Zion National Park, the next stop on our tour. Most of the trails weren't fully accessible. The open parts (except the Pa'rus trail) were quite slippery. The Riverside Walk was closed at half of the way due to fallen ice, so no access to the narrows. But the open part of it was very scenic and nice. The emerald pools hikes were extremely slippery, so we never got to the pools, but the view into the valley was great. Finally, being fed up with snow, we took the Pa'rus trail along the Virgin river near the visitor center. Very different vegetation, and no snow.
No hikes today, we just drove to the various view points of Bryce Canyon. Lots of deep snow and icy ways. As every year, I fell on one of those ways and slightly strained my right ankle and left wrist. The wrist is worse, but it's bearable. My father has problems with his knees, my mother doesn't like snow hikes anyway, the Navajo Loop was too steep for both of them and the weather was getting a bit unstable when we came to the trail head of Queens Garden. Nevertheless, Bryce Canyon in the snow is really gorgeous. My favourite US National Park so far.
(Seen in Green River, UT)
Lots of animals on the streets today. Three times cattle near Goblin Valley, twice deer on the way to Bryce Canyon. The first group of deer was visible very long before I reached them, but I sensed the second one before I even could see them. Strange. I also saw a Bald Eagle along SR 62. I didn't even knew there were eagles in that area.
What a day! We went to Arches National Park today and did some hikes in the snow. First, we walked up to the upper viewpoint of Delicate Arch. It was a bit more difficult due to the icy patches on the trail, but doable. We didn't dare to hike up to the arch itself, though.
We made it to Moab, yay! Some few snow showers on the the pass, but excellent weather here in Moab.
It was snowing again when we woke up. Though it got a bit better after an hour, it remained foggy.
When I woke up this morning it was snowing. Just lightly, and it stopped snowing eventually, but it remained quite cloudy during the first half of the day. I forgot to print out the route description to Toadstool Hoodoos, so we ditched that. We skipped Antelope Canyon as well, as it is quite pointless to visit on a cloudy day. Instead, we went shopping at Walmart and filled up propane and gas. In the meantime the sun came through and only few clouds remained, but it was a bit too late for Antelope Canyon now. Well, maybe next time.