Zion National Park

Saturday we drove the 23 miles from the town of Hurricane to Zion National Park. They do not let private vehicles drive the scenic part of the Park. We were told all parking was taken at the visitor’s center so we parked in the town of Springdale, rode the shuttle to the Park entrance, walked in, and caught the Park shuttle for or tour. I really enjoyed not driving. We got off at each scenic stop, stayed as long as we wanted and caught the next shuttle which came in less than 10 minutes. Each stop had a covered place to sit and wait.

So here are some views of Zion. This is the Great White Throne to the right with the Organ in the center foreground.

This is the Court of the Three Patriarchs – left to right, Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and Jacob Peak. Jacob is the white mountain in back of Mt. Moroni. If all this sounds religious it is because they were named by church guys – Mormon church guys who came and settled this area. In fact, Brigham Young sent people out to settle the land, establish communities, and spread the (Mormon) Word. The very name “Zion” is because the canyon looked to them like a place of eternal rest and solitude.

It is interesting, as you tour the exhibits or watch the orientation movie they very frankly refer to the “Mormon settlers” who came to do this or that or who settled here and this is his cabin or his picture or his orchard. Do we hear that in other places? We do hear about the Whitman Mission or the Methodist Missionaries but in general the settlers who came west were simply pioneers – no reference to their brand of religion. Just an observation.

(I wonder why the freedom from religion people haven’t raised a fuss over this?)

At the end of the scenic drive (I think it was 13 miles) you can keep walking on a nice paved walkway for another mile. This is The Narrows where the walls of the canyon begin to come together. To go any further you have to wade in the Virgin River. Some people do – for another 5 or 6 miles until they can almost touch both sides. That is if the water level is low enough. If you are wondering, I didn’t!

There is even an arch on the side of one of these mountains. See it almost in the middle of the picture? The green above and below it are trees. It is amazing where trees will grow.

Like Arches and Bryce there are so many more pictures to show but not enough space to post them all here.

Joyce commented that we should have started with Zion and worked our way up. As magnificent as this place is, It was a little disappointing after seeing Bryce and Arches. But I understand it is an entirely different kind of place and certainly amazing. Awesome even.

We are on our way home. At the present (Sunday evening) we are in Beatty, Utah simply because it is a place to spend the night on the way to the Reno area.

Blessings.