Zion National Park

   Of the five national parks in Utah, Zion is our favorite. Shirley and I took our girls there for the first time in 1988 when it was a lot quieter. Over the years, all of the national parks have become increasingly popular and difficult to get into. One reason is demographic: more and more Baby Boomers are joining the ranks of the retired. Other reasons are economic. During the Great Recession, many families discovered what a magnificent bargain our national parks are and the lower price of gasoline now makes it easier to travel. Add it all up and you get long waits at the entrance stations and more difficulty getting into a park lodge or campground. 
   Though this is desert country, the shape of the land as well as the success of crops is directly related to water. Rain that falls on the 11,000-foot-high Colorado Plateau just north of Zion rushes down in mighty flash floods. Water cuts rapidly, geologically speaking, through layers of relatively softer rock, carving the landscape into impressive formations. The process continues today. 
   Archeological evidence shows that what is now Zion National Park has been inhabited for over 8,000 years. Early residents hunted now-extinct mammoths and camels. The Ancient Puebloans developed agriculture and were succeeded by the Southern Paiutes who were even better at desert farming. Crops on the Colorado Plateau grow best at 5,000 to 7,000 feet elevation. This made Zion nearly ideal. Or as ideal as you can expect in the desert. Anyway, that's what the Mormon's thought when they showed up in the 1860s and began farming the river terraces in small communities. The Mormons named the place Zion, an alternate name for Jerusalem that also means a utopian community. Or, as I like to say, "Is this heaven? No, this is Utah!"
   

Back in the Olden Days, our travels were recorded on Kodak slides. The title for each of our slide shows was a shot of the park entrance. So, here you go.

A thunderstorm formed in the distance while we were up on the Watchman Trail. Hurried down to avoid rain and lightning. Almost made it, too.

Sarah and Jessica enjoyed tubing the Virgin River under the Watchman.

The Virgin has cut a narrow canyon in the park. The "trail" into the canyon at the Gateway to the Narrows is the river bed. Check with rangers to be sure there is no threat of flash floods.

Sarah and I walked way back into the canyon. The trail never got more than knee deep.

When the campgrounds were full a ranger said, if we didn't mind camping for free, we could just find a place down by the river.

Desert varnish is the dark, streaked coating on cliff faces created by dissolved minerals that are left when water flowing over the edge evaporates.

The trail to the Emerald Pools passes behind a misty waterfall.

First time there, we had the place all to ourselves.

Last time there, had to share with a few more people.

With hundreds of vehicles competing for dozens of trailhead parking places, the park started a free shuttle bus system. It works really well. Get off wherever you want in the knowledge than another bus will be along in 10 or 15 minutes.

Much of the beauty of Zion's cliffs is attributable to the contrasting layers of white Navajo sandstone and Kayenta mudstone.

One of our favorite walks in the park is the Watchman Trail. It climbs to a high plateau from which there are views of the Watchman (behind us here) and the canyon far below.

Vertigo? We don't need no stinkin' vertigo! The sheer drop-off on the Hidden Canyon Trail is incentive to hang on to the chain.

Hard to believe that such a tiny stream cut so great a canyon.

Checkerboard Mesa takes its name from the combination of vertical and horizontal fracturing in the Navajo sandstone.

Water can take hundreds of years to percolate down through porous rock until it hits a less permeable layer and flows horizontally to an opening in the cliff face. The process creates hanging gardens of plants like these columbines.