No Zionists In Zion (But Plenty of Spaniards)

I spent the night before last in Vegas, but was not willing to pay the hotel $12.99 for the privilege of using in-room internet.  Little high it seems to me, when compared to the free and fast Wi-Fi here in Yucca Valley, CA.  

Zion National Park is centered around the Virgin River which created and continues to carve Zion Canyon out of the soft sandstone of southern Utah.  The river is literally the wellspring of life in this part of Utah, with all the flora and fauna depending on its water.  O.K. I'm tyring to hard to sound like John Muri.  Moving on.

ZNP is small but very interesting and I highly recommend it to any travelers, especially those with limited physical abilities.  The Park Service has done and excellent job of making the park accessible by paving the main trails and providing a wealth of interpretative signs.  The trails are paved primarily to prevent erosion, as the desert landscape is very fragile and any disruption of the thin vegetation can lead to a cascade of erosion.   I understand that Zion in the high season can be difficult because of the high temperatures and obscene crowds.   Because of constant traffic jams during the high season, the NPS instituted a mandatory shuttle program.  Free of charge, the NPS operates shuttles in a loop between the Visitors Center and the main sights in the park.  With 2.7 million visitors in 2009, most of them arriving in a 6 month window, ZNP would be an awful experience without this change.  Lucky for me, private vehicles are permitted after November 1, so I was able to make my own schedule.  With the park in "winter" mode there are only a modest number of visitors and no crowds to speak of. 

There is not a statue of Theodor Herzl in ZNP but for some reason, I managed meet a bunch of Spanish tourists.  One couple invited me to their house in Madrid if I am ever in Spain.  Another group I talked to was about to tackel an 8-pitch climb.  Given the geology of the canyon, the climb was probably a very stiff 5.10 c/d, but they were not aiding it.  I hope that made it without incident because the rock in ZNP is very soft to say the least.

When I go to a place like ZNP I avoid taking the stock photos that often find their home in coffee table books and on glossy post cards.  What I do see a lot of in these parks are photographers, with tons of high-end gear, taking these same photos you can find on the internet in a matter of seconds.  Everyone also seems to have a tripod regardless of the photos they are taking.  I'm willing to bet the bulk of these tripod shots were 1/500 sec at f5.6 with a 24mm lens.  Really -- you need a tripod for that.  Of course there are plenty of instances when a tripod is indispensable, but I get the impression that instead of studying the landscape and lighting, a great many shot are missed while people are playing with their Bogen tripod, changing lenses and otherwise not paying attention.  Just my two cents.

This picture is of window in a mile long tunnel that cuts through the canyon wall, enabling access to the eastern enterance to the park.

 

Look closely ......

Closer...

Water percolating out of the canyon's walls supports a wealth of vegetation.

Finally, some Virgin River photos.  Some of these are "abstract" but I can assure you, they are not staged  or photoshopped.

And, I'll leave you with this last photo.  Look for another update this week from Joshua Tree with climbing action photos.