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Zion Canyon

H u r r i c a n e C l

V i r g i n R i v e r

i f f s

V e r m i l i o n C l i f s

th oN

Wrought by Water 

Immutable yet ever changing, the 

Zion National Park Service 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Zion National Park 

Utah 

ment, a river of life always here and Welcome to the one called Zion. 

always changing. More than the river’s music and the 

soaring heights alone, Zion’s nature 

G R E A T

Geologic Contrasts Create Diversity B A S I N

It’s ironic, in this seemingly unending Colorado Plateau waters run. Zion’s 130,000­square­mile mass of rock, 

© LAURENCE PARENT

© TOM TiLL © FRED HiRSCHMANN 

11,307 ft 

3,446 m Bryce Canyon D E S E R T National Park 

Cedar Breaks 

National Monument 

The Vermilion Clifs, White desert, that water creates most of gathered waters, known as the Virgin over 10,000 feet above sea level. Clifs, and Pink Clifs (dia- what we see. North of Zion, rain fall­ River, traverse Mojave Desert lands Rain’s watery fngers then worked gram at left) are part of the ing on the 11,000­foot­high Colorado and join the Colorado River in Lake the Plateau’s minute cracks, loosening Kolob Zion 

Plateau races downhill, slices Zion’s Mead’s handmade basin before com­ grains and widening fractures—and Grand Staircase, the southCanyons western edge of the Colorado National relatively soft layers, and pushes its pleting their Pacifc­bound journey. eroding today’s mighty canyons. 

debris off the Plateau’s southern These processes continue; rivers still Plateau. The Bryce Canyon 

edge. This edge is not abrupt, but it Long before today’s landscape even deposit sediments that turn to stone, 

Park and Cedar Breaks amphitheaters are etched into the Pink steps down in a series of cliffs and appeared, streams, oceans, deserts, earthquakes still punctuate the Pla­ Clifs at the top of the Grand slopes known as the Grand Staircase. and volcanos deposited thousands of teau’s upward journey, and erosion 

Above Zion, topping the Staircase, feet of mud, lime, sand, and ash. The pries rockfalls from Zion’s seemingly 

3,100 ft to above and diagram at left) are at the western 

COLORADO

PLAT EAU

Zion• 

Bryce Canyon’s crenellated edges immense pressure and heat of accu­ immutable cliffs. Eventually, this 

form as water trickles off the Plateau. mulating sediments turned lower lay­ beautiful canyon will melt away and 

Staircase. 

f

Below Zion, Grand Canyon forms the ers to stone. Later, underground forces others will form. All it takes is time. r

The Kolob Canyons and Hurricane Clifs (pho 

lowest rung into which 90 percent of uplifted the Colorado Plateau, a 945 m edge of the massive, uplifted Colorado Plateau 

TEMPLE CAP FORMATION (map at left). 

NAVAJO SANDSTONE 

Navajo sandstone s sweeping lines of contrasting color record the move Stratigraphy, ments of sand dunes. 

Zion Canyon 

KAYENTA FORMATION 

PETRIFIED FOREST MEMBER 

MOENAVE FORMATION 

CHINLE FORMATION 

SHINARUMP CONGLOMERATE 

the study of rock layers, reveals the Kayenta mudstone features dinosaur tracks. 

relative age of the rocks before you at 

Lower Moenave deposits testify to pooling waters; upper ones indicate Zion. These rocks formed in environ swift moving foods. 

ments as varied as sand dunes and 

Chinle Formation shales are soft and contain petrifed wood. shallow sea bottoms. 

© DAViD PETTiT Shinarump Conglomerate is composed of varied sizes of eroded 

Moenkopi rubble. 

In a Haven of Habitats Virgin River 

MOENKOPI FORMATION The Moenkopi Formation records a shallow sea withdrawing, so the 

marine fossils differ in its bottom and top layers. 

Everything in Zion takes life from the 

cliffs of Zion stand resolute, a glow­ Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. 

ing presence in late day, a wild calm. Water fows, and solid rock melts into 

Melodies of waters soothe desert­ cliffs and towers. Landscape changes 

parched ears, streams twinkle over as canyons deepen to create forested 

stone, wren song cascades from red­ highlands and lowland deserts. A ribrock cliffs, cottonwood leaves jitter bon of green marks the river’s course 

on the breeze. But when lightning as diverse plants and animals take 

fashes waterfalls erupt from dry shelter and thrive in this canyon 

cliffs, and foods fash down water­ oasis. From the beginning people 

less canyons exploding log jams, hurl­ sought this place, this sanctuary in 

ing boulders, croaking wild joyous­ the desert’s dry reaches. The very creates its unique conditions. This unness, and dancing stone and water name Zion, meaning ”promised land,” likely desert harbors a mosaic of enviand time. Zion is alive with move­ evokes its signifcance. ronments, each fne­tuned to place. 

multiplies with each slope, aspect, 

and soil type, with each minute 

change in precipitation or temperature. Add to these infuences species 

from nearby ecosystems, and Zion 

becomes an assemblage of plants, 

and thus of animals, found nowhere 

else exactly like this. Although the 

southwestern desert may look homogeneous, each fold, wrinkle, bend, 

slope, mesa top, and canyon bottom 

All this is the 

music of waters. 

John Wesley Powell, 1895 

Large photo: Towers of the 

Virgin and The West Temple 

© TOM BEAN 

© TOM TiLL 

Green canyons, red clifs, 

blue skies: Zion’s colors can 

stop you in your tracks , as 

the three photos at left show. 

Water creates emerald oases 

of lush plants in an otherwise 

red desert landscape. Red 

rocks of a remarkable slot 

canyon reveal how rushing 

waters forcefully shaped its 

narrow and twisting walls. 

Tinted blue by sky, winter’s 

snow highlights the landscape, and then melts to feed 

scouring river torrents in 

spring. 

Zion’s beauty and bounty People have occupied the landscape as Ancestral Puebloans. The diverse Westward expansion eventually NPS 

NPS 

LiBRARY OF CONGRESS 

over a great span of time. majesty of Zion Canyon (left) 

This corn and its storage jar, 

thousands of years. Zion’s frst resi­ bination rare in deserts: terraces to In the 1860s, early Mormon pioneers 

that sparked making it a park 

found in the park, are over 

dents tracked mammoths, camels, and grow food, a river for water, and an came to the region and built small 

and a premier American va1,000 years old. 

other mammals though open desert adequate growing season. On the communities and farmed the river 

and sheltered canyons. With climate Colorado Plateau, crops grow best terraces. Through hard work and cation destination (far left in 

change, disease, and overhunting, between 5,000 and 7,000 feet of ele­ faith, the new residents endured in 1929). Water both fashions 

these animals died out 8,000 years vation, which makes Zion’s elevations a landscape where fash foods de­ beauty and supports the richago. Hunters adapted by hunting nearly ideal. But drought, resource stroyed towns and drought burned ness that makes Zion such a 

smaller animals and gathering food. depletion, and migrations eventually crops. The same threats exist today, haven of habitats. 

As resources kept diminishing, people decreased the Ancestral Puebloans’ but Zion daily draws new explorers 

adjusted to suit their location. One dominance. The Southern Paiute peo­ to experience the beauty and the 

desert culture, evident here still, ple who followed brought traditions sanctuary of this place that countless 

evolved over the next 1,500 years as suited to the harsh desert climate and generations have considered home. 

a community of farmers now known thrived here. 

In the 1800s, popular artist 

of what is now Zion National Park for geological setting gave them a com­ brought new settlers to the canyon. have beckoned to humans Thomas Moran captured the 
n

Lav 

Zion’s Natural Diversity 

The Nature of Sanctuary 

Tucked in niches, hidden in soil, peeking from At the lowest elevations, Mojave Desert specliffs, or scampering between our feet, an cies—desert tortoise and honey mesquite— RIM 

amazing array of plants and animals thrive in infiltrate Zion’s dry, south-facing canyons. At 

Zion National Park. Tiny piñon mice, golden mid-elevations, Great Basin Desert species like 

eagles, mountain lions—all thrive in Zion’s shadscale and big sagebrush mingle with the 

many habitats. Park elevations range from Colorado Plateau’s bigtooth maple and Utah 

3,600 to 8,700 feet and provide vastly differ- juniper. Zion’s biotic diversity is the result of 

ent environments. Fir, ponderosa pine, and these three communities coming together in 

aspen prefer snowy highcountry winters, one location. 

while piñon, cliffrose, and mesquite flourish 

in the desert’s heat. Part of Zion’s uniqueness comes from its geol- Sego lily Steller’s jay Peregrine falcon DR. llOYD GlENN INGlES © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE © GEORGE H.H. HUEY © FRED HIRSCHMANN NPS © MERlIN TUTTlE, BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAl ROBERT POTTS © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES GERAlD & BUFF CORSI © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES lARRY BlAklEY © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES © lARRY UlRICH NPS GERAlD & BUFF CORSI © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES RED ClIFFS DESERT RESERVE GERAlD & BUFF CORSI © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

NPS GERAlD & BUFF CORSI © STEPHEN O. MUSkIE © CAlIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

ogy. Great Basin and Mojave Desert soils tend 

Water, and the lack of it, decides what grows to be similar over great distances. But Zion’s 

where. On the plateau, above the canyon rim, stacked prehistoric environments erode into 

annual precipitation tops 26 inches. In this relatively cool and moist environment, sego lilies sprout under greenleaf manzanita, yellowbellied marmots scurry between white fir, and 

elk mix with an occasional black bear. Here 

the Virgin River begins in an underground 

cavern of melted snow. 

In the desert over 500 times more species are 

found at water sources than in the surrounding arid country. The Virgin River’s perennial 

Quaking aspen Elk many soils. The Chinle Formation’s ancient 

lakes and volcanic ash, for example, corrode 

into a soil rich in the poisonous mineral selenium. Specialized plants like prince’s plume 

and milkvetch (also known as locoweed from 

the effects of its selenium-infused leaves) 

grow on such odd soils and increase Zion’s 

diversity. Individual and unconnected canyons 

also increase diversity because isolation can 

lead to variation among species. 

CANYON 

waters give life to an overstory of Fremont This national park is beautiful but not pris- Pallid bat with scorpion Mountain lion Tarantula 

cottonwood, singleleaf ash, and boxelder. tine. Research shows that 150 years of farmThe rare Zion snail lives only in Zion’s isolated ing, grazing, and recreation changed Zion’s 

hanging gardens that grow lush with maiden- environment. Exotic species like tamarisk and Prince’s plume Desert tortoise 

hair fern, scarlet monkeyflower, and golden 

columbine. Canyon treefrogs bleat while 

campers sleep, and great blue herons wade 

the river’s currents. When summer monsoons 

send flash floods roaring down canyon, it’s 

a testimony to evolution that anything 

survives. 

That’s also true away from the river, where 

aridity has real meaning. Zion Canyon’s annual 

precipitation may total a mere 15 inches. 

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Kolob Canyons

Visitor Center 

cheatgrass replace native willow and native 

grasses. It is the mission of the National Park 

Service to provide sanctuary for and reinvigorate Zion’s remaining diversity. Although most 

park species are not unusual and much has 

changed, these unique assemblages create 

and sustain the relevance and sanctity of this 

wondrous place called Zion.

RIVER 

Colorado columbine 

Canyon treefrog Black-chinned hummingbird

Fremont cottonwood 

A crack in Navajo sandstone 

affords a home for this 

blooming Indian paintbrush Maidenhair fern 

(background photo). Be Prepared, Plan Well, Live Long © wIllIAM NEIll / lARRY UlRICH STOCk A human body is no match 

for floodwaters that rampage through narrow canyons, pushing a raft of 

boulders and logs (left). 

Know the weather and 

flash flood potential before 

your trip. If bad weather 

threatens, do not enter 

narrow canyons. 

• Plan your trip. Choose trails that are within your ability. 

• Falls cause most injuries and deaths at Zion. 

• Carry and drink one gallon of water per person per day. 

• wear a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. 

• Avoid or get off high places when lightning threatens. 

• know the weather before you go. Distant storms can cause fash foods.

when in doubt, stay out! 

• Cell phones don’t work in most areas and don’t make you invincible. 

• Your safety is your responsibility. 

Wilderness 

In 2009, Congress protected nearly 84 percent of 

the park as wilderness under the 1964 wilderness 

Act. wilderness designation protects forever the 

land’s wilderness character, natural conditions, 

opportunities for solitude, and scientifc, educational, and historical values. 

els 

ndi 

Zion Human History Museum 9

Zion Canyon Visitor Center 

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Visiting the Park 

Zion Canyon Visitor Center is open year-round. A 22-minute 

orientation flm is shown regularly at the Zion Human History 

Museum. Spring through fall, Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is 

open to shuttle buses only. Check the park website (see below) or the park newspapers for dates and times: Map and 

Guide and Backcountry Planner are available at the entrance 

gate, visitor centers, and on the park website. Service animals are welcome. For frearms regulations visit the park 

website or ask a ranger. 

Zion is one of over 390 parks in the National Park System. To 

learn more about parks and National Park Service programs 

in America’s communities, visit www.nps.gov. 

More Information 

Zion National Park 

Springdale, Utah 84767-1099 

435-772-3256 

www.nps.gov/zion 

GPO:20xx—xxx-xxx/xxxxx Reprint 20xx 

Printed on recycled paper. 

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