Sunday, July 2, 2006 - Cedar City, Utah Today we decided to go explore Cedar Breaks National Monument which is just thirty miles east of Cedar City. We took Route 14 out of Cedar City and headed east. The ride up to Cedar Breaks was quite beautiful. When we arrived at the Visitor’s Center, we parked and walked up the hill to the Visitor’s Center. We learned that Cedar Breaks was having a Wildflower Festival from June 30 until July 16. We timed our arrival perfectly for the wildflowers were blooming prolifically. At the rear of the Visitor’s Center, there is a large window overlooking the view of the magnificent sight. Cedar Breaks is a canyon formed by water erosion. It reveals different layers of the earth which are different colors-yellow, orange, pink, purple, red. When we left the Visitor’s Center, we walked further up a hill to an overlook. What was impressive was not only the canyon but the scenery off in the distance. We took a small hike near the Visitor’s Center and was impressed by the abundance of wild flowers along the path. We decided to take the five-mile scenic drive through the high country. We stopped at the overlooks to look at the views. At the Chessmen Ridge Overlook, we decided to hike to the Alpine Pond. It was a pretty hike but the flies were really bad. When we met some people walking back from the pond, they mentioned that the mosquitoes were large and profuse. At the mention of large mosquitoes, we decided to turn back. We stopped and ate our sandwiches at the North View overlook. We continued our drive through Brian’s Head Ski Resort to the interstate and returned to Cedar City. We stopped at Wal-Mart to shop and returned to the campground to get caught up on the journal.
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