A ponderosa pine keeps watch over the East Side of Zion.

Hiking through the washes on Zion’s East Side is akin to watching a slowly developing explosion of colors during Fall.  At higher elevation, leaves in this area always peak about two weeks before the main canyon, but there is enough vibrancy that in previous years I have made consecutive trips solely for this reason.  On this hike I managed to catch a grove of leaves in mid transition, forming a gradient of youthful green to a brilliant red, with a bulky ponderosa pine acting as a watchful guardian lording above this peaceful paradise.