Southwest Utah--More of America's Treasures

We moved about 250 miles south of Salt Lake City to the town of Cedar City, giving us easy access to a number of canyons and national parks.  We allotted 2 weeks for our stay there so we could see as many as we could.  As we traveled south, the landscape changed gradually (and sometimes not so gradually) to highly-eroded rocks, cliffs, and canyons, red being the predominant color--iconic Utah.  We had originally planned to stay in the town of Virgin, right outside Zion National Park, but comparing the forecasted temperatures for that area at 100+ everyday to the forecasted temperatures for Cedar City at 80+ everyday, we chose to be a little further away from the park and cooler.

There are a number of gorgeous areas to explore in this part of Utah.  Our list consisted of Cedar Breaks National Monument, Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Kolob Canyons, and Zion National Park.

Our first couple of outings were to drive through Cedar Breaks and Kolob.  Each are an easy drive from Cedar City, and offer a short scenic drive.  Cedar Breaks gives you a preview to Bryce Canyon's beauty.  The pinnacles are called hoodoos, which are everywhere in Bryce.

Kolob Canyons is actually a part of Zion National Park, and gives a preview to that park.  Hoodoos are not what you find there, but instead sheer carved rock which at times appears to have been formed by an artist rather than water and wind.

We decided that this would be an ideal area to take in some of views by horseback.  We found an easy trail ride through Red Canyon.  Butch Cassidy was from this area and lore has it that he spent a lot of time here.  Our ride took us along the Cassidy Trail.

SheM was on Leo, a very docile horse that had obviously walked the trail many, many times and did not need/want any direction from her.  HeM was on Red--halfway through the ride, one of the guides told him that Red had been a bronco before joining the troops, and has to be ridden by experienced guides for the first few weeks of each new season before he calms down to the slower pace.  HeM had no problems with Red.

Bryce Canyon is a wonderful place to visit.

Hiking trails offer a more intimate experience with the canyon.  We chose one that combined an 'easy' hike with a 'moderate' one, Queens/Navajo Combination Loop, and we were not disappointed with our choice.  We enjoyed the walk.  The only problem with going down 600' into the canyon, though, is that you then have to hike UP those 600'.  And this trail saves about 400 of those feet until the very end where the path is a continuous series of switchbacks to the top.  With several 'breather' stops, we made it.

After Bryce, we visited Zion National Park.

Again, we chose a couple of trails to hike.  We decided to stick with 'easy' ones in this park, given that the temperatures are so much higher than Bryce, and we weren't up for a strenuous uphill trek.

On the eastern side of the park, a one-mile tunnel was built into one of the mountains.  This picture is one of the 4 openings along that mile allowing light and air into the tunnel.  And you can hear echoing car horns from inside.  We drove through and honked our horn, too, of course.

Cedar City is an interesting town.  Its moniker is Festival City USA.  Every summer it hosts the Utah Shakespeare Festival.  Every day for three months, one or two plays are presented.  They have an outdoor theater as well as an indoor auditorium for the plays.  We saw Love's Labour's Lost one rainy afternoon.

We've now moved on to our next stop, Las Vegas.  The scenery is much different, the temperatures are hotter, and it may offer us treasures of another kind?  We won't count on it, though.