A little wildlife

I was walking down a little gully and saw this snake at my feet. It was as thin as pencil and about 12 inches long. It was fast! It was gone before I could get the camera out. It was hiding under an old fence post. It was just after a rain.
The snake is so cool! I did some research on enaturalist.com. This is a variable sand snake.
It usually lives under the sand and eats bugs, cockroaches and scorpions.
You can see photos and read more about this beautiful snake here:
http://www.reptilesofaz.com/Snakes-Subpages/h-c-stramineus.html








































This lizard was all spotted...never seen one like this before! Every day brings something new on the desert!

The next day at Zion's

You can really see the water at the emerald pools today. We thought that the next day would be even better but most of the water had dried up.
We went through the tunnel to the top of Zions and saw 2 California Condors. They spread their wings and went hopping across the rocks. Really cool to see!
We drove around a corner and there were these Mountain sheep trekking down the road. As soon as they saw us they headed up the mountian. What a rare treat to see!














The Man in the Mountain had his eye open and it appeared he was watching us. There was a small avalanche that had closed the road at Checker Board Mesa but it wasn't too big and the road was soon open.
You never know what you will see when you drive up Zion's.

Rainy day at Zion's

Since we live in a desert area and waterfalls are rare, and it had been raining for a while, we decided that we should go to Zion's and see if there were any waterfalls. It was foggy and rainy, with some snow flurries. Perfect day to be at Zions. The river was running fuller than normal as we enter the canyon. (You can click on the picture to see it better!)

There was a waterfall coming over the cliff. Not really big, but none the less, a waterfall!
The Court of the Patriarchs was all foggy and mysterious!
This trickle was just bouncing down the cliff.
This waterfall appears to be coming right out of the middle of the cliff. There are two waterfalls at the Weeping Rock. There is never this much water here.
A closer view of the Weeping Rock area.
Wild Turkeys!!!!
A waterfall along the drive
The waterfall at the entrance to the Temple Sinawava. those are raindrops...not orbs!
Weeping Rock never has this much water flowing
A water fall near the Emerald Pools and in the middle two more
This water came from the middle of a cliff
The man in the mountain was watching us! A truly a magical day. Nothing is ever the same at Zions. The weather, the sunlight, the time of the year, changes the way you see things in Zions. On days like this there are very few people in the park. We even saw some brave souls trying to take the trail to Angel's Landing...at the top it is 1500 feet straight down. I don't think I will ever see that view except in pictures!