Bighorn Sheep in Zion National Park

After hiking Angels Landing, Braden and I packed up to head to Bryce Canyon National Park.  On our way out of the park, we ran into a few desert bighorn sheep.  I managed to get a couple of decent pictures of couple of them.

Bighorn sheep snacking on some leafy branches

Bighorn Sheep on a Mission: cause a traffic jam

Bighorn sheep below a cliff

You'll have to trust me that there's a bighorn sheep in this picture

Zion: Angels Landing

After a day exploring the Narrows, my friend Braden and I camped outside of Zion National Park along a creek.  We woke up at dawn the next morning to get a fairly early start hiking Angels Landing, a rock formation in the middle of the canyon that offers spectacular 360-degree views of the rest of the park.

Morning light in the canyon

Getting started: Angels Landing looms in the distance

Virgin River winding through Zion Canyon at sunrise

Virgin River

Cactus in bloom

 

Zion Canyon

Sandstone cliffs along the trail

Looking back down Refrigerator Canyon

Traffic Jam: we didn't get started as early as we had hoped!

The trail gets pretty steep, so there is a chain built into the rock.

Getting close to the top

Looking down on the Virgin River

Virgin River from above

Braden navigating one of the final pitches (bottom left)

Lunch with all the other hikers at the top

Panoramic view from the top

Working our way down

Back to the canyon floor

We cooled off on the Virgin River before finishing our trek