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Touring Zion National Park, UT Located in the southwest corner of Utah, Zion National Park encompasses 229 square miles at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions. Known for its incredible canyons and spectacular views, it is Utah’s oldest national park, designated in 1919 by the newly created National Park Service. Zion is also Utah’s most visited park, and attracts nearly three million people a year to enjoy its spectacular views and vast sandstone monoliths. The northern portion of the park is known as the Kolob Canyons section, which is conveniently located just off the interstate. It is often said that tours of Zion present the most beautiful place in America to ovservers, with its towering red and tan-colored Navajo sandstone cliffs, deep canyons, mesas, buttes, and rivers. This geologic wonder is the result of two hundred million years of ice, water, and snow carving its eight layers of sandstone into breathtaking natural creations. The powerful Virgin River moves millions of tons of rock and sediment every year that gets deposited where it meets its tributaries, creating dramatic waterfalls. Four life zones are found in the park: desert, riparian, woodland, and Coniferous forest habitats. Over 400 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians make their home in one or more areas of this diverse habitat. It is no mystery why Zion National Park’s enchanting landscape attracts so many to hike, walk, climb, drive, backpack, horseback ride, and photograph its geologic diversity. For those looking to spend more than one day exploring, two developed campgrounds are located within the park that offer plenty of amenities. More adventurous campers can also set up in the one primitive campground, located off the Kolob Terrace road. Zion Lodge has motel units and cabins available for visitors. The Lodge

Bryce Canyon National Park, UT Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southwestern Utah in the United States. Despite its name, it is not a canyon, but a series of giant natural amphitheaters made up of multi-colored pinnacles of limestone. These distinctive geological formations, called hoodoos, have been carved over time by stream erosion and frost wedging along the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The elevation of the rim at Bryce averages between 8,000 to 9,000 feet, much higher than that of nearby Zion National Park, and the park covers approximately 35,835 acres of spectacular scenery. Visitors can tour Bryce Canyon year-round, and whether they plan to spend a week or a few hours, there is something for people of all ages and interests to do to enjoy the park’s breathtaking scenery. Bryce Canyon is host to a diverse range of plant and wildlife species in addition to its spectacular landscape formations, and is considered by many to be one of the most scenically diverse places in the world. The brilliantly colored formations shine under the bright afternoon sun, but glow exquisitely under the softer light of the rising or setting sun. The high altitudes and pristine air gives photography enthusiasts a spectacular backdrop for sunrise and sunset photos, allowing them to view great distances. On extremely clear days, the Black Mesas of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico can be seen some 160 miles away. Bryce Canyon’s 7.4 magnitude night sky makes it one of the darkest in North America, allowing stargazers to see 7,500 stars with the naked eye. In comparison, light and city pollution limits viewers in big cities and most other places to as little as a few dozen stars. There are plenty of ways to view Bryce Canyon National Park’s grandeur. Most visitors drive

Death Valley is an extreme desert land area located in Eastern California.  The specifics of the area are that it is located within the Mojave Desert, and is physically the lowest area (282 feet below sea level at the Badwater Basin) on the North American continent.  Oddly enough, this point is only 84.6 miles from Mount Whitney, which is the highest point in the United States at 14,505 feet.  It is also is the driest area in the United States, measured through rainfall amounts on average of 1.5 inches.  The heat in Death Valley is extreme, and the area holds the world record for the highest reported temperature on earth, which happened at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913 when the temperature went to 134 degrees Fahrenheit.  Although there was a similar temperature measured in Libya in 1922, the World Meteorological Organization could not verify it, and thus called it invalid.  Death Valley is officially the hottest place on the face of the earth, but Death Valley tours are comfortable and beautiful. Death Valley is located on the border of California and Nevada, within the Great Basin area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The majority of Death Valley National Park is made up of Death Valley, and it is the highlight and main feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve.  Death Valley itself is an area of about 3,000 square miles. Tours of Death Valley will concentrate mainly on the beauty of the extreme geology and landscape, and educate visitors about this unique area in the world, as well as what produces the attributes of the area.  For example, one of the very unique features of Death Valley is that it contains “salt pans,” which was left behind when inland seas (once called Lake Manly) evaporated, leaving behind

Zabriskie Point is a portion of the Amargosa Range, which is located in east of Death Valley.  It is made up of large amounts of sediment from  Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago.  The location is named after Christian Brevoort Zabriskie, who was the acting vice-president and general manager of the Pacific Coast Borax Company. The area of Zabriskie Point is quite colorful, and the elevated landscape of hills and gullies sit on the edge of the Black Mountains.  From  the viewpoint of Zabriskie Point, there is an extensive and unobstructed view of the salt plains of the valley floor.  Most who visit Zabriskie Point simply admire the unique landscape, although some do hike and walk through the area.  Sunrise is the best time to view the area, as the light dances through the landscape.  If a hiking tour is in order, there is a trail that winds through the mounds, traveling down a ravine and into Gower Gulch.  Another branch of the trail leads to Golden Canyon. A tour of Death Valley is best to include Zabrskie Point, as the unique landscape created by millions of years of salt-sediment and erosion have delivered a scenic area without match in the United States.

Located near the Arizona-Utah state line, Monument Valley is a five square mile region of the Colorado Plateau, and is a part of the Navajo Nation Reservation. Monument Valley is characterized by its breathtaking cluster of vivid red sandstone buttes, some of which tower 1,000 feet above the valley floor. This iconic valley has been home to generations of Navajo families, and has been chosen as the location for hundreds of Western movies. Monument Valley’s butte and mesa formations have been gradually carved out by slow-moving rivers, which deposited their siltstone on the valley floor. The majority of siltstone originated from the Cutler Formation of the Colorado Plateau. The bright red colors that characterize this area are created by the iron oxide in the siltstone being exposed to the elements. The buttes get their stratified appearance from three layers of sandstone. The top layer is made up of Moenkopi shale and Shinarump siltstone, the center layer is de Chelly sandstone, and the bottom layer is Organ Rock shale. Visitors to Monument Valley will never forget the majestic views and striking colors created by the juxtaposition of butte and mesa formations thrusting upward from the sweeping valley floor. Don’t forget to bring a camera to capture the beauty of geologic wonders including the Mittens Buttes, Merrick Butte, Sentinel Mesa, Pine Tree Arch, Stout Arch, Honeymoon Arch, and Mitchell and Wetherill Mesas. The valley is part of the Grand Circle, a vast region containing America’s largest concentration of national parks and monuments. In addition to Monument Valley, the Grand Circle also includes the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, and the Four Corners region. Four Corners Monument, where four states (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah) meet, can easily be visited while exploring the Monument Valley area. Monument Valley