Between a Rock and a ...

In the next installment of our nature-related vacation photos, we will explore the harder side of life in the Southwest.

One of the interesting Western U.S. customs is to carve/highlight the initials of the community, or a large university, in the side of the local "hills."

Near St. George, Utah, you'll see the following:

The D is for "Dixie"

To get to southwestern Utah from the Dam place where I was staying, you have to pass through the Virgin River Gorge, a very long, windy canyon that has some awesome (and I HATE that I had to use an overworked Utah phrase to describe it) views of mesas, geographical phenomenons, and the mountains.

Here's the entrance view from the Arizona side.*

(Note the size of the trucks for perspective.)

Some of these rock formations have names.
I missed the one called the "train."

I've been through the Gorge many times.

On this trip, I finally noticed the one below.

I think it had some help from some hikers.

Can you see him?

Here's a zoom. Think Pooh.

If you take another route through the range, you come across other sites/sights. You can pass through the Shivwits Paiute Indian reservation lands, and see things like this:

In Dixie, they build on top of, and around, old lava flows.

The locals have also nicknamed parts of the mountain peaks or the ranges.

Can you see the Sleeping Indian?

This one is definitely man-made. But it amused me.

If there's no snow, then it must be a ... Rockman.

No rocks, but whatever!

* Video of travelling through the Gorge to follow. It definitely needs editing.