Cedar Breaks, North Zion, and a little more Bryce

We waited out the morning at the campground since it was stormy and kept raining off and on.  By about noon there were some breaks in the clouds, so we started out on our day trip.

We first went back over highway 14 which we came through in the snow and slush yesterday afternoon.  This time the road was dry and there wasn't any fog, so we could see the scenery.  At the top, we turned off to take the road to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  They had had more snow overnight, but the roads were plowed.  There was lots of fresh snow on the evergreen trees, so the views were spectacular!  And we saw the hoodoos in their amphitheater with snow on them!

We came down the western side and headed south on I-15, hoping that the clouds would clear for the Kolobs Canyon section of Zion.  It's much less crowded than the southern part.  It started raining as we ascended the mountain, but it looked like it might break, so we sat in an overlook for a little while and were rewarded with some blue sky!  We drove back to the top and started down again, so I could stop every few feet for another picture!

After that, we drove back up I-15 to Parowan and took highway 143, another winding mountain road (with a 13% grade!) back east.  There's a ski resort named Brian Head at the summit.  The road turned to dirt for a little while, and we thought we had missed the highway, but it was the right road.  Coming down the east side, we passed Panguitch Lake, and then came back through Panguitch.

Since Bryce Canyon was not far off the road to get back to the campground, we detoured to see if we could see some blue skies there.  There were storms but we saw a little blue sky with the cloud.

Starting to see snow on the way up to Cedar Breaks

Lake which was created by a lava flow

Snow on the rocks across the road

Baxter is worried

Look at the snowbank where they plowed!

Fir trees covered in snow

Footprints in the snow

Family making snow people

Snow-covered hoodoos

Path to the viewpoint

You can tell I stopped in the middle of the road to take this!

Another viewpoint down this path

More snow-covered hoodoos

I love the way the blowing snow stuck to these trees!

North part of Zion.  Looks like the profile of an old man.

Sun starting to come out!

Red cliffs and red road are amazing!

Waterfalls

Wet, red road

Making the climb up on 143

Ski lift at Brian Head

Snow scene on highway 143

Look at the sun on the far mountain!

Lake Panguitch

Looking down on Panguitch

Bryce with a little blue sky

Thunderstorm in the distance