2017_04_18
Read More
Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
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, Great Basin, and 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.
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. In 1909 the President of the United States, William Howard Taft, named the area a National Monument to protect the canyon, under the name of Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1918, however, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service changed the park's name to Zion, the name used by the Mormons. According to historian Hal Rothman: "The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time. Many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience."[5] The United States Congress established the monument as a National Park on November 19, 1919. 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 (3,000 m) starting 13 million years ago.
From Wikipedia.
Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
Zion National Park, 1 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale, UT 84767
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools is one of Zion's sweetest signature trails. Generously endowed with breathtaking scenery, this trail is one that children and adults alike will have fun hiking. Waterfalls, pools and a dazzling display of monoliths create the Emerald Pools Trail System. When I was a kid I did this hike a multitude of times, never getting tired of it. Back then we would drop out shoes at the start of the trail, stack tiny cairns on the upper trail and never missed a chance to swim in the upper pool and we usually explored the drainage behind the middle pool. With all the visitation that park gets now, those things are not allowed, but still this is one of the most enchanting hikes anywhere.
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about 162 miles (261 km) long.[2] It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the centennial celebration of Zion National Park.
From Wikipedia.
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Virgin River, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool - At the trailhead, choose the scenic Lower Emerald Pool Trail rather than the steeper Middle Emerald Pool Trail. Much of the paved lower trail is shaded by cottonwood and box elder trees as it winds along the North Fork of the Virgin River. It's just over a half-mile to the lush alcove of the lower pool. Moisture seeps from sandstone and mist sprays from the falls, feeding lush hanging gardens in the recessed rock. Ferns and moss sprout from the mountainside with an occasional monkey flower, shooting star or delicate columbine peering from the more subtle vegetation. The trail ducks behind twin waterfalls, spilling from the middle pools, leaving black streaks of desert varnish behind. Droplets dance off boulders that have fallen from above, now lining the pool of mossy green water. The lower is my favorite of the pools. Anyone can get to it and you are right there with the pool, hanging gardens and the dripping water.
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Lower Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Middle Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Middle Emerald Pools Trail - Continue behind the falls. The unpaved trail emerges into sunlight, leading to the middle pools. After a couple of short switchbacks, and a gain of over 100' in elevation, hikers come to the plateau of the middle pools. At the middle pools, shallow streams cross the trail, before the water spills over the lip to the lower pool. The first middle pool is formed by the Behunin Canyon watershed - one of Zion's drier canyoneering routes. Next, just over the ridge, the second middle pool is created by the Heaps Canyon watershed - one of Zion's most difficult canyoneering routes. After a storm, when water is flowing in Heaps Canyon and Behunin Canyon, the waterfalls become profuse. Watch that children never stray near the overhanging ledge, past the chained areas, where algae and slippery rock result in unsafe footing.
The Views - A gallery of Zion landmarks compete for attention from the lofty perch of the middle pools, but Red Arch Mountain is center stage. Lady Mountain, one of the original trails in Zion Canyon, towers almost 3000' above the canyon floor. The difficulty of maintaining the "via feratta" of Lady Mountain and nearly impossible conditions for rescue forced the park to disassemble the chains and ladders along the trail and discontinue promotion of the hike in the 1970's. Looking north, glimpses of Mount Majestic and Cathedral Mountain are observed.
Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Upper Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Upper Emerald Pool Trail - The trail leading to the Upper Emerald Pool is on the ridge between the two middle pools. Though most of the foot traffic ends at the spur to the upper pool, where the trail becomes more rugged and steep, the upper pool at the end is worth every step. This secluded oasis is framed by colossal cliffs on three sides. Watch for canyoneers rappelling from Heaps Canyon down the backside of the boulder-rimmed pool.
Upper Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Upper Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah
Upper Emerald Pool, Emerald Pools Trail, Zion National Park, Utah