Coral pink sands, emerald waters ...

Our day started at the Kanab visitor centre where a most helpful information officer (from Southampton, but has lived in the USA for 40 years, and in Kanab for 16 years), gave us all we needed to plan our two days in this vicinity, maps, brochures, advice, all clear and to the point. I was very impressed.

And so the first wonder of the day was the coral pink sand of the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, just a few miles north of Kanab. We didn't spend long, but the sand dunes were indeed pink, and in the morning light criss-crossed with the footprints and trails of many different creatures: different bird claws, hoofed creatures, dog paws of course, and the slithery marks of snakes perhaps. After sitting on a sand dune contemplating this vast expanse (and resource, for many activities are allowed here, as well as nature conservancy: there is an area set aside for children with buckets and spades, another for off road vehicles etc), we set off on our travels again, to Zion National Park.

I think Zion will be one of my favourite parks on this trip. You enter the canyon through a 1.1 mile narrow tunnel which was completed in 1930, and is no longer big enough for two lines of traffic given the size of some of the things driven here. So you go through in batches, one direction at a time. It's an unlit, winding tunnel, with the odd "window" looking out on the canyon (but you are not allowed to stop and look!); I felt as though I was going into the womb of this enormous red, grey and cream cliffed canyon. It's rocky features are very dramatic and very varied, but through the canyon, snakes the green Virgin river, the valley floor is verdant and wooded, while along the sides of the canyon a number of pretty wild flowers grow, attracting a variety of butterflies. It is accessible, too, unlike the Grand Canyon which can be daunting. The same shuttle bus system operates but here you are shuttled up the valley, or floor, of the canyon, and not along its rim. There are many trails for hiking at all levels of difficulty and distance. We took the shuttle to the furthest point: "Temple of Sinawava" and then returned to Zion Lodge to take a short (1-2 hour) hike up the side of the canyon to Emerald Waters. The ascent on these paths is nothing like as steep as the trek we took at Grand Canyon, but still very rewarding. There are three pools, a lower, a middle and an upper. We all three went to the middle pool, and while James and Oksy went the further 0.3 mile ascent to the upper pool, I elected to stay and savour the beauty and tranquillity alone for 20 minutes. Then we all descended by way of the lower pool and waterfalls, which we walked behind, enjoying the slight spray as the temperatures were into the nineties F. today. Rocky drama apart, water is what makes Zion National Park a special and lovely place: you hear the river rushing by most of the time, and when you don't hear the river, you hear little falls of water spilling down its sides to join the river. It has a green valley that comforts and cools your eyes after the heat of flame-coloured rock.