I want to start this post with a bit of an overview of the three national parks we visited on our America’s Canyonland tour. Each of these parks are part of the “Grand Staircase,” an area beginning at the Grand Canyon, going on to Zion and ending at Bryce. Our itinerary was a bit out of order as we ended our trip in Zion. The Grand Staircase is a sequence of sedimentary rocks that ascend from the Grand Canyon to Bryce. The concept was developed by Clarence Dutton who divided the Earth’s history into five steps. The oldest step (or layer) is the Chocolate Cliffs in the Grand Canyon, followed by the Vermillion Cliffs, the White Cliffs, the Gray Cliffs and finally the Pink Cliffs (the youngest) at Bryce Canyon. In the drawing below, you can see how each of these cliffs are like a step rising up from the one below. It its the most uninterrupted sequence of sedimentary rocks in the world and gives scientists insight into the geological history of the Earth.

When we arrived at Zion National Park, our bus driver drove a loop around the park. I took these pictures at a scenic pull-off. Zion is very diverse geologically and includes mountains, canyons, slot canyons, rivers, mesas and natural arches. This results in Zion having many different kinds of animals and plants. 

The next morning we went back to Zion and took the Riverside Trail, one of several recommended by our tour guide. It parallels the Virgin River. As you can see from the pictures, we had a beautiful morning for our hike – we walked just over one mile before turning back for our return trip.

These are two of the animals we saw while hiking. There were several deer, all close to the trail. They seemed very comfortable around people. We also saw the blue heron pictured here. Some of those on our tour took another trail – they saw big horn sheep and wild turkeys.

We also saw a swamp area. Water seeps through the walls of rock and, because it can’t soak into the rock, stays near the surface supporting plant life.

These are a few more pictures from our time in Zion. We walked along tall canyon walls, ranging from 500 to 2,000 feet high. The Virgin River was sometimes in sight as well. While very shallow in the picture with the two fishermen, beyond the trail the river becomes several feet deep. The last picture was taken as we approached the end of our hike. There are several different trails at Zion and had we had another day here, we would have hiked on another trail. Like the other national parks we visited, Zion is beautiful.