Kolob Canyons

The drive from Springdell to the Kolob Canyons wasn't short, but the views from the window were beautiful.

We went to the visitor center and learned that there were basically three hikes we could do. One would have taken eight hours. Another, three and a half, which would have been fine if it hadn't been because by then it was already past 1.30 PM, sunset was around 5 PM, and weather would get progressively colder. So we decided to do the third one, a short hike in the snow to the Timber Creek Overlook.

It was indeed short and not exactly isolated, but it was so pretty. The microspikes came in handy again since all the way was through snow and ice. The views were spectacular, incredibly gorgeous. It was very cold, with snow flying like dust from the road, but we were well prepared.

I wish it had been longer, but I still think we made a good choice. It would have been ideal to walk for a bit longer, but this was a good option at that time of the day.

After the hike, we found ourselves in a weird situation. It was too late to do another hike, but we still had a couple of hours of light left. We decided to drive back through Zion and play it by ear.

We ended up staying in the car all the way to our hotel and just stopping on the road a couple of times. One of them was particularly fun. We run into a bunch of bighorn sheep that were hanging out on the rocks. At some point, they decided to cross the road, which blocked the traffic for a few minutes, just to end up going back again to the same point they had come from.

We had planned to have dinner at a pizza place near our hotel that had very good reviews, but when we went there after taking a shower and changing, we found it closed. We ended up going to a restaurant in Kanab instead, Vermillion 45, which was pricey but excellent. I had delicious lamb chops and we shared a really good salad.Read more