Sunday, October 13, 2024
It was quite a drive getting up to the monument. A week or two from now this will be covered in snow.
A view looking out towards the top of Zion canyon.
It's like a more alpine Bryce Canyon.
Soft needles.
A Bristlecone Pine. The longest lived non clonal species in the world. These trees can live as long as five thousand years but only live at high elevations and are being squeezed as temperatures rise.
I'd never heard of Cedar Breaks until the day before we visited, however we had some time to spare after leaving Zion sooner than planned so we decided to go check it out and it was worth it.
Cedar Breaks is about an hour north of Zion at a much higher elevation. It's the highest point in the Grand Staircase formation which means it's comprised of some of the youngest rocks. It has a lot in common with Bryce Canyon with orange rock and hoodoos.
In summer it would have been bright with wildflowers in the alpine meadows but sadly at this time of year all that was left was the dried husks. I think this was probably the highest elevation that we'll be hiking on this trip at well over 3000 metres above sea level. It's crazy how quickly you get out of breath this high up even after we've been gradually moving higher over the last few weeks. Hopefully when we get back to sea level we'll be super fit.