Escalante

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Escalante and Zions

Amanda, James, Aliza, and Hiram at Zion National Park

I previously wrote of the Ross family excursion in March 2021 with the Hemsley family to Junction, Utah. With them we hit Bryce Canyon National Park and some other locations. I previously wrote of our visit to Capitol Reef National Park. Here are a few photos of our visit to Escalante, Utah and Zion National Park.

We spent the night in Junction, headed to Capitol Reef National Park, and then spent that night in Escalante. It was a long day of driving and we covered many miles.

Homestead Overlook near Boulder, Utah
Picture from the Hogback south of Boulder
Boynton Overlook looking up the Escalante River toward the Natural Bridge

I wish we had time to hike up the trail to the Natural Bridge.

Escalante Heritage Center in Escalante, Utah

We spent the night at the Canyon Country Lodge for the night. It was pretty cold outside. The photo at the Heritage Center doesn’t look cold, but we did not stay very long.

The next day we drove to Zion National Park. It was generally pretty empty, both due to middle of March and being cold.

Paul and Lillie Ross riding the bus into Zion National Park

Zion was its usual beautiful self. Ageless.

Looking at the Patriarchs

We decided to go up the Riverside Walk.

Riverside Walk in Zion National Park

We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. No pioneer children were singing though.

Aliza, Amanda, Hiram, Lillie, and James Ross on the Riverside Walk in Zion NP

We went as far up the trail as we could go before without getting wet.

From this point the trail became known as The Narrows. It was too cold and wet to go any further. But the hike back provided pretty views too.

Riverside Trail, Zion National Park

We spent the next day or two in St. George and visited various sites there before heading home. At least it was warmer in St. George. I only had a couple of pictures from St. George I wanted to share.

Some of downtown St. George with the St. George Temple

The temple was under renovation during this time, so we could only walk around some of the grounds.

St George’s Dixie sign

We visited Thunder Junction in St. George. We had to ride the train.

James, Amanda, and Aliza riding the train at Thunder Junction
Lillie, Hiram, and Paul Ross at Thunder Junction
Aliza and James at Thunder Junction

Last, we also hit the Children’s Museum in the old Dixie Academy.

Hiram driving his farm jeep
James doing a little light cooking at the children’s museum
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Bryce Canyon

In March 2021 the Ross family went on a little excursion with the Hemsley family to Junction, Utah. With them we hit Bryce Canyon National Park and some other locations. I previously wrote of our visit to Capitol Reef National Park. On that same trip, before Capitol Reef, we hit Bryce Canyon National Park.

Ross family at Bryce Canyon National Park

Here are a few photos of that excursion.

Aliza Ross and Zach Smart at Bryce Canyon, 21 March 2021

We entered from the north side of the Park through Bryce Canyon City.

You can probably tell from the photos. It was pretty chilly with the fairly new snow. The snow created some beautiful contrasts in color.

Some of it was a bit harrowing with the long drops from either side of the trail. Thank goodness we had Grandma and Grandpa, and aunts and uncles to help shepherd the children through.

These photos are all from the trails near Sunrise Point and Sunset Point.

Some of the hoo doos were definitely interesting.

Amanda taking a picture of James Ross with Zach and Alyssa Smart

Of course, I had to get a picture of Queen Victoria in the Queen’s Garden.

Amanda and James Ross with Queen Victoria
Amanda Ross and Alyssa Smart hiking Queen’s Garden Trail to the Navajo Trail

Once you hike down a trail, you must invariably hike back up. The Navajo Loop Switchback of course was our choice to return.

Jack and Derek Hemsley, Amanda and Aliza Ross in the background, hiking up the Navajo Loop Trail

We may have been huffing and puffing, along with exhausted and moody children, at the end of the loop switchback.

Some of the rock formations were simply amazing.

In the middle of the day I had to sequester myself to the van for some 341 bankruptcy hearings. After the day, we started heading toward Capitol Reef National Park and spending the night in Escalante for Escalante National Park.

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Capitol Reef National Park

Amanda, James, Lillian, Hiram, and Aliza Ross at Capitol Reef National Park

In March 2021 the Ross family went on a little excursion with Amanda’s family to Junction, Piute, Utah. With them we hit Bryce Canyon National Park and some other locations. However, we used it as a springboard to hit some other locations that the Hemsley family did not go with us. One of those places was Capitol Reef National Park.

Rock capitol formation view near Chimney Rock, Capitol Reef National Park

The drive between Junction was off the beaten path. We ventured through little towns like Kingston, Angle, Greenwich, Koosharem, Loa, Lyman, Bicknell, and Torrey.

Chimney Rock in Capitol Reef National Park

We only had about half the day to play in Capitol Reef. We ended up spending the night in Escalante after visiting some parts of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Here you can see some of the different layers over the millions of years.

Here is another vista that takes your breath away. Photos never do it justice.

Another view of Capitol Reef National Park

We did some hiking in the park. It was a bit chilly in some of the locations and with the young children we were limited on how far we could walk. Amanda snapped those pictures, not me.

A rock ledge at one of the trail heads.