August, Road Trip on the Colorado Plateau

Our last trip of the summer season we spent on the road through Southern Utah and Colorado. Here's a few pictures of our trips through Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Mesa Verde National Parks. We also stayed in and around Durango, Colorado before driving home.

Zion

Zion, West Temple, Altar of Sacrifice.

The size and intensity of color of the mountains around Zion cannot be adequately expressed by photos.

Sunrise on the clouds above Zion Canyon.

Hiking through the Virgin River toward the Narrows of Zion Canyon.

A waterfall above the Lower Emerald Pool at Zion. The water seeps out of the shale in the walls of the Canyon and creates these oases in the desert rock.

A tiny frog C picked up near the Emerald Pools.

The best soft-serve we've ever tasted at the Zion Lodge.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon, hiking through one of the narrow canyons.

Overlooking Bryce Canyon. We had just hiked down and through the canyon and were resting at the top.

Capitol Reef

K on an old plow in Capitol Reef National Park. The campground is located in the old town of Fruita, a small Mormon farming community that was founded over 100 years ago. One of the houses is still maintained by the park service as a historical site, along with the orchards for which the community was named. Capitol Reef stretches far to the south, down where the waterpocket fold is more apparent. We didn't have time to explore that part of the park.


Riding bikes through Capitol Reef National Park. It was quiet; the campground had lots of shade and grass.

Picking apples from the orchards which are still maintained by the National Park Service. You can pick and eat as much as you want in the orchard, or take away fruit for only a dollar per pound. We saw apple, pear, apricot and peach trees (not all in season... we ate apples and peaches while we were there).

Durango

We enjoyed the 3rd to last showing of the melodrama in Durango, CO.

The Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, winding up toward Silverton along the Animas river.

In Silverton, an old mining town 45 miles north of Durango.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde, the Cliff Palace. Doesn't the photo make the village look like a miniature? The people put the scale into perspective.

Climbing out of a kiva (an underground round room used for religious and community meetings) at the Spruce Tree House.

San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Horseback riding at a guest ranch up near Vallecito Lake.

C caught his first trout and ate it for breakfast. The next day he caught two more (and ate them too). The ranch cooks the trout for you if you clean them first.