Yellowstone

Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park

Monday, June 7, 2010

Salt Lake City/Park City








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Nancy & Nancy on the Ultra Zipline







Pictures from Salt Lake and Park City






We decided to go to Salt Lake City on Friday, as they were have a paraded and motorcycle ride on Saturday. they were shutting down some of the road.

We found us a nice hotel and jump on the light rail to Temple Square. We did tours of all the historic sites. I think the most fun we had was when we went to the genealogy library to check out our family history. We also went to the Temple-Tabernacle-Conference Center-Beehive House. We ate at The top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building which had a beautiful view of Salt Lake and the mountains.

The next morning we toured the Capitol and than went back to Park City. We went to the Olympic Park. What a great place. We got to see aspiring Olympic athletes from all over the world train on their Nordic jumps, freestyle hill, terrain park and bobsled, skeleton and luge traks.

Well we had to be part of the action. We decided to do the ziplines. We had a ball. In fact we had such a good time that we went back the next morning. We both did the zipline again and Nancy K did the Quicksilver-Alpine Slide

After we headed on to Deer Valley. It was just a pretty as everyone said. We went to the St. Regis Hotel and rode their Funicular up to the hotel. What a beautiful place and view. Well all good things have to come to an end. We need to get on the road as we start work on Tuesday.

Timpanogos Caves/Park City







Pictures on the way up to the caves










On our way to Park City we decided to visit with Robert Redford at Sun Dance. Guess he wasn’t home, but we found some thing better, Timpanogos Caves. High on the slopes of American Fork Canyon are three moderate sized limestone caves. O’ boy we said, we need to do this. We paid our money and off we went. They did not tell us that the trail up to the steep northern slope of Mt Timpanogos is physically demanding. You climb 1,092 feet in 1 ½ miles straight up. It ended up being a 3 ½ mile straight up and down hike. Signs posted along the way - Warning watch out for falling rock-red stripes mark the areas of greatest hazard on the trail. Do not stop in these places. Be alert for the sound of falling rocks. If a rock fall comes towards you- move out of the way. Pace yourself-rest- catch your breath. The best sign of all was this is rattle snake country.
The caves were beautiful and worth the trip. We were to tired gals when we finally arrived at our hotel in Park City.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Zion on to Nephi Ut.








More beautiful pictues of Zion







We liked Zion so much we decided to do one more hike before heading for Park City. We did the Emerald Pool trail which is three trails in one. The trails lead to a waterfall on the lower one. The second one to some Emerald pools. Nancy K decided to hike the third one and I hike the Grotto trail. We met up at snack bar. We hated to leave but had to get up the road. We stay in Nephi ( a place in the middle of nowhere on our way to Park City.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Hiking in Zion




River sidewalk






A great day for a hike








Green canyons, red cliffs, blue skies: Zion’s colors can stop you in your tracks. We got up early and hike the Riverside Walk before it got to hot. The hike follows along the bottom of a narrow canyon along the Virgin River. We than take a short hike that one of the bus drivers told us about to a water fall. It gets up into the
90’s here so after a nice lunch we went back to our motel and enjoyed sitting on the porch by the river.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Zion National Park














On the way to Zion we stop at the Red Canyon for a short hike and more beautiful pictures. Than on to Zion.






















You wouldn’t believe the road into Zion. It is all curves and straight down. We went thru a tunnel about a mile long cut out of the mountains.
We’re still having a problem getting a room because of the holiday. We did end up with a nice one and than they upgraded us because our air conditioner wouldn't work. We are now in a suite with a private porch by the river.
They have a great shuttle system here. You can leave your car at the hotel and be transported into the park and than catch another one for transportation all thru the park.
We had another good day of hiking and pictures.

Bryce Canyon National Park




Views fron the top of Bryce Canyon





Views from Sunrise Point





Walking down the trail




The switch back trails







Nancy K & Nancy D at the bottom of Bryce Canyon







"Hoodoos" a pillars of red rock, usually of fantastic shape left by erosion. This is what Bryce Canyon made of.

We arrived at Bryce Canyon early in the morning as we planned to hike down into the canyon before it got to hot. We were lucky to find a place to park as it was Memorial Day weekend and there were lots & lots of people. We use the Bryce free shuttle system to get around for the rest of the day.

We decided to take the Queen/Navajo combination loop trail for our hike. It takes you from Sunrise to Sunset Point. It’s called the World’s best 3 mile hike. It has steep grades with “down & back” elevation changes of 500ft. Great hike but we were tired at the end-so treated ourselves to a nice lunch at the Bryce Lodge. After lunch we took the shuttle to Bryce and Inspiration Points. Both had short hikes with great views.

We sent the night at Ruby’s Inn - a neat hotel next to the park.