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    Zion National Park: Sanctuary In The Desert by Nicky Leach
    Zion National Park: Sanctuary In The Desert by Nicky Leach
    Zion National Park: Sanctuary In The Desert by Nicky Leach
    Ebook78 pages54 minutes

    Zion National Park: Sanctuary In The Desert by Nicky Leach

    By Nicky Leach

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    About this ebook

    One of Utah's most popular national parks, Zion is a magical place. Award-winning author Nicky Leach's heartfelt writing reveals the glory of Zion. In-depth information for the traveler assures a comprehensive understanding of this most precious of landscapes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPark Partners, Inc
    Release dateJul 20, 2010
    ISBN9781580710992
    Zion National Park: Sanctuary In The Desert by Nicky Leach
    Author

    Nicky Leach

    Award-winning author Nicky Leach began visiting Utah's national parks 30 years ago and is constantly pulled back by the region's remarkable blend of natural beauty and human history. Born in England and trained as a teacher, Nicky uses her writing to both educate and inspire people to feel more aligned with nature's healing rhythms in their daily lives. She has written 45 guidebooks, including many other Sierra Press titles about parks in the Southwest and the Northwest. Her interpretive writing has been recognized with several National Park Service Cooperating association Awards for Interpretive Excellence. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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      Book preview

      Zion National Park - Nicky Leach

      ZION NATIONAL PARK

      Sanctuary In the Desert

      by

      Nicky Leach

      *****

      SIERRA PRESS

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2010 Sierra Press

      *****

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      *****

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Thanks to Jeff Nicholas and Sierra Press for asking me to write about my favorite subject; editor Cindy Bohn for another great blue-pencil job, Denny Davies, Tom Haraden, and the staff of Zion National Park for taking time to talk with me, check facts, and make suggestions; and finally, to Mary Lawrence, a fine travel companion and constant friend.

      *****

      CONTENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      The Grand Circle

      Zion Overview

      Geologic History

      ZION CANYON

      Visiting Zion Canyon

      The Narrows of the Virgin River

      Hiking Zion

      Human History

      THE EAST SIDE

      The Zion Cable

      Tunnels, Bridges, and Buildings

      THE WEST SIDE

      Plant and Animal Communities

      FIELD GUIDES

      Birds

      Mammals

      Reptiles and Amphibians

      Wildflowers

      ZION’S UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT

      RESOURCES & INFORMATION

      SUGGESTED READING

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      COMING SOON

      *****

      Early morning light on the Towers of The Virgin

      INTRODUCTION

      It is one of those clarion spring mornings in Zion that comes close to earthly perfection. A red mackerel dawn sky has limned Renaissance blue in the full light of day. A whisper of a breeze ruffles the new-leafed cottonwoods along the Virgin River and sets the tall ponderosa pines creaking in their moorings in crevices high in the cliffs. Two red-tailed hawks circle lazily on the thermals, then drop out of sight into a huge, desert-varnished window-blind arch in the pale sandstone canyon wall. Mule deer—the soft rustlers at the tent door in the predawn gloom—jump daintily away on ballerina legs then dart to deeper cover, safe from human eyes and the hungry gaze of the mountain lion.

      Above the valley, the domes, spires, and temples of Zion seem to raise great angular heads to the heavens, their time-worn, craggy faces streaked and etched by falling water and year-in, year-out exposure to the weather. There is an eloquence to their forms which stirs the imagination with a singular power and kindles in the mind, wrote geologist Clarence Dutton in 1880. Nothing can exceed the wondrous beauty of Zion . . . in the nobility and beauty of the sculptures there is no comparison.

      Although it gets all the press, Zion Canyon is just a fraction of a park that might better be described as a giant outdoor museum, preserving some of the world's most extraordinary geological, archeological, and natural resources. The heart and soul of Zion, though, is the Virgin River, whose North Fork rises to the northeast near Cedar Breaks. The river eats its way through the southern Markagunt Plateau, then confluences with the East Fork in Zion Canyon downstream from Parunuweap Canyon. From here, it continues down to Hurricane and out of Utah via the Virgin River Gorge, joining the Colorado River in Lake Mead for the last leg to the Gulf of California. The Southern Paiute call it Parus (whirling water), but its European name was given in 1776 by the Spanish Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, priests who understood first-hand the miracle of water in the desert.

      After a week exploring Canyon Country's vast spaces, my friend Mary plumped herself down beside the Virgin River, plunged her toes into the water, and sighed happily. It's so cozy here, she said. "I feel safe within these high

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