BGuthrie Photos: UT -- Zion Natl Park

UT -- Zion Natl Park:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. ZION_120718_003.JPG: Patterns in Stone Checkerboard Mesa The Navajo sandstone of Checkerboard Mesa also forms the spectacular cliffs within Zion. This geographically widespread formation reaches a thickness of 2,200 feet in the park and consists almost entirely of desert sand dunes. The Checkerboard Mesa, made of Navajo sandstone, has two sets of lines forming the checkerboard pattern. The horizontal lines, commonly called cross bedding, represent layers of wind-blown sand that built up into sand dunes. These dunes were then buried, and the sand grains glued together by calcite and iron oxide to form sandstone. Crossbedding can be seen in many place along the Zion Mt. Carmel Highway. The vertical lines are less common. They are actually shallow cracks that result from stress and erosion on the rock surface. These cracks are probably caused by expansion and contraction, temperature changes, wetting/drying, or a combination of these processes.
2. ZION_120718_130.JPG: One of the air vents in the road which tunnels through the mountain here
3. ZION_120718_142.JPG: Impassable Barrier In the 1920s this end of the canyon appeared to be a dead end, an impassable barrier to transportation. To highway engineers the toughest challenge was the cliff above. Their solution: a one-mile tunnel behind the cliff face. When tunnel and highway were completed in 1930, they opened the region to motor tourism, linking Zion to Bryce and the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Now the tunnel itself has become kind of a barrier, as today's RVs and tour buses are too large for two-way traffic within the tunnel. Expect short delays as oncoming traffic is held to allow oversize vehicles to pass through. Work on the tunnel began with drilling small shafts into the north-facing cliff. Those shafts later became the tunnel's windows or galleries, like the ones visible here. The four galleries are not the only source of light and air but were places to expel rubble as workmen tunneled toward both ends. Portions of the tunnel were shored with timbers. In 1937 the entire tunnel was lined with concrete. The temporary wooded framework as the east portal was replaced with a concrete bridge. The small pilot tunnel was enlarged by drilling and blasting. Crews moved forward 30 to 36 feet a day.
4. ZION_120718_175.JPG: Cultivating the Canyon: In this broad, relatively flat area not far from the river, William and Cornelia Crawford started a farm in 1879. From here you can see the contour of an irrigation ditch and imagine the patchwork of corn and tobacco fields, orchard, and vegetable gardens. A song, JL Crawford. recorded his memories of life here: "My first recollections are of green fields and orchards where the park's residential areas and campgrounds are now situated, irrigation ditches to keep it all green, an a clear brook coming out of Oak Creek Canyon. There were also some rather shabby farm buildings scarttered throughout." The Crawfords were considered pioneers, yet they were only the latest in a succession of people who tried to sustain life in this desert canyon. Today the canyon shows few signs of permanent settlements. The Crawford place was photographs from this perspective in the 1930s. History becomes a double-exposure, an overlay on the present-day scene.
5. ZION_120718_179.JPG: Natural Bridge: High on the opposite cliff the stone bridge called Crawford Arch is barely visible. Its dimensions are difficult to judge from this distance. Often Zion's outsized features and the enormous scale of the place create distortions of height and distance. William L. Crawford, who lived on a farm at this site in the late 1800s, was apparently the first pioneer settler to "discover" the natural bridge. Yet the Ancestral Puebloans and Paiutes who previously traveled this canyon undoubtedly knew of the arch's existence. A natural bridge starts to form at a crack or weak joint behind a stone slab. As water and weathering dissolve the loosely cemented sandstone, the crack gets enlarged. When big blocks fall away, an arch opens up. Finding Crawford Arch typifies the discovery experience of Zion -- what the scenery can reveal if you travel with an active eye. Hikers can view a similar feature, Kolob Arch, deep in the park's Kolob Canyon area.
6. ZION_120718_183.JPG: Crawford Arch
7. ZION_120718_215.JPG: Human History Museum: At this stop you can explore the impact of the canyon's beauty and power on the people who have come here, beginning with the first American thousands of years ago. The museum preserves objects and ancient fragments that evoke individual dramas yet also suggest common threads that link Paiute, Mormon settler, and park visitor. The surrounding landscape is an open-air museum, with remains of pioneer orchards, diversion dams, and irrigation ditches. Zion's canyons have awed both tourists and settlers, including the ranching Crawford family, photographed returning from town (right, ca 1900). In 1873 Thomas Moran visited Zion and painted the scene below.
8. ZION_120718_219.JPG: You can still see the Crawford Arch in the photo
9. ZION_120718_277.JPG: Zion Lodge Beneath the veneer of modern development are many layers of history. Across the river Isaac Behunin, the area's first pioneer settler, built his cabin in 1862. Human history of the site goes back much farther; Paiutes hunted and fished this part of the canyon, and Ancestral Puebloans built granaries hundreds of years before. Ancestral Puebloan granary (right, ca A.D. 1250) and tour buses at Zion Lodge in 1929 suggest the time-span of human activity in the canyon. Zion Lodge is like a base camp for recreation opportunities. Here you can find food, lodging, and a major trailhead to Emerald Pools. Connecting trails lead to Angels Landing and West Rim.
10. ZION_120718_289.JPG: Native Landscapes: The towering red cliffs and Virgin River in Zion National Park create the perfect backdrop for over 900 native plant species. To incorporate the park's natural beauty and conserve water and resources, the Zion Lodge and the National Park Service are working to replace lawns with native plants in many of our landscapes. As a result, the Zion Lodge saved about 1.5 million gallons of water each year and reduces both emissions from lawn mowers and chemicals from fertilizers.
11. ZION_120718_302.JPG: Tourists in the Canyon: The present lodge is the latest in a series of efforts to settle the canyon, control the river, and provide comfortable facilities in the midst of this amazing scenery. On this site in 1916 William W. Wylie established Zion's first tourist camp -- a cluster of tents and a dining pavilion. Because seasonal floods always threatened, the nearby section of river was eventually channelized. Compared to the age and scale of the surrounding cliffs, the history of tourist development here seems rather short-term. The Zion shuttle system is part of a design to minimize traffic and recapture a quieter, less congested era.
12. ZION_120718_418.JPG: Temple of Sinawava Here the river canyon narrows abruptly. The cliffs' colors and textures are clues that two different rock layers intersect at the riverbed and affect how the canyon is carved. Confined within the hard Navajo sandstone upstream, the Virgin River is forced to slice straight down, with almost no side-cutting -- creating a tight, perpendicular gorge. Downstream the river undercuts the softer, easily eroded Kayenta Formation. Rock slabs topple, cliffs landslide, and the canyon widens from here to Springdale. The scenery of Zion Canyon evolves daily as tons of rock particles tumble downstream. This geologic crossroads is the final stop on the shuttle route. The Riverside Walk parallels the river and explores the unusual streamside habitat. Please stay on established paths and walkways.
13. ZION_120718_422.JPG: Flash Flood Potential! Flash floods can arrive without warning, often from storms miles away. All narrow canyons are potentially hazardous. During a flash flood the water level rises suddenly -- within minutes or seconds. Floods can rush down-canyon in a wall of water 12 feet high or more. By entering a narrow canyon, you are assuming a risk. Your safety is your responsibility. Poor judgment puts you and your friends at risk. Hikers have died in Zion's flash floods.
14. ZION_120718_426.JPG: Zion
15. ZION_120718_435.JPG: Deepening Canyon Although the canyon grows wider toward Springdale, a very different dynamic is at work upstream from this site. There, steep walls of Navajo Sandstone tower overhead, and at The Narrows they are only 20 feet apart. Sunlight reaches the canyon floor only rarely, creating a cooler, subterranean world. Confined exclusively withing tough Navajo Sandstone, the Virgin River cuts down instead of sideways. Similar downcutting action has formed spectacular slot canyons, including Hidden and Echo canyons near Weeping Rock. In the very long view, the river will eventually slice all the way down through the sandstone to the softer mudstone Kayenta Layer, and then The Narrows will begin to resemble the landscape downstream.
16. ZION_120718_462.JPG: You can see the wire mesh that had been put in place to retain the barrier walls.
17. ZION_120718_514.JPG: These were identified as being some endangered snail species
18. ZION_120718_534.JPG: Walls have been eroded away
19. ZION_120718_740.JPG: Widening Canyon This bend in the river marks a change in Zion Canyon scenery. From here downstream the canyon is growing wider. A key factor is the different type of rock. In the canyon wall just above the river you can see the juncture where a darker mudstone layer emerges. As the river undercuts this looser mudstone, the hard santstone slabs above topple and wash downstream and the canyon wall recedes several feet. Look for scars in the cliffs where slabs have peeled away. Sometimes the attrition is gradual, but six river-miles downstream the Sentinel Slide is a large-scale example of a suddenly wider canyon. Below the towering, erosion-resistant walls of Navajo Sandstone lies a weak formation of mudstones and siltstones called the Kayenta formation. Once the Virgin River begins to carve into the weaker Kayenta layer, erosion accelerates. The sturdy walls of Navajo Sandstone are undermined, and slabs fall into the river, widening the canyon. During high water or after a heavy rain, you can hear the heavy cobbles clattering in the current. The river becomes a giant conveyor belt of gritty abrasives carving out the canyon
20. ZION_120718_839.JPG: Diversion Dam: The Virgin River is not entirely a free-floating stream. Here the small drop in the river is not a cascade but a diversion dam, to shunt part of the flow to the town of Springdale. Since 1970 Zion National Park and Springdale have been partners in maintaining the town water supply -- one of many forms of cooperation between the park and the gateway community. This dam is part of a long, complex history of people adapting to the desert by manipulating the Virgin River. Near the visitor center are remains of historic diversion dams and irrigation ditches, which Mormon settlers built to sustain orchards and fields of crops. To experience the river in its more free-flowing state, travel upstream from Zion Lodge. The spillway pools the river water; from there it is diverted to town. A concrete lining stabilizes the dam and prevent erosion, especially during floods. Photo of rancher William L. Crawford at Flanigan Ditch Dam, ca 1900. Crawford ran a string to the camera to snap the picture.
21. ZION_120718_878.JPG: Virgin River: In this desert terrain the Virgin River plays a dual role. As life giver, the year-round flow promotes a rich community of water-loving plants and associated wildlife, from a longfisher and dipper to mule deer and mountain lion. Historically the river made the canyon habitable to Paiutes and Mormon settlers. This deceptively tranquil stream is also a relentless agent of change. During spring runoff or after a rainstorm, the water fill with particles of sandstone. The current carries an average of 5,000 tons of rock fragments daily -- evidence that the river not only carved Zion Canyon but continues to widen and transform the canyon scenery.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Zion National Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zion National Park is a United States National Park located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (593 km�) park is Zion Canyon, 15 miles (24 km) long and up to half a mile (800 m) deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, this unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. A total of 289 bird species, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), 32 reptiles and numerous plant species inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Notable megafauna include Mountain Lions, Mule Deer and Golden Eagles, along with reintroduced California Condors and Bighorn Sheep. Common plant species include Cottonwood, Cactus, Datura, Juniper, Pine, Boxelder, Sagebrush and various willows.

Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans; the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Anasazi (300 CE) stem from one of these groups. In turn, the Virgin Anasazi culture (500 CE) developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. A different group, the Parowan Fremont, lived in the area as well. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. The canyon was discovered by Mormons in 1858 and was settled by that same group in the early 1860s. Mukuntuweap National Monument was established in 1909 to protect the canyon, and by 1919 the monument was expanded to become Zion National Park (Zion is an ancient Hebrew word meaning a place of refuge or sanctuary). The Kolob section was proclaimed a separate Zion National Monument in 1937, but was incorporated into the park in 1956.

The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine formations that together represent 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation. At various periods in that time, warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts and dry near-shore environments covered the area. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago.
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