Zion National Park

The route from Bryce Canyon to Zion National Park only takes about four hours, through some broad valleys surrounded by low mountains. The car had a light dusting of frost as we left the parking lot. By the time we got to Zion, the temperatures were in the '80s.
Within Zion Park is a section called Kolob Canyons, we we visited first. Both areas are striking with steep cliffs of red sandstone with deep canyons carved by eons of water coursing through them. The Kolob Canyon has about a five-mile driving tour and takes little time to cover.
Zion Park, on the other hand, does not permit vehicular traffic past its parking lots and camp grounds. Instead, visitors are transported by shuttle bus along the Zion Canyon route to eight points of interest, getting on and off whenever the spirit moves. We stopped at three, two of which were outstanding. One was "Weeping Rock", which as the name implies, has water seeping out along the wall of the cliff in the more porous layers of sediment. Beneath the weeping rock was a small grotto into which we could go to watch from behind.
The other outstanding stop was the final one of the route which offers a two-mile round trip walk along the Virgin River past contrasting environments of swamp and desert to "The Narrows" where the river flows through such a narrow canyon that hikers have to wade in the river to continue. We decided to forego that pleasure and walked back to the shuttles. Along the way we encountered fat squirrels and at least one deer.
The only downside of Zion National Park is that its parking capacity is limited. If one arrives after 10 am, one must park in the local community of Springdale and take another shuttle bus to the park itself. Even with the shuttle transportation, we still managed to clock in 6.26 walking miles.