Canyons are Gorges (and they are gorgeous too)

Last night I was still in California. Today I have crossed several states and a time zone, so it is now one hour later, and I didn't even realise it. Actually I kept on trying to work out why it was going to take so long to reach Zion National Park.

I crossed into Nevada to go to Las Vegas (they are definitely into gambling - as soon as you cross the border you see a casino), then I was suddenly in Arizona (all these signs said I was), then Utah (no casinos).

Of course it is all desert and I have come to appreciate Joshua trees, which tend to be the only thing sticking up more than a metre, apart from mountains. Most of the way was very flat (there is a Great Basin national park in the area) with mountains in the far distance, and a marker every so often saying something like 4000 feet (presumably the elevation).

Then instead of mountain range, you start having cliffs, and singular mountains that resemble chimney tops rather than roofs, and the flat bits become smaller and smaller. And sometimes your road becomes a bridge over a gorge. And then you are in Utah, which also appears to be wetter (there are trees and it is greener, although it is still pretty dry country).

I went to Zion national park and walked some of the tracks (several were closed because of flash flooding) although it was raining a bit. Most of the peaks have biblical names, and the river is the Virgin river. You are in the canyon rather than looking down on it. However, the road out is much more spectacular than the gorge (or canyon), even though it is a series of switchbacks and tunnels.

I'm not sure where I'll go next, Bryce Canyon or the Grand Canyon. I've read somewhere that the Grand Canyon is better from this side, and it's not that far away.