Halloween Graveyard

Back home in Colorado, my brother gets very excited about Halloween. So, we have a graveyard in our front yard. It always gets attention, and we all have a lot of fun adding to it!

This year, it took over the entire front yard.

The graveyard is complete with a fence, headstones, a dead (scarecrow) body, spiderwebs, and flowers on the graves! 

Final Day in Zion National Park

For our last day in Southern Utah, we decided to explore some of the area that we hadn't seen yet. We began by visiting Grafton, a historic ghost town. We figured that it was appropriate, as it was Halloween!

The Grafton Cemetery. This is home to dozens of citizens, many of which died very young. I found it interesting that settlers as well as Southern Paiute Native American Indians are buried here, showing the capacity for coexistence.

The Berry family was very prominent in the area, having founded the nearby town of Berryville. Robert (seen here), his wife Isabella, and brother Joseph were killed by Navajo Native American Indians. 

Down the road from the cemetery is the actual town of Grafton. Grafton was originally settled in 1861, then fell victim to the "Great Flood" of 1862. It was resettled on higher ground in 1862. Brigham Young ordered this area to be settled for the purpose of creating Mormon cotton farming communities. This is the Church and Schoolhouse building.

Next door to the Church/Schoolhouse is the Russell Home. Built around 1862, this building housed Alonzo Haventon Russell, Nancy Briggs Foster, and their children. 

Across the road from the Russell Home is the log cabin where Louisa Maria Foster lived. Alonzo Russell built the cabin to house his "second" wife (remember, polygamy was acceptable in southern Utah at the time) and their children, while he lived with Nancy and their children across the street.

The John and Ellen Smith Wood Home was built just down the road from the rest of the town, in 1877. John farmed, raised cattle, and acted as a blacksmith in Grafton, until he moved in 1909.

The view of the main town of Grafton, as seen from the John and Ellen Smith Wood Home. The town is part of an ongoing restoration project by the Grafton Heritage Partnership.

After exploring Grafton, we headed north, to the upper plateau of Zion National Park. The white rocks that you can see in the distance are the edges of Zion Canyon.

The rock formations and trees on the upper plateau show the convergence of two very different ecosystems in Zion National Park.

We returned to Zion Canyon, and decided to take one last trip through the Temple of Sinawava, leading to the Narrows.

The canyon walls, nicely framed by trees along the trail.

The fall colors were very nice for our trip. Note: the vivid color enhancer was NOT used in this photo :)

Bye, Zion! It was an amazing trip!

Zion National Park - The Narrows Hike

The beginning of the Narrows - the paved trail leads through the Temple of Sinawava and directly into the Virgin River. You hike in the river the rest of the time.

Skipping between sandbars to start, and taking photo breaks, of course!

Perspective - this canyon is very very tall - that's me on the sandbar!

A bend in the river and canyon.

Another bend in the canyon - it's getting narrow now.

More perspective - that's my dad!

Hiking in the river. The water was 48 degrees that day, not bad! We wore layers of shirts and jackets to compensate for the cold that our legs and feet were experiencing.

Classic Narrows shot.

The size of the cliffs in the canyon reminded me of how very small I am in the world!

Nice sunlight reflected on the canyon walls. Zion is really difficult to photograph, but every once in a while, a decent picture comes out.

After hiking in the shade for a couple of hours, we came around a bend into the sunlight. It felt great to warm up a bit.

Traversing the river. On top of the cold water, the river is full of rounded, slippery rocks (called slickrock), so you need to pay special attention to where you are stepping. Having a sturdy walking stick is a must!

What a gorgeous canyon!

They don't call it the Narrows for nothing! This is an offshoot from the main riverway, called Orderville Canyon.

Beginning the Orderville Canyon hike.

Orderville Canyon was a little bit different than the Narrows themselves. It seemed narrower, but was well worth the hike!

We hiked Orderville Canyon, then came back out to the main Zion Narrows canyon.

On the way back to the trailhead. The Narrows is pretty popular, and we had a wonderful day to hike it!

Zion National Park - Day 5

These photos are from a "relaxing" day. We wanted to take it easy because we were preparing to hike the Narrows the next day. These photos are from all over the park.

Checkerboard Mesa, named for the checkerboard-like striations in the rock.

The rock in Utah has wonderful texture due to the layers of sandstone. It's very photogenic!

The Zion Lodge, designed to blend in with the surroundings.

Another beautiful, clear day in Zion Canyon. The worst weather we had was in Colorado!

The Emerald Pools Trail.

A mini slot canyon on the Emerald Pools Trail, with a random tree growing from the middle of it!

A view of the canyon from underneath a waterfall. The fall was kind of wimpy, but we were there at the end of October, what did we expect?

The side view of the waterfall at Emerald Pools.

The Virgin River, meandering northward.

Ready for our big Narrows hike the next day!

Zion National Park - Hidden Canyon Trail

 

The Weeping Wall - due to changes in the rock layers and composition, water seeps from the rocks, into this dark area, where it continually rains from the cliff above.

The very wet conditions at the weeping wall support plant life. This is called a hanging garden.

Mix of red canyon walls, clear blue sky, and dark shadows.

The "knife-edge" and summit of the Angels Landing Trail.

Orange and yellow fall colors along the Hidden Canyon Trail. 

Fall colors, with a vivid color enhancer used, along the trail to Hidden Canyon.

When you hike up into the canyon, the paved trail becomes a sheer cliff trail, with occasional stability chains. 

Fall colors in contrast to a clear sky.

My dad and I on our way to Hidden Canyon!

The beginning of the canyon portion of the trail.

More fall colors within the canyon.

Wonderful view from the Hidden Canyon Trail.

Sheer cliff face along the trail.

A Natural arch in Hidden Canyon.

My dad, preparing to climb some boulders within Hidden Canyon. Of course, he watched me to see how NOT to do it!