The road to Mukuntuweap

Mukuntuweap, which means "straight canyon", or Zion National Park, is a canyon carved by the Virgin river in southern Utah. Rain was forecast every day I was to be there, and the drive there from Salt Lake City did not look promising:

Observation Point Trail

However, the weather held, somewhat. The trail to observation point offers spectacular views of the canyon, including the massive monolith of Angel's Landing and the Organ, around which the Virgin River flows in the Big Bend.

Part of the trail goes up through a canyon formed by this little creek, which hollows out the rock through violent flash floods. When I saw it, it looked calm and peaceful:

Half way up the trail, a thunderstorm broke, and rained heavily for five minutes. Then, it stopped, and the skies cleared, leaving the rocks glistening with water for a few minutes before the harsh summer sun evaporated the water and dried the rocks. This scene was visible only for a few minutes before it went away:

The views from the trail were spectacular, and showed the many layers of the landscape:

This view looked back at the tributary canyon:

The sun sets early in the shadow of the canyon walls, making the rock a little bit redder.

Angel's Landing

At the very heart of the canyon lies a monolith that rises more than a thousand feet from the canyon floor. Its walls are nearly perpendicular, and its summit offers views down the entire canyon. The only way to get to the top if by climbing up the narrow ridge, three feet wide in some spots, with sheer, thousand foot drops on either side:

The trail up is not for the faint of heart.

But the views from the top are quite spectacular, and you can see a long way down the canyon:

Animals of Mukuntuweap

Mukuntuweap is home to the critically endangered California Condor, which may or may not be the bird in this picture:

An unruly troupe of big horn sheep interrupted my hiking, but one of them posed for a nice photograph:

In the undergrowth, a lizard ambles towards dinner: