If there's an iconic backcountry trip at Zion National Park that lures visitors from around the world, it's the 16-mile hike through the Zion Narrows. On Tuesday, however, that trek was put out of reach when a private landowner closed his property as an access point to the Narrows.

A disadvantage of living in South Georgia is the scarcity of fall colors as the days grow cooler and the nights become longer. The glorious reds, bright yellows, and vivid oranges produced by oaks, maples, cottonwoods, sumac, and other broadleaved trees and shrubs are in short supply where we live. Having both grown up in the Midwest, we miss the changing of the colors during the fall seasons.

A rockfall along the Hidden Canyon Trail in Zion National Park on Tuesday temporarily stranded nine hikers, who a bit later were hauled out of the canyon by helicopter.

If you see coughing bighorn sheep during your visit to Zion National Park, please let the park biologists know. While some minor coughing is natural, excessive coughing is a symptom of bacterial pneumonia, a disease that can cause significant concern for populations of bighorn sheep.