I'm caught up! and Cascade Falls

Whew!  I finally did it!  I'm caught up on my blog!  Hopefully, now I can keep posting everyday and you can follow us in real time.

This last day of May and we are still at the Holiday Inn.  The radiator has been shipped and we hope it will come in on Monday or Tuesday.  We made the decision to put tires on the motorhome while it was in the shop.  It is recommended to replace tires after 6 years no matter the miles on them.  We are at 6 years with ours, so replacing them will help Glenn's peace of mind.  Just the other day, in St. George, UT, 2 people died when the front tire on their motorhome blew out.  The driver lost control and slammed into an apartment building.  Wouldn't want that to happen to us or anyone else!
Anyway, with any luck, we will be back in the motorhome before the end of next week.

Glenn and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on Wednesday.  We had dinner at Milt's Steakhouse.  A small rustic restaurant on Hwy. 14.  It was delicious and we had some extra entertainment.  They had hummingbird feeders outside the window and they were quite busy!

Today we decided to hike to the Cascade Falls.  It's located off Highway 14 past Cedar Breaks National Monument.  We read it was .9 miles and not too strenuous.  Hmmmm, we'll see.   Once we turned off Hwy.14 we followed a dirt road until we finally found the trailhead.

 

 

The views from the trail were absolutely breathtaking, literally!  We checked the GPS when we returned to the truck and the elevation at the trailhead was 8,942 feet and the falls were higher than that!  It was a nicely maintained trail with heavy timber stairs in the steeper spots.  Some parts were pretty narrow with no room for missteps!

 

We could see Zion 56 miles away!

Pretty little wildflowers (phlox, maybe?)

Let's hope that rock stays where it belongs, at least until we get off the trail!

A Western Tanager

A nice spot to catch our breath

Clearing the trail. lol!

This waterfall flows through a lava tube deep in the rocks and is fed from water leaking from Navajo Lake sink holes.  Navajo Lake sits at 9.250 feet.

Close up of falls

 

Navajo Lake

 On the way back from our hike to the falls, we drove along Navajo Lake.  This is a large but shallow lake.  When the water is at the top of the dike it is 15 feet deep.  The dike was built to maintain the lake level.  Due to the sink holes in the lake bed on the other side of the dike, the water would drain out if not controlled.  We saw several nice NFS campground around the lake.

Cinder Cone

 

Lava field

We returned from our drive, chilled out at the motel and went to Sizzler for dinner.  Great day!

 

Zion National Park

 A trip to Zion National Park was next on our agenda.  It's an easy drive from Cedar City (shorter than the drive to Bryce).  We had been to Zion in 2006 when we drove up for the day from Las Vegas.

 Top on Glenn's list was the River Walk.  In Zion, most of the areas are accessible only by shuttle.  We manage to find a parking spot at the Visitor's Center (we forgot it was Memorial Day!)

Entrance to the Narrows

 The River Walk is a pretty hike along the Virgin River.  It ends at the start of the Narrows.  The Narrows is where the river continues into a slot canyon.  It can be hiked, but you have to be prepared to spend a lot of time wading in the river because it gets so narrow there are no banks to walk on.  You might even do some swimming!  We couldn't do the last time we were there because we didn't have enough time.  We didn't plan on it this trip because the water was higher and only 54 degrees!  Brrrrr!  But it is on our bucket list!

 While the water may have been cold this time of year, it was a perfect time to view wildflowers.

Monkey flower

Columbine

Some visitors enjoyed a horseback ride



Columbine growing out of the rock walls



Shooting Stars

We returned to the Zion Lodge and had lunch at the café.  I found a cute shirt and ornament in the gift shop.  We then headed off to see the Emerald Pools.  Unfortunately, part way there, Glenn found it too hard to breathe so we turned around and ended our day at Zion. 

I almost forgot!  I added another new bird to my list.  We saw a Yellow Warbler!

Coal Creek Walking Trail

 Glenn is still battling his cold, so he hasn't felt up to doing too much, but we wanted to get out of the room for awhile.  We had read about a walking trail in town, so we gave it a try.

 Canyon Park is a very pretty park on both sides of Coal Creek.  We parked the car and started off on the nice, paved trail.  The trail runs along the creek and parallels Hwy.14.  There are benches and water fountains spaced along the way.

 I was in heaven!  The Russian Olive trees were in bloom and I just love their scent!

 It looks like someone is in the process of installing signs to identify the native plants along the trail.  One was the Cliff Rose which was blooming and also has a sweet scent.

 As we rested on one of the benches, I think I saw a vireo.  (If my bird book was in the room as I write this, I could tell you which one I saw.)

 Beautiful views everywhere you look in Cedar City!

 A bridge crosses the creek near the end of the trail.  There is a large parking area on the highway side of the bridge so it can be accessed from either end.

It was a nice walk of about 2 miles round trip.  This trail runs a good way through town the opposite way we took.  I've noticed several other walking/biking trails in town.  A nice feature for the town's people!