St. George, Utah

Oh, it has certainly been a busy week.  We spent the week touring the back country in the St. George area.

I always find St. George of special interest - for us folks that travel south in the winter to avoid the snow and cold, St. George is the start of the nice weather.  It seems that you come down out of the mountains, it changes from winter to summer in a matter of miles.

Daily, we would pack our lunch and head out on to the trails, in various directions.  And daily, there were different directions, exceptional scenery, and sometimes, new experiences.

We started the week by getting a very early start on Sunday morning.  That is something that happens when someone reads the information incorrectly and find out that things start happening late Sunday morning, and not mid-afternoon.  We arrived in plenty of time to make sure we missed nothing.

Every day was a new experience, whether it be crossing rivers, or climbing to the top of mountains, or maybe running across sand dunes.  Following is a collection of photos taken this past week - I will try to say a little of what we were doing.

Toquerville Falls - A crossing on top, and at

the bottom were some swimming holes that many were enjoying.  I didn't check the temperature of the water but I'm sure it wasn't very warm.

No Halloween is complete with out a costume competition!!

There were some amazing petroglyphs partway up the side of a hill/mountain which very few people apparently get to see - well, mountain goat Gerry went up there.

This is a birthing cave which was a very short distance from the petroglyphs.

Here is a close-up of a dinosaur track and the area in which they were found. 

This is a jeep that was in front of us crossing the east branch of the Virgin River - we were right behind.  We ended up crossing this river 22 times!

It was amazing the depth of the  sand on many of the hills.  This is what can happen very quickly and it seemed that whenever the driver tried to get out, the sand would just pull him down the hill further.

What a view

Driving back through Zion park after a great trip

Pearson Fort - not very large but on top of a knoll so they could definitely see in all directions.

Sand Dunes

Comforts out in the middle of the sand dunes

Roads down the hill.  We didn't take these particular ones but similar

Sunday is moving day again.  This week will likely be spent without any cell coverage so that means no internet.  Next week's blog will likely be a tad late, but I will be back.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

Touring Northern Arizona

This past week was one of sight seeing and generally taking it easy.  The week started at Chinle, AZ where we toured Canyon De Chelly which is on the Navajo Reservation.  While there are a number of scenic viewpoints on both sides of the canyon, you truly get a different perspective from the bottom.  

As we drive, we love some of the signs we come across - like the one indicating the distance to a campground - 9.9 miles = 17.7 km - I love the math.  We went to each of the scenic overlooks and yes, they were definitely scenic.  

In order to tour through the canyon, one must take a guided tour.  After speaking to several people and checking out some of the different tours, we decided on one that was an open-air six-wheeled military vehicle and it turned out to be a great choice.  The ride was much smoother than some of the other vehicles plus you could see everything and take photos whenever your wished.

Throughout the canyon there were many ruins of the Anasazi and/or Hopi tribes as well as various petroglyphs and pictographs.  As we drove through the bottom of the canyon, one would wonder how these people could access the heights at which any ruins were built - first to be able to build them and second, to then live there.  It was obvious, however, that these locations provided protection from the climate - the overhang kept the sun off and the height gave protection from flash floods.  As well, the location also provided protection from predators.  While most that we saw seemed to be built on ledges partway up the cliff, some were also built on the valley floor.  These we were able to actual see the size of these buildings.

From here we went over to the area of Page, AZ and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  We didn't spend much time right at Page touring Lake Powell, but we did do a little touring west of there.  We took a drive to the Paria movie site.  As we drove to the site, the scenery was absolutely amazing as the contour and colouring of the cliffs was ever-changing.  And as you looked across the landscape, you could just imagine John Wayne riding across the land.  Unfortunately, the buildings from the movie site were all destroyed in a fire but the drive was terrific.

Then we went on a 1.6 mile hike to the Toadstools which are sandstone formations or hoodoos that are shaped like mushrooms.  Again, the  red sandstone against the white coloured stone provides an unbelievable backdrop.
 This fellow seemed to fill the back seat.  But he had to share it with another St .Bernard!

Two couples were touring around in this vehicle.  Have to love the designs.

And there are always the geckos - they seem to be so little here.

And the week comes to a close after a very relaxing week.  Tomorrow it is time to move on so until next week, I hope everyone has a terrific week.