As you drive up to the park you can see 3 of the first mountain peaks. Their names were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The ride into the canyon has to be taken by shuttle only. All cars are prohibited.
Because of the intense rain they have been having, in all of Utah, the Zion park, along with many others, were completely closed all day Saturday. The roads were washed over and flooded. Mud was every where and creeks were bulging. Bridges washed out in places we were the day before. If you click on the pictures some of the mud is slightly visible on the roads even after they plowed it off with plows. There were all kinds of flash flood warnings for much of the state all week. Right after we made the switch back after the 3rd picture here, we came upon an almost car size rock that had just fallen 15 minutes before onto the road....divine intervention may have played a role in this one....we waited on the side of the road for Bob to finish a phone conversation just before this...thank you Jesus! No picture to show...I was too stunned to take one...too bad. The ranger said the rain loosens them up....Yikes....time to view canyons from above.
There is a tunnel in this park that is 1 mile long. It runs through the mountain....very small tunnel....and very dark! At times they close the road and allow bigger vehicles pass in tunnel using both lanes. The following pictures were taken waiting for the two way traffic to resume. The ranger at this time pointed out a California Condor flying very high in the sky....ehuwww they are ugly...a vulture type bird. It appears to be unnumbered, so not yet found. All condors are numbered and tagged with a radio transmitter; as they are raised or found in wild. If you look close at the first picture you can see one of maybe 3 windows in tunnel. The worthy of a picture, food item is from Santa Clara Utah, just North of St. George, Bernadette were riding around and found a step van parked in a cute area with the word waffles on it. It was a homemade donut/cake waffle, with a Dutch biscuit spread, fresh peach sauce and just whipped real cream on it!!!!! OMG very good.
On the other side of the tunnel, the landscape was very different. Highway 9 continues through the tunnel and out the park.
Leaving the shuttle and walking to our car we saw a mule deer and her two fawns...very close...about 6 feet away at times.
.....and the gang is still all here....off the the North rim of the Grand Canyon and Jacob Lake Arizona.