Zion National Park and a little shooting practice!

Zion National Park

We have driven through Zion a couple of times, but haven't stopped to do any hikes yet.  You may have heard on the news that there was some really bad rains here and that 7 hikers were swept away in a flash flood in one of the Zion Canyons.  We are waiting for the trails to be reopened and cleaned up before we try any of the hikes.  The pictures at the end are showing how much water there was after the heavy rains.  There were waterfalls where there isn't normally a waterfall. 

It was also interesting to me that in the park the roads are red.  I guess they use the red rock to pave them.  And, in the middle of the park is a 1.1 mile tunnel right through the middle of the park's BIG rocks!  Quite amazing, I don't know how long it took them to do that, but it was a very long tunnel.  They had 3 openings along the way so you could look out, and I'm sure get some airflow through the tunnel.  It was very dark in there!  

Here are some pictures from our drive through the park.  It is a beautiful park and we can't wait to explore it more.  We will post more pictures when we have them.

We were right up against the rocks, glad we weren't in the motorhome.

Having a great time riding the motorcycle through the parks, so fun to see up close!

So close to the rocks!  Sure glad we weren't doing this in the motorhome!

This is the beginning of the 1.1 mile long tunnel, you can barely see the opening.

After the tunnel, we started a zig-zag down into the floor of the canyon.

This picture is the floor of the canyon after the heavy rains,  They were worried it would erode the road away where it is getting close in the middle of the picture.

There isn't usually waterfall here, this is just after the heavy rains.

In Utah when it rains, it creates flash floods that cannot be anticipated.  They come up so fast you can't get away from them, so when it rains, you have to be extra careful of going into canyons.

This is the creek after the heavy rains, way higher than normal!

On a slow day, we decided to go out to the shooting range and do a little target practice.  It was fun!  I didn't do too bad for a first timer,  but the closer I got the better shot I was!  LOL.  If we are going to have guns, it's a good thing to become familiar with them and feel comfortable handling them.   John shot the 357 and the 9mm, I only shot the 9mm.