The drive out of Zion on SR 9, the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway, is a special transition from the towering rock formations of the Park to the striations of the volcanic upheavals on the 24 mile breath taking stretch of road carved in the mid- 1930's that includes two tunnels. One is 1.1 mile in length and has three portals carved as "window's" that offer glimpses of cliffs and canyons. As you emerge from the tunnels you find that the landscape has dramatically changed. Of course to reach the tunnels, as at Yosemite, you must successfully navigate many "switchbacks", some without guard rails and plunges of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. As the drops were on Sarah's side, I was happy to be driving and on the "inside"!
The highlight of the trip to the Eastern Entrance/Exit of Zion is the Checkerboard Mesa. The distinctive pattern on this huge, white mound of sandstone was created by the combination of vertical fractures and the exposure of horizontal bedding planes by erosion. While the area is home to lots of big horn sheep we only saw other awed tourists!
After exiting Zion we dropped almost 2,000 feet to the valley before starting the long climb to Bryce National Park which tops out over 9,000 feet. Even driving you can feel the change in elevation and minor efforts are much more noticeable as the air is so much thinner. It began to turn colder and we went from a/c to heater. As we approached Bryce we noticed snow on the peaks, then on the steep hillsides and finally on the side of the road! This was not something we had anticipated when packing over three weeks ago. Both Sarah and I had brought technical "hoodie's" but not much more. Arriving at Bryce we noticed that most people, especially the Europeans (Oh did we mention that half of Germany is traveling the Western U.S. this year?) were comfy in ski garb. "Yikes" we thought, how's this going to work out?
Then we saw the Hoodoo's and forgot about the cold!
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