Odometer: 52,370

Time: about 09:00

The weather is partly cloudy and it’s quite uncertain in which direction it will turn, if it will get better or worse.

We don’t know if we will come back to St. George or move on, so we pack our car and take all our belongings with us.

HWY 15 north then towards Hurricane and Virgin on HWY 9, only a few miles ahead of Zion National Park we turn left into Kolob Road. Soon we leave the village behind us and are out in the country again. Here and there we see lava hills with their black rocks as we already saw some yesterday on our way to Cedar Breaks. We are soon up in elevations of around 8,000 to 9,500 feet (2’400 – 2’900 Meter) on a high plateau from which we can see the mountains of Zion National Park. We are also in Zion National Park, not always though but the road is entering and exiting the park times and again. This is Zion from a different perspective. The whole plateau is very green with blooming meadows and cottonwood trees, aspens, lots of different firs as well as oaks and – cactuses (up over 9000 feet there are cactuses, when in Europe at this elevation there are not even trees anymore!). We pass Kolob Reservoir, a good size lake, where people are fishing. We are told that there might be some Condors – we don’t see any though, too bad. But we see chipmunks, big humble bees, a frog, a tadpole and a marmot (no deers today).

On the way back on HWY 15 towards St. George again we see a sign to “Kolob Canyons” we take it and follow the signs into Zion National Park (still another part of the park) and drive up between very high red mountains which build the Kolob Canyons very impressive and a wonderful place for hiking, but the road soon ends and we have to return.

Overnight Stay: Howard Johnson Inn, St. George, UT (We get the same rate as yesterday even without a coupon)

Dinner: Chuck A Rama