Zion National Park - Utah

Following the road into Zion National Park, I was thrumming with anticipation. I've been in so many amazing national parks lately that I have become rather jaded, but I had been eagerly looking forward to my visit to Zion. So many people had suggested it or mentioned it, that I had classified it as a compulsory stop on my journey.

The park was named for the Hebrew word meaning "refuge." It's easy to see why, with most of the park devoted to the passage of the Virgin River through the deep desert canyons it has carved into the rock. There is much to see here, and one day was not nearly enough to do it justice.

At first glance, water seems like the last thing you'd expect to find in the midst of all this dry, red, desert sandstone. A closer look at the swirling erosion patterns is more suggestive. This area is prone to flash flooding when the snows melt and the water level rises massively, scouring away the soft, porous rock.

The influence of water is everywhere. Here at the weeping wall, a short, but steep walk from the Weeping Rock shuttle stop, water drips continuously from above. Standing behind the curtain of water, the visitor can look back out into the park, through the steady trickle that continues to reshape the rock.

Amateur stratigraphy, the study of rock layers, is hard to avoid in Zion, where the strata are laid bare for all the world to see. Pale Navajo Sandstone rises above the distinctive red Springdale Sandstone of the lower formations.

The crumbly, scrub covered lower rock ledge is part of the Kayenta Formation. Kayenta mudstone commonly features dinosaur tracks and testifies to the age of these formations.

The grandiose, reverent language of Zion National Park extends to the names of the landmarks. The shuttle stops include Temple of Sinewava, Angels Landing, and Court of the Patriarchs. The surrounding mountains include The West Temple, Altar of Sacrifice, The East Temple, The Great White Throne and Mountain of Mystery. More than once I caught myself speaking in hushed, confessional tones and shying away from the loud, sacrilegious voices of some of the other visitors. There's something about overwhelming natural beauty that brings out a pompous junior librarian in some people. I was thus afflicted in Zion National Park.