Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

You can read Part One here.

You can read Part Two here.

You can read Part Three here.

When we saw the snow falling outside our hotel, we were a little concerned that we’d have to drive on slick roads in a car that did not have snow tires. That’s one of the downsides to renting a vehicle in a wamer climate (Vegas) and driving it to places that may have bad weather.

Luckily, the roads weren’t holding the snow, and most of it melted when it hit the asphalt. However, everything else was quickly turning white with the dusting of snowflakes.

We had 180 miles to travel to Vegas (about 3.5 hours), which wasn’t too bad, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Pioneer Lodge Restaurant in Springdale. Although they advertise a breakfast buffet on window signs and in their menu, we found out that they don’t have the buffet in the off season.  A traditional breakfast of bacon and eggs for me, and an omelet for Steve, was enough to fortify us for the drive ahead.

Several friends had recommended a stop at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, so we deviated from the highway in Moapa to take in this geological wonder.

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You can read Part One here.

You can read Part Two here.

It was a short, but beautiful drive to Zion National Park.  Here’s the route we drove:

INFORMATION ABOUT ZION

(From the nps.gov website):  Almost 12,000 years ago Zion’s first peoples, who are now almost invisible, tracked mammoth, giant sloth, and camel across southern Utah. Due to climate change and overhunting these animals died out about 8,000 years ago. Humans adapted by focusing on mid-sized animals and gathered foods. As resources dwindled 2,600 years ago, people tuned lifeways to the specifics of place. Such a culture, centered on Zion, differentiated over the next 1,500 years into a farming tradition archaeologists call Virgin Anasazi.

The Anasazi moved southeast 800 years ago, due probably to drought and overuse. Soon after, Paiute peoples brought a lifeway fine-tuned to desert seasons and thrived. In the 1860s, just after settlement by Mormon pioneers, John Wesley Powell visited Zion on the first scientific exploration of southern Utah. By hard work and faith, pioneers endured in a landscape that hardly warranted such persistence. Flash floods destroyed towns and drought burned the crops. Only the will to survive saw Paiute, Anasazi, and European descendants through great difficulties. Perhaps today Zion is again a sanctuary, a place of life and hope.

Located in Southwestern Utah, Zion National Park encompasses some of the most scenic canyon country in the United States. The park is characterized by high plateaus, a maze of narrow, deep sandstone canyons and striking rock towers and mesas.

Zion National Park is a showcase of geology. Geologic processes have played an important role in shaping Zion. The arid climate and sparse vegetation allow the exposure of large expanses of bare rock and reveal the park’s geologic history.

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