“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing,
wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating;
there is really no such thing as bad weather,
only different kinds of good weather.”
– John Ruskin
The Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park is easy to access and not as crowded as the main park. The striking sandstone cliffs are absolutely gorgeous. The Timber Creek Overlook Trail is one of my favorites! At the end you get stunning views of the Pine Valley Mountains, Kolob Terrace, Kolob Canyons, and Mount Trumbull (which is at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon).
If for whatever reason you aren’t able to hike, the 5 mile scenic drive offers incredible scenery without needing to leave your car. There are also plenty of benches and picnic tables to relax and ponder the beautiful world we live in.
“Our landscapes connect us to our history;
they are the source of our character as a people,
as well as our health, our safety, and our prosperity.
Natural resources enrich us economically, yes.
But they also enrich us aesthetically and recreationally
and culturally and spiritually.”
– Robert Kennedy, Jr.
A quiet place to sit and feel the love of our Creator.
I carefully walked in the footsteps of hikers before me.
The snow was about 3 feet deep, but if I stuck to the course,
I could avoid a deep fall.
Occasionally I did stray ever so slightly,
and inevitably fell through the snow like it was quick sand.
#lifelesson
(Donovan must’ve been a lot larger than the previous hikers,
because he sunk far down with almost every step haha.)
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it.
Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces.
Smell the rain, and feel the wind.
Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”
– Ashley Smith
“Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.”
– William Alexander
“Wherever you look there are inspirations, books, literature,
paintings, landscapes, everything.
Just living is an inspiration.”
– Gavin Rossdale
“We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt.”
– Walter Scott
(Yes, Donovan and I did indeed stop mid-hike to build a snowman!)
“How did it happen that their lips came together?
How does it happen that birds sing,
that snow melts, that the rose unfolds,
that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees
on the quivering summit of the hill?
A kiss, and all was said.”
– Victor Hugo
“And finally Winter, with its bitin’, whinin’ wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow.”
– Roy Bean
“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently?
And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt;
and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”
– Lewis Carroll
The Pine Valley Mountains.
“And so we remained till the red of the dawn began to fall through the snow gloom.
I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror.
But when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again.”
– Bram Stoker
“I love to sit on a mountain top and gaze.
I don’t think of anything but the people I care about and the view.”
– Julian Lennon
From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
