This morning was an opportunity to photograph the features near the Museum in Zion National Park at sunrise.  The alarm went off at 5:25 AM and we got dressed and drove to the museum parking lot to get their early.  We were the first to arrive!

Tripod, camera and cable release set up and beginning about 6:15 started taking photographs of the well known features at this location including West Temple,  Sundial and Altar of Sacrifice.  One can sense the Mormon influence in the naming of the features in this park.  Also, the Beehive formation later as sun touched the rocks.

Breakfast was put on hold until about 7:30.  The Best Western Zion Park Inn had arguably the best breakfast included in the room rate.  Full buffet and good coffee!

We decided on a couple of hikes for the day.  First up was the Menu Falls (about 2 miles)  located between the Big Bend and the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stops.  The bus doesn’t let people off at that location, so we had to walk (hike) up the road from Big Bend about  mile to get to the short walk up to the falls.  They were pretty small this time of the year, but will make a good image when we get time to download, categorize and process the images from this entire trip!  After photographing the falls, we walked up to the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop for a ride back down the canyon to the Zion Park Lodge.

At the Lodge we took the hike to the Emerald Pools–both the lower and middle. (  We were disappointed at the findings at the destinations (2.5 miles), but the hike up was very nice.  Saw a couple of falls, although they were smaller so late in the summer.  Have some interesting photos of the spray from the falls being blown by the wind.  This was considered a moderate hike.  Since it was close to noon, we had some crackers and water for lunch.  This after that great (big) breakfast earlier in the morning.

After this hike, we caught the shuttle to the park history museum where was soaked up the air conditioning, got some water refills and watched the 22 minute video about the park.  I think my oboe teacher from Salt Lake City (Holly Gornik) was the oboe and English horn player on the music in the film.  The credits were for winds from the Utah Symphony.

Gary needed a nap after all this effort and the early morning!  We retired to our hotel room for a few hours.  We had made dinner reservations at the Red Rock Grill in the Zion Park Lodge to celebrate Joyce’s birthday.  We arrived just in time and were seated outside on the deck.  Great views and nice weather!

After dinner we attended the Ranger talk on the night sky.  This was so different that expected.  She talked about light pollution, where we could still see the night sky and how some places are working toward becoming a certified linternational dark sky community.

This was a great day in Zion NP.  Tomorrow we plan a few early photo ops and then a Ranger led walk Kayenta Trail starting from the Grotto trail head.  Then we’re off to Salt Lake City!