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1997 West Vacation -- September 13 through September 27, Part 4
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| My 1997 West Vacation. 14 days, 5440 miles. |
Grand Canyon, North Rim
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I got to Pipe Spring National Monument...after it closed for the day. But I got a picture of the Entry Sign!
Pipe Spring National Monument
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Zion was and is Utah's first NP. Literally translated to "the Heavenly City of God", it was originally called Mukuntuweap National Monument. It finally became Zion National Park in 1919.
While man has probably inhabited the area for a thousand or more years, it was the Mormons that put names on most of the peaks and unusual formations: The West Temple; The Three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Angels landing; the Pulpit.
The most available part of the park, as well as the centerpiece of Zion, is Zion Canyon, carved out of the rock by the Virgin River over the past 13 million years. Two to three thousand foot high walls line the canyon, making you stand in awe looking at nature's handiwork.
If you follow Utah Route 9, rather than turn into Zion Canyon, you'll come to the end of a canyon carved out by Pine Creek. There's a hiking trail there that'll show you some magnificent overlooks down the valley.
On the west end of the park, available only by taking I-15, are the finger canyons of the Kolob. They were named after the central sphere of the universe, in Mormon Book of Abraham.
Zion National Park
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Cedar Breaks National Monument is an amphitheater 3 miles across and dives down over 2000 feet. It'd be a pretty spectacular place if it weren't surrounded by the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon...
I'd also have been more in awe of this place, if it hadn't been early, cold, windy and at 10,000 feet above sea level. We dragged the winter coats out from the trunk and still shivered. So, it was just an abbreviated stop.
Cedar Breaks National Monument
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End 1997 West Vacation Part 4
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