detour: road trip part I

The West is a big place. I was reminded of that on our 1600 mile road trip, and we only went across 2.5 states! I'd been wanting to do a trip to southern Utah for ages, and with almost no planning (National Park Pass and a place to stay for part of the trip) we set off!

Mono Lake tufa

Joshua tree

Just getting out of California is a gorgeous drive. A stop at weird Mono Lake to see the famous tufa. These weird mineral/rock formations were created when the lake was higher, but now we see them because the lake is way lower than it should be (because we take too much water from it). So that actually was more depressing than interesting for me. So we drove on.

Nevada desert

No, did not stay here (the clowns would eat me!)

Nevada might look "flat" on a map, but it is mountains separated by high desert. Some interesting (like Joshua trees) and some not (mining towns). I have low car tolerance, so many stops for interesting historical panels later, we entered Zion. Yes, there are pictures here. And far better ones online. But you just have to go, on this whole trip! Amazing scenery, the main portion is a narrow canyon carved by the tiny Virgin River, like a smaller, accessible Grand Canyon.

Zion at dawn

view from the Watchman hike

Virgin River

Icon White Throne (the name makes me laugh every time)

But I truly loved the east side of the park, with slickrock, almost no people, and epic ancient sand dunes turned into rock and eroded. I'm trying to find words for this adventure, but images will have to suffice.

Zion east sde

tricky rock squeeze

twisted tree and weathered rock

rock grotto

persevering plants

wind sculptures

We continued across Utah, onto the next adventure…

fall colors

another mountain pass…onward!