Driving East

Yesterday, Quinn and I got up early (for us) and headed east for Bryce Canyon National Park.

It was a long day.

I was very tired when we got back.

So no blog post.

There is so much to say about this trip that I'm going to divided it into three blogs over

the next three days.

Then I'll catch up on the rest of the happenings!

So.

Into downtown Cedar City

turn left

go by the grade school 

head up the mountain!

Way up.

Stopped at one pull out

 to attempt cleaning the inside of the window so I could see!

This was the view.

Amazing, huh?

Looking south toward Zion National Park on the far right.

The informative signage said that Zion was about 80 miles away.

That big rock in the middle was 76 miles away.

You can see for a long way in the desert!

Remember that!

Once we reached the top of the mountain we drove most of the rest of the way

through wide meadows bordered with spruce and aspen trees.

This high the aspen had already lost their leaves

While in Cedar City they are just beginning to leave green behind.

Just before we got to Duck Creek

I began noticing large areas of ground that looked like it had been plowed.

As I went further along I realized that it looked like a lava flow.

When I got back I looked it up!

The Markagunt Plateau Volcano

You can read more about it here-

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Markagunt_Plateau

It covers about 800 sq miles of the Colorado Plateau region and is called the 

Black Rock Desert.

Speaking of the Colorado Plateau-

There are 22 National Parks and National Monuments on the Plateau.

5 National Parks are in Utah along with 3 National Monuments.

In Utah-I've been to 1 National park and 2 National Monuments.

On the Colorado Plateau I've been to 

4 National Parks and 2 National Monuments.

I have a ways to go before I see them all!

Tomorrow, will be all about Bryce Canyon National Park!