Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Snow Canyon

Saturday was a beautiful day for a bike ride.  The weather was so perfect.  It was in the lower 70’s all day.  We loaded up our bikes and headed up Snow Canyon.  A state park that is about 20 minutes from our home.  When you enter the park you are immediately surrounded by the steep red cliffs that this part of Southern Utah is so famous for.  We parked, unloaded our bikes and picked an 8 miles gravel and dirt path to take our ride on.  It was said to be an easy ride.  Although I have only ridden on paved pathways before, so for me it was challenging.  It just took a little  more of an effort and some of the soft sandy places on the path were difficult at times, but it was fun.  Over all I snapped about 70 pictures!  YES, it was beautiful that is why so many. 

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 004 scenes like this  was ahead of us on the trail, around every turn you came upon there was something a little different to see.

 

 

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I turned around after about a  mile and caught a glimpse of the valley below us, St. George and Santa Clara.

 

Still finding some of the desert in bloom

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Now it gets very interesting…I zoomed in on some hikers across the way.  WAY ACROSS the WAY!

 

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 013Red rock and white rock seem to have been placed here side by side out of no where.  It is amazing to see the striking difference between the color of the hills and wonder how it happened.Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 014    Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 024

 

 

 

 

 

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Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 015Each piece of this world is so different, no matter which way you turn you look at a story of time.  Layers upon layers of rock that seem to have been a bed of an underwater world when time, wind, rain, and water weather itself into the cliffs and bedrock.

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 033 I just couldn’t get over the beauty and peaceful serenity of this canyon.  Once in a while another biker would pass us by and nod and we would nod and smile back.   Words aren’t spoken, it is almost as if you are in another world where you shouldn’t break the silence.  When you speak it is in a whisper……because the mountains are listening……

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We silently rode back to the parking lot where our truck was.  For some reason, I was not completely up to par to do the 8 miles up and back so we turned around after 6.  

I rested at a picnic table and had a cool refreshing drink before heading over to another trail.  This time to stretch my legs a bit.

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If you look closely, this path had a stake in the ground that had a picture of a shoe and a mark through it (NO TRAIL),  I don’t think too many people took note.  There were a lot of foot prints….

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Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 042  We came upon fields of lava that were so beautiful.  A lava cavern that undoubtedly was the source of the fields of lava.  Bob was dying to go into the caves but I told him NO WAY HOSA’ you will have to come back with someone who will be able to get you out of the hole once you are stuck and that person is NOT ME!  I am such a poor sport!Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 043

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 046 I do have to admit that it looked inviting.  Scary, but adventurous.  See Huhoney looking into the cavern.  Later  on the way back we noticed some empty water bottles and thought how inconsiderate someone was to have left them so

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 047 like good doobies we picked up the plastic water bottles and dumped out the water remaining in a couple half full bottles….no sooner did we do that and 3 people emerged for the CAVERN! LOL SORRY! we thought that someone left there garbage behind and we were cleaning up, so we gave them a new bottle of water we were carrying around!  We were told that the cavern went back about 150 feet and was very COOL to go into!  At that point HUHONEY was so ready to venture into the lava spout cavern I had to almost hog tie him!Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 050

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 049 I am such a poor sport!  Need I remind you that CELL PHONES have no service under ground in the cavern and that without a flash light I was NOT going into the unknown!  He would have to get one of his sons to go with him…..LOL

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 055 half way up this photo just right of center is where our truck is parked.  We walked about 3 miles on this little adventure.  It was a good stretch for our legs that just biked about 12 miles!

 

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 057 Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 058 just a little bit further honey, you can to it!  the stairs looked very ominous to me….PHEW I did it!

On our way down to the valley, we stopped and watched some young people repel down the cliffs.  They were just setting up their ropes when we first had started our bike ride about 3 hours earlier.  It was amazing what these young people were doing.  I totally admire their skills and BRAVERY! (be sure to click on each photo to ENLARGE and get the total effect of their climb!)

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You have to actually squint to see the tiny spec of a person in the center of these pictures…that is how massive this cliff was.

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 062I don’t know how far up they were but I am guessing over 500 ft.  It was pretty amazing to watch.  Their group actually did 2 climbs.  The one hole in the wall on the left straight up and the other was the triangle where they had ropes repelling down the right side of the triangle from about 3/4 of the way up.  It was a great show!

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 064 I don’t think I would have it in me to do it.  I am a little afraid of heights…I wish I weren’t but I am…I am good about embracing it and continually do things that scare the hebie-geebies out of me just to say I am EMBRACING my fear!

Nov 09 Snow Canyon ride 067 Coming home at the end of a perfect day left us once again with a beautiful orange and pink sunset.  God is great isn’t he?  I am sooooo BLESSED!  Thanks for joining me today  and sharing my adventure and blessings with me. SMILES ACROSS THE MILES…..lindalu

12 comments:

Wanda..... said...

Linda, I loved going on the bike ride with you under that big blue sky. Seeing the different rock formations and massive cliffs was interesting, but thank you so much for not going into that hole in the earth. I've been in scenic caves before, but I could not imagine entering into something like that out in nowhere land, maybe at a park with a tour guide.
You used very good judgement and no propelling down a cliff either please! :)

Luv and Smiles,
Wanda

Barb said...

Hi Linda,
I LOVED your bike/hike explorations - the photos were fantastic. All the different colors of the rocks and the perspective you gave by showing the tiny bug of a person on the huge cliff were great. Your post reminded me of 2 quotes:

Your Hubby might say this -
"The dangers of life are infinite, and safety is among them." Goethe

You might remind him -
"Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread." Alexander Pope

So glad you're feeling strong enough to tackle such strenuous activity!

Burrell said...

Hehe "Some young people rapelling..." and "For some reason I wasn't up to par to do the whole 8 miles" Ummm, can we say YOU HAD SURGERY NOT TOO LONG AGO. DUH.
I love the desert. It's such a beautiful place. I loved that last picture of your tree in the foreground a little brighter than the city behind it.
And woo hoo for you on biking, hiking, and picking up litter.
Someday I hope to be like you...

Jackie said...

These are gorrrrgeous photographs...and to have been there to see the rocks (red beside white)....that magnificent sky...all the beautiful scenery you snapped photos of...to have been there must have been wonderful.
P.S. I think you and Huhoney should have gone in the cavern...
I would NOT have climbed the rocks like those climbers were doing....no how...no way!! Not even if I had a parachute tied to me and someone with a net to catch me....no way I'm going up those rocks...but I understand that climbers love it!!
Thank you for a great blog!!
I love it!!
Hugs,
Jackie

Eileen said...

Beautiful country!
And I so appreciate you posting pictures because it's unlike anything I've ever seen! Beaches, mountains, woods, and cities I've seen, but desert is foreign to me and I love it! I'd really like to get to that part of the country some day.

And I'm with you about the rock climbing! Rock scrambling I can do, but cliffs, NO WAY!
But you should have done the caves, it's a little scary but very exciting and some are so beautiful!
We've done quite a few, big tourist attractions, and little nothing caves (those are the scary ones!), but I've enjoyed them all.

Thanks again for taking us along on the ride! So pretty! 'Loved it!
Love you!,
Eileen

Mrs. Mac said...

Your pics brought back memories to my days spent in Utah as a youngster. We lived there for five years. Thanks for stopping by The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Scarf.

Cathy/Mrs. Mac

Judy Nebeker said...

Linda,
Beautiful post, Snow Canyon is such a gorgeous place. I love your how you describe the scenery. You're such a writer!

Judy

Duchess of Tea said...

Hello my darling, how is my favourite blogger, I hope life is treating you marvelously. As you know mine was a bit topsy turvy of late, but is slowly returning to normal. I thank you for checking in on me and for the sweet comment you always leave behind, I also thank you for inquiring about my father, you are so sweet. I am happy to report that my dad is doing better, he is now back to eating and walking which is a tremendous improvement. I thank you for your kindness and love, you are such a dear friend, a true treasure. I am now off to read the posts I've missed on your blog.

Take care
Love & Hugs
Duchess

Jeannette StG said...

That red and white rock is beautiful.
And those mountain climbers, I just get dizzy looking at it LOL Thanks for sharing these beautiful rocks

Can't remember if I commented before on : oma - you must be Dutch! (and so am I:) ), but my grand kids call me Nana.

Diana said...

Oh Linda,
What a beautiful place for a ride. You really are blessed. I would have loved to have gone with you. Your photos were wonderful and made me want to go!
Love Di

Cynthia L. H. said...

Wow! What spectacular photos! I was in awe just looking at them...it must have been wonderful to be surrounded by such beauty. And a twelve mile bike ride with a three mile hike thrown in???!!! Whew! You people are amazing!
Thank you for the wonderful narrative.
;^)

Jerelene said...

What gorgeous pictures! You sure are an active girl!! I couldn't do all that you do..that's great that you can though..What a beautiful bike ride you had...very pretty scenery..I wouldn't want to go down in that cave either...I'm a scaredy cat :)
I LOVE the last pic of the sunset...that is my favorite!!
What a pretty sky...thanks so much for sharing these great pictures..I feel like I went on a trip :)
Love you...Jerelene