Zion National Park - Utah

Established November 19, 79/9 147,551 acres

Rising in Utah's high plateau country, the Virgin River carves its way to the desert below through a gorge so deep and narrow that sunlight rarely penetrates to the bottom. As the canyon widens, the river runs a gauntlet of great palisade walls rimmed with slick-rock peaks and hanging valleys.

The scale is immense—sheer cliffs dropping 3,000 feet, massive buttresses, deep alcoves. Nineteenth-century Mormon pioneers saw these sculptured rocks as the "natural temples of God." They called the canyon Little Zion after the celestial city.

A million years of flowing water has cut through the red and white beds of Navajo sandstone that form the sheer walls of Zion. The geologic heart of the canyon began as a vast desert millions of years ago; almost incessant winds blew one dune on top of another until the sands reached a depth of 2,000 feet. You can still see the track of these ancient winds in the graceful crossbedded strata of Zion's mighty cliffs.

Unlike the Grand Canyon where you stand on the rim and look out, Zion Canyon is usually viewed from the bottom looking up. The vertical topography confines most of Zion's 2.5 million yearly visitors between canyon walls.

Streamside on the canyon floor grow thick stands of Fremont cottonwood, boxelder, willow, and, a short distance away, cactus and Utah Juniper. Vegetation changes rapidly as the terrain rises almost a mile in elevation. The high plateaus support Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine.

Within the park's 229 square miles lies a landscape of remote terraces and narrow gorges. A number of these canyons are so well hidden that early surveyors overlooked some that are 20 miles long. More than 100 miles of wilderness trails crisscross the back-country, while 23 miles of paved trails encourage casual visits.