Shakespeare and Cedar Breaks
Before going to New York, Nyack and Boston, Trudy and I went to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah. We saw Merry Wives of Windsor and it was good, actually it was as good as Stratford Ontario.
So, the Sunday morning after the performance in a sleepy Mormon town, we had a dead battery. Turns out we still owned the same battery that was delivered in the Jeep in 2001 and the heat in the desert killed it. AAA and Wal-Mart to the rescue and we decided to take a brief trip into the mountains to see Cedar Breaks.
Cedar Breaks is a smaller version of Bryce Canyon and is on the Virgin River above Zion Canyon. The Virgin River empties into the Overton Arm of Lake Mead. The Indians called it the "Circle of Painted Cliffs." Situated at an elevation of 10,000 feet, Cedar Breaks is shaped like a giant coliseum dropping 2,000 feet to its floor.
The park is small but gorgeous. The Alpine meadows above the breaks are spectacular but at 11,000Â a little high for weekend camping. The time to be here is after the usua 30' or so of snow melt and the wildflowers bloom. I may be able to get by without a GPS but chains and a shovel are the next purchase.
The early settlers thought that the trees at the bottom were Cedar, hence the name, but they are actually Juniper. Climbing down the third of a mile through the "Hoodoos" to verify the tree species would not be on my agenda. This is a type of formation that the settlers called badlands or breaks. Very fragile, very steep and very tough to climb.
The color in Utah is somewhat darker than in southern Nevada. A high concentration of Iron gave southeastern Utah an early mining industry. Iron oxides provide the reds, oranges, and yellows, while manganese oxides provide shades of purple. The sedimentary formations are not as highly compacted as the sandstone here in Nevada.
We finished the trip back to Cedar City and Las Vegas by going over the top of the plateau at 11,000Â and through the Brian Head ski resort. No ski resort should ever be seen in the summer. Snow cover is needed for more than skiing.
Bob
So, the Sunday morning after the performance in a sleepy Mormon town, we had a dead battery. Turns out we still owned the same battery that was delivered in the Jeep in 2001 and the heat in the desert killed it. AAA and Wal-Mart to the rescue and we decided to take a brief trip into the mountains to see Cedar Breaks.
Cedar Breaks is a smaller version of Bryce Canyon and is on the Virgin River above Zion Canyon. The Virgin River empties into the Overton Arm of Lake Mead. The Indians called it the "Circle of Painted Cliffs." Situated at an elevation of 10,000 feet, Cedar Breaks is shaped like a giant coliseum dropping 2,000 feet to its floor.
The park is small but gorgeous. The Alpine meadows above the breaks are spectacular but at 11,000Â a little high for weekend camping. The time to be here is after the usua 30' or so of snow melt and the wildflowers bloom. I may be able to get by without a GPS but chains and a shovel are the next purchase.
The early settlers thought that the trees at the bottom were Cedar, hence the name, but they are actually Juniper. Climbing down the third of a mile through the "Hoodoos" to verify the tree species would not be on my agenda. This is a type of formation that the settlers called badlands or breaks. Very fragile, very steep and very tough to climb.
The color in Utah is somewhat darker than in southern Nevada. A high concentration of Iron gave southeastern Utah an early mining industry. Iron oxides provide the reds, oranges, and yellows, while manganese oxides provide shades of purple. The sedimentary formations are not as highly compacted as the sandstone here in Nevada.
We finished the trip back to Cedar City and Las Vegas by going over the top of the plateau at 11,000Â and through the Brian Head ski resort. No ski resort should ever be seen in the summer. Snow cover is needed for more than skiing.
Bob
posted by Bob at 8:46 AM
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