Zion Canyon Visitor Center, Zion National Park, UT, 11/4/2006
On this crystal-clear autumn morning, a friend and I arrived at Zion National Park wonderstruck by the beauty in all directions! Here is the first photograph I made, a view to the northeast contrasting nearby foliage with distant sandstone cliffs. Zion - famous for its colorful Navajo Sandstone formations - becomes even more colorful in fall! These are Fremont cottonwood trees (Populus fremontii) growing alongside Watchman Trail and the North Fork of the Virgin River. This variety is a cottonwood poplar native to North America, and grows in riparian habitats like this and wetlands in the southwestern United States, and south into Mexico. The shaded hill at right is the northwest flank of Bridge Mountain. The sunlit red formation near the center is Mount Spry and the high white ridge behind that is Twin Brothers. At center is Mountain of the Sun, and Red Arch Mountain is the ridge trailing off into the distance further left. At far left we catch a glimpse of Observation Point, which towers above the Big Bend section of the river to the north.
