G.A.S.P.

Zion National Park photographs, Set B

I spent the entire next day (10-13) exploring Zion by bicycle and on foot. The main feature of the park is a seven-mile drive (or ride) from the Visitor Center to the rock formation called the Temple of Sinawava. The drive is through Zion Canyon with its extremely colorful walls reaching up 2000 to 3000 feet above the canyon floor and the gentle Virgin River. Each turn in the road reveals new formations or new views of previously seen formations. Most of these have biblical associated names given to them by early settlers and visitors to the area – East and West Temples, Angels Landing, The Great White Throne, The Three Patriarchs, etc. The color is from the same layers of sediment that form Cedar Breaks, and the sculpture is from the long, hard efforts of the Virgin River that has been wearing away the rock for the last 13 million years. The results are exquisite – this is one of the most beautiful canyons you will find anywhere in the world.

One interesting feature of the canyon is how quickly it narrows from nearly two miles wide at Springdale to just a few feet wide a mile and a half or so beyond the Temple of Sinawava. The road ends at the Temple, then there is a nice hiking trail for a mile to a point where it ends at the Virgin River. At that point, another trail - The Narrows – begins, a trail probably unlike any you’ve ever seen. The Narrows Trail goes for 16 miles, but you must walk in the river instead of on dry land. Oh, there are sandbars once in a while, but for the most part you are just sloshing through knee deep water. Here the opposing walls of the canyon may be only twenty feet apart. I only went about a half mile, but it’s something I would really like to do (full length) in the summertime when the water is a little warmer. I did get my shoes washed, though.

Native Americans of the Fremont Culture probably lived in Zion Canyon for thousands of years, but were displaced by Paiutes just a few centuries ago. In the 1860’s, the first white settlers arrived, and a number of them established homesteads in the valley. It didn’t prove to be a very good place to farm, however, with spring floods and all, so most had moved elsewhere when the area first attracted attention as a place of great scenic beauty around the beginning of the 20^th century. In 1909, the canyon area was preserved by Congress as Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1919, the park was expanded and was re-designated as Zion National Park. The name Zion was first used in the 1860’s by an early Mormon settler – implied a peaceful or heavenly place.

Today, the park is one of the most highly regarded in the National Park System. However, the increasing number of visitors (now over 2.5 million annually) has just about overwhelmed the facilities. To help alleviate this problem, Zion will institute new rules next year that will virtually eliminate all private vehicles (in favor of new shuttle busses) from the Canyon Scenic Drive. Bicycles will still be permitted, however – ha!