Zion National Park (USA)

Zion National Park

Zion National Park — is the first national park of the state of Utah. Zion means “refuge”. It is located in the inland parts of US West. Zion National Park — is a part of the South-West “Big ring” of national parks.

Park Zion was founded in 1909 by U.S. President William Howard Taft. In 1919 Zion was officially granted the status of a National Park.

The National Park occupies the space of 593 sq. meters. The main feature of the park is Zion Canyon 24 kilometers long and up to 800 meters deep, cut through the reddish Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River

The walls of the massive Canyon rise up toward the sky and have a characteristic color of a blue diamond. Unique limestone rocks change their color from creamy to pink, and then to red. They can be described as some fancy sand castles crowning the deserted canyons.

A keen tourist would notice that the whole park is a changing landscape of rocks and canyons and also that of a desert. In Zion’s “desert” there is one of the biggest natural arches in the world — the Kolob Arch. The distance between its supports is 94.5 meters. Zion National Park is situated upon an elevation: the minimal altitude is 1128 meters whereas the maximum is 2660 meters. The park is characterized with high plateaus and labyrinths of narrow and deep canyons.

Zion’s most well-known feature is Chekerboard mesa. This is a huge lump of limestone rock, rising over the road, and its surface looks like it has been cut into little squares by wind and water. Many thousand years before there was a stream winding down south in the soft young rock of the plateau. The earth was rising and the brook started cutting its way through, chiseling off the rock by small particles of gravel and sand washed out up the stream. On the tan-colored slopes of the western fringe of Zion Canyon you can clearly see how the process of Navajo Sandstone’s formation was taking place, layer by layer. The quick waters washed out caves in the stone where many birds, small mammals and insects made their lodging. In some of the larger caves archeologists discovered articles from pueblos — ancient settlements of Native Americans.

Another well-known feature of Zion National Park is the Weeping Rock: water from a spring high up the slope flows down the rock and drips, like tears, from its ledges to form some sort of a pavilion. The wall of water falls down from the rocks in cascades. In its drops the picture becomes even more fascinating. In winter time one can see a totally different view of the Weeping Rock covered with ice. But the access to it might be forbidden, since there may be large icicles falling from the cliff.

Angels Landing is one of the most popular tourists attractions of the Park. If you have a few hours to spend you might as well enjoy hiking on this path. In its first section the road goes up along the western rim of a canyon revealing a broad panoramic view of the canyon. About half an hour later the road brings you to Refrigerator Canyon, named so because of its amazing cooling effect, which is very much appreciated in the hot summer days. If you are able to get here at the proper time of the day (that is, around 2-3 p.m.), you will be able to catch a glimpse of the “golden shining” between its walls — the light of the sun being reflected from the opposite wall.

The Park is literally swarming with life: there is about 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), 32 reptiles, and near 450 plant species, which allows to single out the park’s four nature zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest.