Grand Canyon NP

Welcome to Grand Canyon National Park! Super famous and super impressive. The vast landscape is simply incredible. Besides birds we saw some Mule Deer and tons of Rock Squirrels. I had a lot of fun looking for lizards. The weather was sunny, very windy and quite chilly. Especially if you hike far enough from the parking lots / shuttle stations, the trails are way less crowded than we expected. 

Odocoileus hemionus - Mule Deer

Grand Canyon

Otospermophilus variegatus - Rock Squirrel

Grand Canyon

Rock Squirrel in front of the Canyon

Happy Couple in front of the Canyon

Sceloporus tristichus - Plateau Fence Lizard

Rock Squirrel and three Ornate Tree Lizards... can you spot them all?

Happy Couple of Ornate Tree Lizards

Grand Canyon

Urosaurus ornatus - Ornate Tree Lizard

Grand Canyon - Sunset

Page

About two hours drive to the east and slightly to the south, just across the state border we arrived in Page, Arizona. The major tourist destination Horseshoe Bend is located close to this town. We went there at sunrise, right when the gated parking lot opened. It was a smart choice to visit this popular lookout that early, so we were able to avoid the crowds and the heat and to take pictures in nice morning light. 

Horseshoe Bend

During our hikes around the Glen Canyon area, we observed some cool critters. Besides the common lizards it was very nice to see a bunch of Red-spotted Toads (Anaxyrus punctatus) and a super cute juvenile Long-nosed Snake (Rhinocheilus lecontei).

Uta stansburiana - Common Side-blotched Lizard

Common Side-blotched Lizard - portrait

Tiny Butterfly - unknown ID

Rhinocheilus lecontei - Long-nosed Snake

Long-nosed Snake - portrait of this little beauty

Anaxyrus punctatus - Red-spotted Toad

Another very famous and popular place to go close to Page is the Antelope Canyon. Samira convinced me to go on a tour in the Canyon X and even if it wasn't cheap, I have to admit that it was a great experience.

Canyon X

Canyon X

In the dark, we found a Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) in the middle of the road. Samira was driving and quickly stopped the car on the side off the road. I jumped out of the car and moved the snake off the road. That was perfect timing, since shortly after this some cars (including huge trucks) drove by... in a safe distance to the road, I took a couple of pictures of the snake. I trembled a little with joy and excitement and was thrilled with our happy ending of our time in Page.

Crotalus oreganus - Western Rattlesnake

Western Rattlesnake - dorsal view

Western Rattlesnake - eye contact

Zion NP

Less than two hours south west of Panguitch, we reached Springdale. During our stay in this touristy and expensive town, we visited Zion National Park. The famous Riverside Walk and the Narrows Trail are beautiful, but you have to share them with many people. Between these crowds, I didn't expect to find a snake, but Samira discovered a Wandering Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans vagrans) inside of the water. At the park entrance you can rent clunky neoprene boots and a walking stick to walk in the cold water, but we safed the money and went with our sneakers into the river... it was really cold, but still better than wasting money on rental gear or to skip this cool experience.

Virgin River

Sceloporus magister - Desert Spiny Lizard

Habitat of the Wandering Garter Snake

Thamnophis elegans vagrans - Wandering Garter Snake

Narrows

Narrow selfies

Along the Watchman Trail we saw many lizards. Common Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana) and Desert Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus magister) were abundant. I was really happy to observe a  handsome juvenile Great Basin Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores). 

Uta stansburiana - Common Side-blotched Lizard

Watchman

Crotaphytus bicinctores - Great Basin Collared Lizard

All in all, Zion National Park might be a little crowded but it is still an amazing place, that offers unique and beautiful landscapes as well as very nice trails. I was especially happy about the reptiles we saw.

Bryce Canyon NP

We reached our next stop close to Panguitch, after driving around 4 hours to the west. We went to Bryce Canyon National Park to enjoy its unique landscape. Due to the cold temperatures, especially during the night, we were not able to see any reptiles. In general Bryce Canyon is not the best place to look for herps anyway, but the amazing scenery makes up for the missing animals. 

Sunrise Point

Inspiration Point

Neotamias umbrinus - Uinta Chipmunk

Natural Bridge

Cyanocitta stelleri - Steller's Jay

Sunset Point

Arches NP

The famous Arches National Park is located very close to Moab. The scenery of the park is really fantastic but it was annoying to see so many people ignoring the "please stay on the trail" & "keep off the arches" signs. Probably the landscape in general, with all the arches, is even more photogenic than the one in Canyonlands NP, but there are also way more people roaming around. The Landscape is unique and beautiful, but to enjoy Arches NP, we recommend to get there very early in the morning. Around noon there might be long lines in front of the entrance and many selfie-people attacking the arches, ruining your pictures.

Window Arch

Elephant Butte & Double Arch

Double Arch

Balanced Rock

Sceloporus tristichus - Plateau Fence Lizard

Tunnel Arch

Garden of Eden

Canyonlands NP

After spending one night in Salt Lake City, we drove 4 hours to Moab. This little town is located 40 minutes from Canyonlands National Park (Island in the Sky district). We stayed in a very nice place we can highly recommend: St. Danes Cabins. We took it easy the first day, bought some groceries, washed our clothes and so on. Later we went to Canyonlands in the evening, to watch the sunset. The first spot we chose, was obviously only accessable for the NP staff. We didn't see any signs and walked towards the "forbidden area" not knowing our mistake. A friendly but strict park ranger asked us to leave the area and go back to the public area. So we lost quite some time and had to hurry to still get to another spot to enjoy the sunset. Luckily we made it. 

Canyonlands - Island in the Sky

Canyonlands - Island in the Sky

After dark, we marveled at the stars. The area is famous for very low light pollution, so we were able to admire the night sky in its full glory. I also seized this opportunity to try my first pictures of a starry night ever. 

Night sky

The next day we drove 1.5 hours south to the Needles district. This part of Canyonlands NP is further off to Moab and the Arches National Park entrance, so it is visited by far less people than the Island in the Sky district. Even better than the few people in the park, were the critters we found. My favourites were a juvenile Great Basin Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) and a Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii).

Canyonlands - Needles

Gambelia wislizenii - Long-nosed Leopard Lizard

Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Great Basin Gopher Snake

Pituophis catenifer deserticola - Great Basin Gopher Snake

Canyonlands - Needles, sunset

Several Ord's Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys ordii) and a cute Woodhouse's Toad (Anaxyrus woodhousii), we found on the road on our way home, were the conclusion of our trip to Canyonlands NP.

Ord's Kangaroo Rat - Dipodomys ordii

Anaxyrus woodhousii - Woodhouse's Toad

Anaxyrus woodhousii - Woodhouse's Toad