In these last days of 2013 we have arrived at post number ten in my series “Twelve months in thirteen days.” I have always wanted to do this – to post a remembrance once each day at the end of the year, for each month of this year, remembering people, places, and rocks I have gotten to know better in 2013.
You can swing a cat from my backyard in southern Utah and it will hit the ground running in some pretty spectacular landscape. This past October I drove over to Zion and Bryce National Parks for some hiking and some sightseeing. I live here. This is what I do for fun.
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| Grotto Picnic area |
Trees in the Grotto picnic area of Zion come alive in autumn colors against a backdrop of towering Navajo Sandstone cliffs.
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| Bryce Canyon and Powell Point |
At Bryce Canyon, the rocks of distant Table Cliff on the Aquarius Plateau can be seen to the east. The prominent landmark is known as Powell Point. The pink rock layers are the same 50 million year old lake bed sediments as at Bryce Canyon. However, the pink rocks of Table Cliff are 2000’ higher than they are at Bryce – the difference is due to movement along the Paunsagunt fault on the eastern edge of the Park.
