Zion: The tunnel and east end of the park

The first thing we did March 19 is drive to the east end of the park.  Here are some photos from the drive as we climb a switchback road out of the Zion valley:

This takes us to the Zion - Mt. Carmel tunnel.  It was built in the 1920's, and is too narrow for a lot of modern vehicles, especially things like campers.  When a larger vehicle has to cross it, they stop traffic and make it one way only.  As you see, we were following a camper so we got the one-way experience:

The tunnel has some large windows openings in it:

Coming out the other side:

We gotta lose that camper ... OK, it's going to lose us.

Another smaller tunnel a bit further down the road:

The scenery is just ridiculously beautiful along this road, I was a snapaholic with the camera:

This is another one of those checkerboard mesas, this is the "offical" one the tourists are directed to and we obediently photograph:

 

Heading back through the smaller of the two tunnels (you can tell I like tunnels):

And back at the big tunnel.  We're going to stop here though as there is an overlook hike we are going to do.

Coming up next ... the Canyon Overlook trail.