I decided to hang out for an entire day along Kolob Terrace Road and see what treasures I could find.
I started right after sunrise and first went to Cave Valley, a beautiful hidden gem with rock art.
The panels are inside a rock cave within the Navajo Sandstone outcroppings that cover a good portion of the area.
It was pretty cool to see. After the little exploration of the rock art, I scrambled up on the plateau above Cave Valley and was welcomed by a wonderland of Slickrock and Navajo Sandstone. It was absolutely beautiful. The early morning light also helped to enhance the scenery a lot.
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| The Three Amigoes |
I walked around in awe and enjoyed the scenery. Some of the sandstone teepees and hoodoos reminded me of the Vermillion Cliffs area.
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| Sandstone Teepees |
Some recent rains had left some water puddles and the reflections were gorgeous. I walked around every corner and explored the beautiful landscape while looking around the entire section of the area.
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| Puddle Reflections |
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| I'm admiring the view |
Scrambling down was a bit sketchy in some spots as I chose to take a different route. But it totally doable with careful foot placement. I liked this exploration hike a lot. Because we were in the middle of monsoon season, clouds started to build up pretty soon again. Nice, big fluffy clouds.
I really love to have some clouds.
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| Cave Valley Sandstone from below |
I stopped at my favorite pullout further up Kolob Terrace Road and visited my favorite Ponderosa Pine tree in the middle of a meadow. From here you'll also have a great view of the Zion Canyon cliffs but just from the backside.
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| Pine Valley Peak and the lone Ponderosa Pine |
My next stop was at a pullout just before the big S-curve and I walked around the Slickrock and explored. The colors and light were just perfect.
At Wildcat trailhead I decided to hike a bit to the surrounding areas. This high plateau area was absolutely beautiful and hikes included from here were the Subway Top Down, Northgate Peaks, Lava Point and the connector trail to Hop Valley. You see, there are many hiking options here in this part of Zion. Some of them require permits but a few can be done as a nice afternoon stroll.
While I was admiring the scenery, a thunderstorm was developing. Huge towering clouds had built and were growing in size. I had to hurry so I could go back to my car before the storm started to explode and I made it just in time. It started to hail, rain and thunder rumbled closeby. I decided to call it a day but made one more stop at my favorite pullout where I shot some nice images while sitting in my car.
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| Downpour |
I loved the localized heavy downpour with the virga and rain shaft coming down. What a great grand finale of a wonderful day. Exploring Kolob Terrace Road is absolutely worth the trip.
