We had a little Autumn while we were road-tripping, and then Zach felt the need for a little Winter too. Apparently it will get a little cooler still back home at post (down into the upper 30s and 40s as a high) but not enough moisture to get much in the way of snow. Kinda goes with being in a desert, I suppose. :\ So, asking around at Zion, we found that there were a few national parks up into the mountains a little bit north of Zion. Off we went!
Where we went was Cedar Breaks National Monument (a National Monument is a little smaller than a National Park, I guess). Such a pretty spot! Not a big park, not tons of trails, but really pretty, and certainly worth the day trip to visit :) Even better, there we found snow! Cedar Breaks is based around an amphitheater carved out of the mountain - yes, it's called an amphitheater because it's shaped that way. It's a natural formation, just like a man-made amphitheater, only about 3 miles wide and more than 2000 feet deep.
One of the unique features of that area are formations called Hoodoos, isolated crazy-looking pillars. Cedar Breaks has a bunch of them, and Bryce Canyon National Park (a hour and a half or so in the other direction) is known for them - thousands in their amphitheater! Hoodoos form as ridges wear down thinner and thinner, become fins, then eventually form isolated pillars in all sorts of crazy forms. They kinda remind me of cave formations - stalagmites, stalactites, columns - just the cave ones are formed by building up rock, not eroding away. :)
Our favorite point at Cedar Breaks was the Alpine Pond trail. It heads down into the amphitheater to a pond (another creative trail name). What made it so neat was that the trail and mountain side was on the shadier side of the amphitheater, and was more heavily wooded. As a result, it was still pretty snowy along the trail. We found winter!
When we actually got to the pond itself, it was frozen over - thick enough to stand on too!! It was so cool!! Totally new experience for both Zach and I :)
PS - It was really pretty at the pond :)
PS - It was really pretty at the pond :)
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