Zion Beauty: Views from Angels Landing

In a past post, I showed you photos from my Angels Landing hike in Zion National Park in August of 2010.  Here are some of the beautiful views from that hike.

The path beckons....I'm drawn in.  What's around the bend?

Walter's Wiggles--looking up from near the top.  I love the play of light in this photo.

Walter’s Wiggles, named after the first superintendent of Zion, are a series of 21 tight switchbacks carved into the face of the rock cliff in 1926. This trail remains one of the park’s most spectacular construction wonders.  

"In 1985....Walter's Wiggles was resurfaced with 88 cubic yards of concrete, and the concrete for this job was hauled onto the site by helicopter. This took 258 flights. WHEW!" *

a view from Walter's Wiggles.  Zion is a veritable botanic wonderland.  Almost 800 species of plants abound in the park--from desert flora to mossy gardens, flowers, and trees.

Sandstone cliffs of golds, oranges, and rust contrast with the deep green of flora and the azure sky.

Scout Lookout

at the top!

LINKS:

* NPS FAQ Zion's hiking trails 
Angels Landing  my blog post 11/4/2011 with links
Zion  my blog post 10/13/2011 with links

I'm so happy Ms Jenny has decided to do another round of Alphabe-Thursday! This is such a fun meme!  Thank you, Ms Jenny!  Come and join in the fun!  You will be charmed and even enlightened in a delightful way!  See more entries HERE. This week our letter is "B."  (B is for Beauty!)

I'm also participating in SkyWatch Friday, another fun meme with lovely photographs from all over the world!  SkyWatch Friday is hosted by Wren, fishing guy, Sylvia, Klaus, and Sandy.


photos by me © 2010 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

food 

guide:  Swiss chard (leaves in back.  These come with white, red, and yellow stems.), eggplant (creamy, yellow rimmed veggie in the middle), 3 beets (on either side of the eggplant), radish (on left), 2 carrots (on right).  The colors and patterns are so beautiful!

purple 

detail of Indigo Angel by Janice Campion

On Sunday, I attended the reception of Chrysalis, a life retrospective of fiber artist Janice Campion's work.  The show was held at Grailville, a retreat and education center, with a Fall Harvest Supper following.  Most of the food was grown at Grailville and it was delicious!

in disguise 

This landscape is disguised by water from the carwash rivuleting over the windshield.

shapes 

detail of The Guardian by Janice Campion  

The full quilt follows.  Janice hand dyes, batiks, and paints much of her fabric.  Most quilting is done by hand.  Some decorative sewing is done on machine.  When seen in person and up close, the detail of her work is truly stunning.

The Guardian by Janice Campion, 1993

"The challenge of my work is to combine both decorative and figurative elements."  This work was inspired by Gustav Klimt, and was part of an international show in Paris inspired by the works of Klimt.

(cotton, applique, reverse applique,  hand and machine pieced, hand and machine quilted, textile pigments, hand embroidered)

photographer's choice 

 detail from the hem of a doll's dress by Janice Campion

This dress is made entirely of woven strips of fabric about a quarter inch wide.  Each strip has stitched details along its entire length.

I had to show you the entire doll even though this is a bad photo.  I wish I had taken more photos of the details.

Janice's quilts have been in Juried and Invitational Shows throughout the United States and in Europe. They have appeared in Quilt magazines, on the PBS show, Sew Creative, HGTV's The Carol Duvall Show, and on the cover of a textbook.

LINK:
Grailville  --a center for retreats, spirituality, women's empowerment, the environment, the arts, and good old peace and quiet.

I'm having so much fun participating in this challenging, inspiring, and fun meme.  Come on over to  Scavenger Hunt Sunday on Ashley Sisk's blog and see some wonderful, creative entries.  Link up, too!

photos by me © 2011

artwork © Janice Campion

Angels Landing

Angels Landing is a towering 5785 foot monolith gracing Zion National Park in Southern Utah.  The hike, with an 1488 foot elevation gain, up this narrow fin is one of the most thrilling in the National Park system.  

The trail up to Angels Landing starts at The Grotto.  Farther along, the trail begins to get steep.

The trail up this exposed ridge is steep and narrow with long drop offs sometimes on both sides.  The views, however, are spectacular!

looking back.  still near the beginning.

Looking up, there is spectacular beauty!

After hiking through Refrigerator Canyon, we begin the portion of the trail called Walter's Wiggles, a series of 21 tight switchbacks going straight up.  (Check out the links below to see photos.  One is starred.  Look quickly to see what this really looks like.)

looking up at the last few switchbacks of Walter's Wiggles  

(To get a sense of what this is really like, check out the links below!)

After making it to this point, we come to Scout's Lookout, a large flat area with restrooms.  Many people stop at this point because the next section is scary as you will see.  Here we stop to eat our sandwiches. 

Next up:  the chains!  The last half mile is across a narrow ridge with drop offs on either side.  Along most of this section, chains are anchored into the rock.

Don't look down!

There is a section about a quarter mile long of scrambling up rocks, holding on to the chain.  We made it!  The end of the hike!  NOT!  Look ahead and above--there's the last quarter mile!  up that fin!  (You can see part of this trail under the pine branch.)
Disclosure:  I stop at this point and take photos of the brave souls continuing on.  That would include my husband and our friend Pam.

See the narrowness and drop offs on either side?!

coming back down from the very top.

Actually, coming down was much easier and less scary than going up.  If I had known that, I may have continued on at least for a bit.

On our way back down now.

 

the end of the trail--the bridge over the Virgin River

LINKS:
Zion National Park Angel's Landing information

National Park Service virtual hike

Joe's Guide to the hike complete with topo map 

great trail photos --see Walter's Wiggles 2nd row 3rd from left

*great photo of Walter's Wiggles-- a must see!

another Zion POST with some links

good trail information

Walter's Wiggles were named after Walter Ruesch, the first superintendent of Zion National Park.  He oversaw the construction of the West Rim Trail as well as the trail up Angels Landing.  He wanted a trail that was functional yet melded into the landscape.

I'm so happy Ms Jenny has decided to do another round of Alphabe-Thursday! This is such a fun meme!  Thank you, Ms Jenny!  Come and join in the fun!  You will be charmed and even enlightened in a delightful way!  See more entries HERE. This week we are at the beginning of the alphabet with the letter "A."

I'm also participating in SkyWatch Friday, another fun meme with lovely photographs from all over the world!  SkyWatch Friday is hosted by Wren, fishing guy, Sylvia, Klaus, and Sandy.

photos by me © 2010

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

macro

A Meyer lemon blossom newly opened!  I'm so excited!  One of the owners of Loveland Greenhouse gave this plant to me as a gift and said to treat it like a ficus.  It recently started budding and now one of the creamy white blossoms has opened.  The scent is heavenly!

found texture

 Seriously, what in the world is this?!!  *

home

Home is where the kitties live!  so cute how Oliver is snuggling this felt pillow!  (I can even forget how later, painstakingly, I will have to remove that white fur.)

cover

These cute little owls covered the door of a first grade classroom when I visited my goddaughter during a school open house.  

tree

as seen through a window in my house.  I love the shape and texture of bare branches silhouetted against the sky.

* My guess was that it is some type of fungus.  I googled "red mulch fungus" and got an answer.  It's a stinkhorn--Phallus rubicundus.   

LINKS:

stinkhorn   

history and uses of Meyer lemons

100 things to do with a Meyer lemon

growing  Meyer lemons

I'm having so much fun participating in this challenging, inspiring, and fun meme.  Come on over to Scavenger Hunt Sunday on Ashley Sisk's blog and see some wonderful, creative entries.  Link up, too!

I'm also linking up with Macro Monday!  

 

I'm linking up on Erika's blog, Artful Rising, for her  It's a Wrap Party.  come on over and link up!  Just link one of your favorites posts from the week before.  It's that easy!

photos by me © 2011

delicious Autumn

Autumn means gloriously Fall-colored produce--orange, gold, cinnamon, burgundy, deep purple, scarlet.  These were recently bought at Finn Meadows Farm, a local organic farm owned by my friends.  I belong to a vegetable CSA-- Community Supported Agriculture.  I love the way they run the CSA because I get to choose what I want.

Ѽ orangey-beige squash and other squashes including 2 kinds of pumpkin, a red/green pepper and a deep purple one (green inside), 3 colors of carrots (burgundy ones are orange on the insides), a long pink and white radish, and a deep red beet Ѽ
visually pretty and yummy, too! 

It's Fall Break over at Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday!  "For this week our Fall break theme is Anything Autumn. Your post can be about anything related to Autumn in your own life... Halloween, pictures, stories, recipes...whatever strikes your fancy."
Come and join in the fun!  See more entries HERE.  You will be charmed and even enlightened in a delightful way!  Our generous Ms. Jenny is having a giveaway, too!  yipee! 
link to Finn Meadows Farm

photo by me © 2011

Ubiquitous Orange

I apologize in advance.  My photographic offerings today are neither alluring nor inspiring.  In a moment, you'll see why.

words

bad

worse

under

under construction

orange

fly

not flying ↑

Oh, if only I could fly like a bird!

always look on the bright side!

So there IS a happy ending after all!

This post was inspired by the fact that everywhere I drive within a 5 mile radius of my house, road construction is taking place.

Anyone else?

This is my third time participating in this challenging, inspiring, and fun meme.  Come on over to Scavenger Hunt Sunday on Ashley Sisk's blog and see some wonderful, creative entries.  Link up, too!

photos by me © 2011