Zion National Park, Utah.
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October 09, 2015

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Zion National Park, Utah. October 09, 2015. Taken From Kanab Creek, & US Highway 89. GPS (37.072936, -112.536761)
Checkerboard Mesa. Zion National Park, Utah. October 09, 2015.
The "Great Arch of Zion." Zion National Park, Utah. October 09, 2015. About 600 Feet In Length & About 400 Feet High.

Zion National Park, Utah: We wish to thank Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for some of the information on this page. We share information with Wikipedia. Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 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. The lowest elevation is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest elevation is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert regions, the park's unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes 9 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. The uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3,000 m) starting about 13 million years ago. 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. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s. One of the major attractions of the Zion National Park is the beautiful rock formations that make up the area. One very large formation makes up a large portion of the Four Corners Region. It is called the "Grand Staircase." The "Grand Staircase" is actually made up of nine different known exposed geologic formations. It is easy to view the "Grand Staircase" at Zion These formations represent about 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation in that part of North America. The formations exposed in the Zion area were deposited as sediment in very different environments: The warm, shallow (sometimes advancing or retreating) sea of the Kaibab and Moenkopi formations; Streams, ponds, and lakes of the Chinle, Moenave, and Kayenta formations; The vast desert of the Navajo and Temple Cap formations; and The dry near-shore environment of the Carmel Formation. Another interesting feature of the Zion National Park is called the "Kolob Canyons." The Kolob Canyons are a set of finger canyons cut into the Kolob Plateau. They were created when uplift affected the entire region, known as the Colorado Plateaus, by slowly raising these formations more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) higher than where they were deposited. This steepened the stream gradient of the ancestral Virgin and other rivers on the plateau. The faster-moving streams took advantage of uplift-created joints in the rocks. Eventually, all Cenozoic-aged formations were removed and gorges were cut into the plateaus. Zion Canyon was cut by the North Fork of the Virgin River in this way. During the later part of this process, lava flows and cinder cones covered parts of the area. High water volume in wet seasons does most of the downcutting in the main canyon. These flood events are responsible for transporting most of the 3 million short tons (2.7 million metric tons) of rock and sediment that the Virgin River transports yearly. The Virgin river cuts away its canyon faster than its tributaries can cut away their own streambeds, so tributaries end in waterfalls from hanging valleys where they meet the Virgin river. The valley between the peaks of the Twin Brothers is a notable example of a hanging valley in the canyon. The road into Zion Canyon is 6 miles (9.7 km) long, ending at the Temple of Sinawava ("Sinawava" refers to the Coyote God of the Paiute Indians). At the Temple the canyon narrows and a foot-trail continues to the mouth of the Zion Narrows, a gorge as narrow as 20 feet (6 m) wide and up to 2,000 feet (610 m) tall. The Zion Canyon road is served by a free shuttle bus from early April to late October and by private vehicles the other months of the year. Other roads in Zion are open to private vehicles year-round. There is a lot of wildlife to see at Zion National Park. The park is said to be home to 289 bird, 79 mammals, 28 reptiles, 7 fish, and 6 amphibian species. These organisms make their homes in one or more of four life zones found in the Park: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Guided horseback riding trips, nature walks, and evening programs are available from late March to early November. Seven trails with round-trip times of from half an hour (Weeping Rock) up to 4 hours (Angels Landing) are found in Zion Canyon Zion is a center for rock climbing, with short walls like Touchstone, Moonlight Buttress, Spaceshot, and Prodigal Son being very popular. Lodging in the park is available at Zion Lodge, located halfway through Zion Canyon. Zion Lodge is open year-round and has motel units and cabins, as well as a restaurant, caf�, and gift shop, but rooms fill up fast. Three campgrounds are available: South and Watchman at the far southern side of the park, and a primitive site at Lava Point in the middle of the park off Kolob Terrace Road. We entered Zion National Park by driving through the Park's east entrance gate on Utah Route 9. The first major feature we saw is the Checkerboard Mesa. Checkerboard Mesa is an example of two weathering processes, one controlled by stratigraphy and one by climate. The �checkerboard� results from the roughly perpendicular sets of grooves in the Navajo Sandstone. The nearly horizontal grooves follow layers of coarse sand that coincide with eolian bedding sets whereas the vertical grooves have been interpreted to be the result of local expansion and contraction of the rock surface due to changes in temperature and moisture. One of the next geologic features saw is the "Great Arch of Zion." The "Great Arch" located in Zion National Park is a large blind arch in the Navajo Sandstone. A blind arch is an arch of rock still attached to the rock face. The Great Arch is about 600 feet in length and about 400 feet high. One of the ways a blind arch can form is from the undermining of the sandstone cliffs. In Zion Canyon, springs often form at the bottom of the Navajo Sandstone just above the shale of the Kayenta Formation. These springs erode the shale out from underneath the sandstone, leaving the sandstone unsupported. Then, the large pieces of the sandstone above the unsupported area fall off. However, sometimes the upper layers of the sandstone don�t break off and they form an arch. Eventually, this portion will also fall off.