Trip to Zion National Park

 Over the long Christmas weekend, Eric and I drove to Zion National Park.  It was my first time visiting but Eric had been there as a child.  It was magnificent.  And, like Sedona and the Grand Canyon, pictures do not do it justice. But you know I have to try!

Sun shining on the Virgin River

Red rocks in the snow

Huge tree along our hike

Snow covered hand rails

Deer approaching us on the trail

Deer with grass in his mouth

Buck watching me get closer

Snow covered rocks

Icicles on the red walls

Snow covered logs

One of the majestic mountains

Deer framed by the tree

Lady Mountain (I believe)

Snowy, muddy trail

We came across a flock of turkeys  - a first for me!

Wild Turkey!

Wild turkey print in the snow

Virgin River

B&W of the Virgin River

 

 

 

 

 

Another first - big horn sheep!

They were pretty far up the mountain and I didn't have a good zoom lens - but still cool!

Loved the lines and light on this formation

Checkerboard Mesa

Checkerboard Mesa - the lines are caused from wind and weather over the years

Eagle on the roadside with it's kill - I got a little closer and he flew away (but not far!)

Open land at sunset

Buffalo

  

 

Home on the range

 

Closeup

Marble Canyon of the Colorado River

Navajo Bridge over the Colorado

You can see the sand banks on the south side of the river

Goodbye for now!  I hope to visit northern AZ / southern Utah again soon!

 

 

"While the river of life glides along smoothly, it remains the same river; only the landscape on either bank seems to change."  ~Max Muller

 

"And finally Winter, with its bitin', whinin' wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow." 

~Roy Bean

 

 

Grand Canyon Through a Grand Lens

In preparation for our upcoming African safari, I rented a couple of super-telephoto lenses for the weekend and headed up to the Grand Canyon.  Granted, the HUGE Grand Canyon wasn't necessarily the best place to try out the Canon 100-400mm, but the Sigma 50-500 was "amazeballs"!!  Again, not that I really needed the 500mm's for the Grand Canyon, but I was lucky to see a peregrine falcon, some elk, and an osprey (that we first thought was an eagle) where I was able to push it to it's limits!

This was my 3rd visit to the Grand Canyon and I feel as if I can never quite capture the true beauty of it.  The colors and the massiveness of it just do not convey.  I hope you enjoy the photos, but do yourself a favor...if you haven't been, go see this natural wonder of the world!

This was actually along the way to the Grand Canyon at a lookout stop

Little Colorado River

First view of the Grand Canyon

Love the clouds

The next few photos are of the Watchtower (there is a DMB cover song called All Along the Watchtower...just sayin')

Partial wall adjacent to the Watchtower

Looking up at the structure by architect and designer, Mary Colter

The Grand Canyon and the Watchtower

Taken at another outlook, you can still see the Watchtower in the distance

 

Using my Sigma 50-500 to capture a peregrine falcon perched inside the Canyon

Falcon looking back at us

You can see the Colorado River snaking through the canyon

A little squirrel came to say hello, Lisa Sandbo!

All the reds...so beautiful

At another lookout point

See the man on the ledge?!  And the river visible between the rock formations

In person, this was one of the most beautiful views I have seen of the Grand Canyon

Peaks and valleys

 

Bored of these yet?

Okay then, last one.  :0)

And then we saw the female elk...which to me, looked like a horse

Hungry girls!

And then, on the ride home, Eric somehow spots this nest high up in the tree on the side of the road.

And I get to put my Sigma lens to it's best test yet!

Now, at the time we thought this was an eagle...

But after Googling, we are 99% sure it's an osprey

She started singing

And then looked me right in the eye!  Great ending to a great day!

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." ~Albert Einstein