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ZION NATIONAL PARK by Ray Stevens I Have Taken My Family On

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ZION NATIONAL PARK by Ray Stevens I Have Taken My Family On ZION NATIONAL PARK By Ray Stevens I have taken my family on camping trips to Zion National Park several times. The Park is located in Southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. The Park ranges in elevation from just under 4000' to over 8700'. Zion has many petroglyph panels; the rock messages from the ancient ones really interested me and the family. The highlight of Zion National Park is an expansive, deep and narrow canyon, averaging 2,000' deep. Zion has several impressive sandstone formations that are up to 2500' thick, The Altar of Sacrifice is one with “red blood” (iron oxide) streaking down its face. The Pulpit Rock at the Temple of Sinawava is another. Many of the titles of the features of Zion were named by the Mormon pioneers who settled this area. The most obvious sandstone formation, however, is called The Navajo. It is an orange to white sandstone that forms huge cliffs. Standing 2200' tall, the Navajo was formed by sand dunes about 180 million years ago. My personal favorite was the Temple of Sinawava, a vertical-walled natural amphitheater nearly 3,000' high. Zion Canyon offers hiking opportunities along its floor (River Walk) to the 20' to 30' wide area known as The Narrows and the challenging area known as The Subway. The Subway is a classic slot canyon. To complete the Subway hike, you wade, swim, (along the frigid Virgin River), scramble, and climb up and down. Not for the faint of heart! Many of the park's most popular trails are accessed from the valley floor along the 6 mile Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. If you're an avid hiker, take your time visiting popular (and strenuous) day hikes such as Angel’s Landing, Zion Narrows Day Hike, and Observation Point Trail. The Scenic Drive that starts at the Lodge and goes down to the Temple used to be driven by any vehicle, but now visitors must park their cars and climb onto an open-air trolley/shuttle to see the sights. We found that the local newspaper printed the opening and closing dates “of the season” and decided to visit Zion when the trolley wasn’t in sight. Another experience in visiting Zion is coming down to the Park from the East; the road was originally cut for wagons around the sheer cliffs with only a cable guard rail to keep one from plunging off the side of the mountain. The WPA tunneled through the mountain, unable to use dynamite, almost as if they were digging a mine. The tunnels were switch-backed into the mountain and back out to the open air cliffs, so the descent isn‘t a long, dark, and air-less tunnel. Because the size of the Model T’s were so much smaller than the RV’s of today, the traffic is now halted so that only one lane of traffic can go through the tunnels at once. My dad had a wagon and a team of mules; he hauled out many tons of hand-hewn rock to help build those tunnels. Joke of the day: This girl today said she recognized me from the Vegetarians Club, but I'd swear I've never met herbivore. .
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