Date: April 17-18, 2011
Location: Cannonville, Utah
The view from the Grand Parade Trail
Kodachrome Basin State Park is a collection of interesting colorful sandstone features in Southwest Utah just to the southeast of Bryce Canyon National Park in near the town of Cannonvile and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. National Geographic renamed the park in 1949 after Kodak Film Corporation because of its colorful features. The park receives only about 50,000 visitors each year but still has a campground, several trails, visitor center, and camp store.
View from the Angel's Palace Trail
Looking west from the Angel's Palace Trail
The Angel's Palace Trail is a short 1.5 mile loop trail that rises 150 feet above the valley floor and provides great overviews of the area. The Grand Parade Trail is another 1.5 mile loop trail that remains on the floor of the valley below the Angel's Palace Trail and explores a few of the small box canyons in the area. Along this trail you will get to see one of the park's 67 sedimentary pipes, which are pillars of rock that were of different composition than the surrounding rock and have eroded more slowly.
Looking east from the Angel's Palace Trail
On the southeast side of the park is the Shakespeare Arch/Sentinel Trail, which is a 1.7 mile loop trail that takes you to the park's only large natural arch. This is an easy trail with a optional cutoff that is a more difficult route that traverses the slickrock behind Shakespeare Arch. On the west side of the park is the Panorama Trail, which can be done as either a 3 mile or 6 mile loop. This trail takes you to features such as the Hat Shop, Secret Passage, Cool Cave, and Panorama Point. There is also 0.5 mile hard surface nature trail near the campground.
The view to the west from the Shakespeare Arch Trail
The vegetation of the area is typical of arid southern Utah characterized by Utah juniper and pinyon pine. Lizards and western scrub jays abound while coyotes and other birds are common as well.
Comments
Post a Comment