On our first full day of the tour, we learned about the geology of the parks we would be visiting, and then went to see our first park: Snow Canyon State Park, located near St. George, in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. The red you will see in the photos below is Navajo Sandstone.
Snow Canyon sits at the junction of Mojave Desert, Great Basin, and Colorado Plateau; so, the climate is very sunny and dry. The average rainfall is about 7.5 inches per year, and the summers can get extremely hot.
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
After getting a birds-eye view of the park, we went to the floor of the park’s canyon to walk a path and get close-up views of the beautiful spring desert flowers and sandstone formations. The moon was still visible against the clear blue sky, so the group enjoyed taking strategically framed photos along the way.
We also visited Bloomington Petroglyph Park, a very small park located in the middle of a subdivision! It was sad to me to see houses surrounding such a historical site!
The ½ acre park highlights large boulders with petroglyphs. These carved images tell the stories of ancient peoples. Many of these carved images are of humans and animals as well as what is believed to be early trail maps. The history of these petroglyphs is unknown; however, other petroglyphs in Utah are around 2,000 years old.
(Unfortunately, the petroglyphs have been vandalized, so there are also initials carved into the rocks.)
Next up: Zion National Park
Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools... and CHOCOLATE! 