Stormy Weather in Zion

8/11/16

Dear NS-,

How is Tokyo? I know you won't get this until you return, but know that I am thinking about you and Iris and hoping that you both are having a great time.

Yesterday, I continued my trip by seeing even more national parks. When I left California I expected to see at least three, but as of now, I've visited eight national parks just on this trip. Additionally, I've visited a large number of national monuments.

I started early in the morning by driving through Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah. This was not my main destination for the day, so I only stopped off at a few vista points and the visitor center. Grand Staircase is a place with really interesting land formations. Here, the land shifted a long time ago. The shifting created land that looks like stairs.

After stopping in Grand Staircase Escalante, I waited until I got to Bryce National Park to stop again. Bryce is famous for rock formations called hoodoos. A hoodoo is a column of rock, normally red in color. Some people say hoodoos look like ghosts or goblins. I thought they looked like the Terra Cotta soldiers in China. The Terra Cotta soldiers are statues of soldiers created a very long time ago. There are dozens of these soldier statues. There were dozens, maybe even hundreds, of these hoodoo rock formations in Bryce Canyon. Here's a fun fact: Bryce Canyon isn't a canyon.

After visiting Bryce Canyon, the plan was to visit Zion National Park. Zion is about an hour and a half from Bryce Canyon, so it was logical for the next destination. Unfortunately, a really bad storm rolled in when I was on my way. I went straight through the storm. There was a lot of thunder and lightning, hard rain, and heavy hail. Plus, the temperature inside the storm was in the 50s, at least 20 degrees lower than it had been outside the storm. Sometimes, the storm was so bad you couldn't even see to drive, so you had to pull off the road and wait.

When I arrived at Zion National Park, famous for a very beautiful section of the park called the Narrows, the park was closed! Apparently, the storm had caused flooding, and the road through the park was impassable. I was forced to turn back and backtrack about 20 minutes to a junction in the road where I could choose a alternate path.

The alternate route was long and inconvenient, taking me out of Utah, into Arizona, and back into Utah again. There was nothing I could do about the situation, so I looked online to see if there were any interesting places to stop in Arizona.

Interestingly enough, there was a place called Pipe Spring National Monument on the way. Pipe Spring was a Mormon fort built on Native American lands. It was named for the cool freshwater springs that come through the ground in that spot. Today, the monument is completely surrounded by a Native American reservation.

This Mormon fort was never completed as a fort. The threat from the Native Americans who lived there first faded, and the Mormon people were able to use this place as a hideout for their extra wives. Do you remember how we talked about it being okay for a man to have multiple wives in some cultures? In the 1800s, having many wives was normal and accepted if you were a member of the Mormon church. Today, the practice is illegal in the United States. It still happens sometimes, but it is illegal. Back when the Mormon men were hiding their extra wives at Pipe Spring, the United States was putting pressure on the Mormon church to stop the practice of having multiple wives. That's why they needed a hideout. The unexpected stop turned out to be a great one, and I learned a lot!

After visiting Pipe Spring, I had to drive back through the same storm to get back into Utah. I should mention that it was much cooler in Arizona than normal. Usually, it is 100 degrees or more in the summer. This day, it was in the 70s. Inside the storm, it was in the 50s.

Funny enough, because of the way the roads are, I had to go through Arizona AGAIN to get to Nevada where I stayed for the night.

I know this was a very long letter, but yesterday was so interesting and so eventful! I really look forward to hearing about your adventures from your trip to Tokyo when you get back.

Your teacher,

Elaina