The Balloon Festival is Provo, Utah is an event that involves three days worth of competition by over 25 hot air balloons.
The pilots participate in several games, including Hare and Hound, in which the competitors try to drop bean bags onto a target that the “hare” balloon lays out.
The balloons are laid out on Bulldog field near the BYU campus in Provo. Children and families can walk around on the field with the hot air balloon envelopes (the part that inflates) before and while they are inflated. This gives spectators an opportunity to see the balloons and equipment up close.
The hot air balloon pictured above is always the lead (hare) balloon of the Freedom Festival. The majority of the committee members for the Balloon Festival have been working together since the first festival 27 years ago.
The balloons can remain in the air for about 2-3 hours on the propane they take up with them before they have to land.
The pilots rely on the air currents to pilot their hot air balloons. They use their propane to heat up the balloon and raise in the air, or they allow the balloon to cool and lower to catch a different air current. As the sun rises, the air currents shift dramatically, making the early morning launch a challenging but beautiful time of day for the pilots.
The Coca-Cola hot air balloon is 154 feet tall from basket to bottle cap, and is the tallest balloon in operation on the planet. This balloon is piloted by Scott and Laurie Spencer of Boise, Idaho.
See more photos from the Balloon Fest here.
This balanced rock is just nine miles from the entrance to Arches National Park in Utah.
This photo was taken from the Arches Entrance Road that goes through Arches National Park.
This photo, taken on I-70 just north of Arches National Park, shows off the landscape of Utah.
Hoodoo pictures taken at Little Egypt south of Hanksville Utah – Exact location of pictures Here
Geologic Information: Why travel around the world when Little Egypt is as close as Garfield County? This geologic area showcases fantastic and sometimes grotesque stone hoodoos that bring to mind the magnificent temples of ancient Egypt, hence its name Little Egypt Geologic Site.
How to get there: From Hanksville, head south on State Route 95. Approximately 4.2 miles after (south) the Garfield County line, just past (south) mile marker 20, turn right (west) on the “Scenic Backway” road towards North Wash. Just off the highway is a sign to “Little Egypt Geologic Site.” Little Egypt is less than two miles off the highway.
pictures were taken along Highway 95 in the northeastern part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Glen Canyon is a canyon that is located in southeastern and south central Utah and northwestern Arizona within the Vermilion Cliffs area. It was carved by the Colorado River
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a recreation and conservation unit of the National Park Service (USA) that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon in Utah and Arizona, covering 1,254,429 acres (5,076 km²) of mostly desert. The recreation area borders Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Park on the north, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on the west, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and the northeasternmost reaches of Grand Canyon National Park on the southwest, and the Navajo Indian Reservation on the southeast.
