Sunday, April 29, 2012

Coral Sand Dunes, Movie sets and Pipe Springs

Since we ended up spending most of the day at Zion on Wednesday and chance of rain increased to 90%, we decided to visit Kanab and the surrounding area.
Our first stop was Coral Pink Sand Dunes. We "climbed" to the top of one of the dunes, sinking ankle deep in sand....and with storm clouds that looked like it was going to pour at any moment.




Our next stop was Kanab. So many movies and tv shows were filmed in this area including Gunsmoke and a number of John Wayne movies. There is a museum that has a number of the movie sets.




After lunch we went to Pipe Spring National Monument. It is a spring that was used by the Pueblo people and also the early Mormon settlers. The Mormons built a fortified house. There was an interesting tour led by a Kaihab Indian. One thing we learned was that the Kaihabs use to hide in the fortified house. The Navajo Indians were kidnapping them, taking them to the Presidio in San Francisco or San Diego and selling them as slaves to Mexico. There were a number of "hiding places" in the house, also used for hiding Mormon husbands and their "first wife" when the government stopped polygamy. Evidently other wives were left to fend for themselves.




Zion National Park


WEDNESDAY

Well we woke up to overcast skies and rain in the forecast. We drove through Red Canyon on our way to Zion.
We went in the East Road through canyons into Zion. After eating lunch at Zion Lodge we took the bus tour and several walks.











Wednesday, April 25, 2012

TUESDAY
We spent the day at Bryce Canyon. It was named after an early settler who was known for describing the canyon "as a hell of a place to lose a cow".













MONDAY

We started the day at the Escalente Petrified Forest State Park with a great hike.
We climbed to the top of this mountain
Some of the petrified wood.
View from the top of the mountain.
Next we went to Kodachrome State Park.
That evening we went to Devil's Garden.










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