Well I got up early today and went back to sleep for a hour or so, hoping that the sky full of dark clouds would disappear. It didn't and when I talked to a ranger he told me that there was a 70% chance of heavy rain today and that it was covering all of southern Utah. So, I called my over-the-voice-phone internet connection back in Seattle and had him look up some weather forecast for me. It didn't look promising. I had thought that I might drop down to the Grand Canyon and then process to New Mexico and catch Utah on a sunny day sometime next week but there was rain in some of those areas as well. I decided to proceed to the Grand Canyon anyway it the hopes the the 150 miles south might put me clear of the rain. But first I thought as long as I'm here I might as well have one more look around.

The light in the canyon was bright, but it was very low in contrast, what you usually get when it's a cloudy day. I tried a few time without success on getting a picture and then finally gave up. I decided to stop by one more place though. A road to the plateau above and to the north to see if I could get at least one halfway decent picture. One the way out of the canyon though the sun broke through and I was able to get two interesting shots of the mouth of the canyon. After that I went to find that plateau back road.

The road is about 20 miles long and it goes through both interesting and boring country. I just kept driving without stopping until nearly the end. I could tell that it was going to be more scenic on the way down versus the was up. On the way back down I passed a few places that might have been interesting but I didn't want to lose any more time. I did stop at one place that looked promising and after a short hike out I found a really cool place. It may end up being the best picture I get from this area it if all works O.k.

I have mixed feelings about Zion though. I've seen some great pictures that have been taken here but I think they are all from places that are hard to get to. The canyon itself while impressive for a canyon, just isn't very photogenic. It's too narrow and much too steep. You end up have to look up at most everything and taking a picture this way results is extreme exaggerations of perspective. Overall I think perhaps the best places I saw of the canyon came from that IMAX film I saw yesterday. I'd like to come back here someday and explore the slot canyons when it's not flash-flood season.

After that, I headed to the southeastern side of the canyon, towards a place called Corral Pink Sand Dunes. The drive out of this part of the canyon was pretty interesting. Most notable was the 1.1 mile tunnel that was built in 1930. It's a really narrow tunnel but it's got these really cool 'windows' for ventilation that have really cool viewpoints. Unfortunately, you cannot stop in the tunnel so you only get to see them for a brief period, unless you buy a postcard.

Once I got the the Dunes I was pretty hopeful that it would be a good place. It was right before sunset so the shadows on the dunes were looking interesting. Also the fact that they're made from the same Navajo sandstone as Zion canyon made it all the more interesting. Unfortunately, they allow off-road vehicles in the most interesting parts of the dunes so unless you want pictures of tire tracks it's not such a good place after all. I was really disappointed. It would be a much prettier place if they didn't allow off-road vehicles.

So I headed off for Bryce Canyon National Park, hoping that the storm had passed for the next couple of days at least. After about an hour or so I arrived at Red Canyon, about 14 miles outside of Bryce. It was right at sunset and totally awesome. Not enough time to get out the big camera, but I did manage to get the video camera out. The entrance to the canyon is really, really cool. The same Navajo sandstone but it seemed much redder (probably just the sunset). The big difference though was that instead of mostly shear canyon walls like Zion, the walls were really carved by the elements into tall spires. It was really cool looking.

Since the sun was setting I found a place to camp just up to road. It is wet everywhere and I can see lightning in the distance but it is clear here now. I just hope it holds out for the next couple of days.