I’ve been thinking about my portfolio lately.  I noticed that I was filling it up with photos of red rocks.  There’s lots of Bryce in there, and small wonder too.  Bryce is close by an easily accessed.  Still, I want to expand and include more.  I found a gap of Zion National Park photos.  There are some, but not enough.  I need to add more.  So, I looked for an opportunity to do so.  This latest snowfall provided just such an opportunity.  Zion doesn’t often receive snow so I took advantage of this winter in the park.  Come see what I captured.

We made the trek down to Zion National Park before this winter snow melted off.  In this trip, I was rewarded.  The snow remained, even though it was only a light dusting.  This meant I could capture the uncommon snow in this desert park.

Thanks to the time of year, this was also an uncommon opportunity to drive up the scenic road.  Normally, it’s only accessible from the shuttle.  They don’t run the shuttle during most of winter so we could drive up to where we wanted to go.  This allowed me to easily access a view which the rangers told me about: a view of the Watchman mountain and the Virgin River now that the bridge is closed.

The Pa’rus trail is built for bikes so it’s paved and also features several solid bridges spanning the river.  You can indeed find a different view of the Watchman mountain and the Virgin River.  Here’s the view you can see.

The Checkerboard Mesa also appears different thanks to the snowfall.  The snow fills the cracks and emphasizes them.  I made a point of stopping and taking a few photos of that park feature.  It’s perhaps the most prominent feature in the east of Zion National Park and even more interesting in the winter.  See for yourself.

While on this trip, we took advantage of driving up the canyon to hike up the Angel’s Landing trail.  We did not hike up the chain portion as the path was extra treacherous thanks to the ice and snow.  (Yes, we had a permit)  Still, we trekked up the the Scout Lookout Point which included climbing up Walter’s Wiggles with snow and ice.  That was dangerous but we came prepared.  Thanks to the mid-afternoon sun, none of the photos I took at the top worked out.  Still, I wanted something so I shot Walter’s Wiggles from the top.  It looks far more compressed than it really is.

So, this was the perfect opportunity to capture photos of winter in Zion National Park.  As Zion offers tons of photo opportunities, I merely needed to choose a couple.  I think I found a few good options.  How about you?  Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.