Crews were able to get the east entrance road to Zion National Park repaired and open to traffic Friday, four days after a section was washed out.

Zion National Park was closed shortly before noon Tuesday as rising flows in the Virgin River posed a threat to the park's infrastructure in Zion Canyon. Both the Zion Lodge and the Watchman Campground were being evacuated, park officials said.

Though summer draws the bulk of Bryce Canyon National Park's 1.2 million annual visitors, a strong argument can be made that winter is a more fascinating time to visit this red-rock icon. The sharp contrasts between fresh-fallen snow, cerulean skies, and the park's red-hued amphitheaters are spectacular. If you can manage a winter escape, here are some tips for touring Bryce Canyon.

Not far from the bright lights and card tables of Las Vegas there's a stretch of desert so relished by developers that street names were attached to blueprints of suburbia. Now, though, that landscape and its unique collection of Ice Age fossils is being promoted as the country's next national monument.