan tree.  I'm not sure I had ever knowingly been in the presence of a pecan tree, before encountering this one.  (Which I only recognized because I know the nuts....)

Flower clusters underneath the pecan tree.  I'm not sure how this works.  These clusters appear to have hundreds? of tiny flowers.  But pecans are big.  I don't see how multiple pecans would fit on these rather fragile stems....  And I didn't see any enormous clusters of pecans up in the tree....

Pecan on the sidewalk, with remains of flower cluster.

Closer....

I think this is Russian sage, embellishing the hotel parking lot.   With shadows.

One last look at the hotel's back yard.

Heading the same way we went a couple of days earlier, when we visited Kolob Canyons.  We won't go that far around the park this time.

This may be the exact same formation of very black rocks we looked at on our way to Kolob Canyons.

Closer crop.

I am listening to a MOOC (massive online open course) about mountains.  I took the class because I hoped to learn more about the geology we observed in the southwest.

Just this week (mid-October!) I was learning about volcanoes (which can create mountains), and we heard about formations created when basaltic lava seeps upward between oceanic divergent tectonic plates.  I believe that is what we are looking at here.  (I may be wrong, but that's what I believe this is.)

I really really wish these pics were crystal clear.  But I am glad to have them at all, even kinda blurry.....

"Once upon a time, when this place was deep under the sea, in a part of the world where enormous sections of the Earth's crust were moving ever so slowly away from each other, basaltic lava (rich in manganese and iron) seeped upwards between those sections of crust........."  Mother Earth's time line is long.  Very long.........

I kept being astonished by how green it was in Utah, while still so evidently a very dry section of the country....

More and more layers of geological time, exposed to my uneducated eyes.........

Looking through the car to the other back window.  (Our daughter was  navigating; I was in the back seat taking pics.)

Looking through the windshield, driving up towards the reservoir.  Part of the drive was private land, part was Zion National Park.

The clouds, in this next one.....

I think these are lupins. 

Closer crop of the upper left corner.

Here is a link to the next post about the Grand Canyon trip.



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