East Rim and Clear Creek

Looking down into Zion Canyon from East Rim Overlook

Before driving back to SLC, we decided to spend some time up on the East Rim of the park. We drove up the switchbacks (seen in the photo above) and through the famous Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel, then went for a short but fun hike out to the canyon overlook. We took in the views and then scrambled up the slickrock for a while to get some even better views...

Then we pulled off SR-9 near the "small" tunnel and went for a hike in Clear Creek (which is dry, obviously). The fall colors were out in full force. Its a really cool area...

The East Rim of Zion is full of trails and places to explore. We're already planning some of the things we'd like to do down there next year.

We stopped for lunch near the Checkerboard Mesa viewpoint, then were on our way back to SLC.