Zion curiosities

As we traveled on the park shuttle buses, we listened. Many of the drivers chatted as they drove, and one actually played a recording that he had made about the park, and about the formation of Zion Canyon.

Remember that wonderful map that I bought for Denise before we headed west? A good chunk of the details that we absorbed from listening to our shuttle driver apparently came from the information on that map. (Or possibly someplace similar - I bet there are many sources for the same words.)

I found the descrption of the Grand Staircase very interesting. It's the area between Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. What I found fascinating was that "the bottom layer of rock at Bryce Canyon is the top layer at Zion, and the bottom layer at Zion is the top layer at the Grand Canyon".

Most of the rock that we saw in Zion are Navajo Sandstone. According to the information on our map, the steep cliffs are from 1600 to 2200 feet thick. Apparently they are the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world.

Shades of red sandstone combined with the erosive powers of the Virgin River created sheer beauty.

I found this quote in the National Park brochure for Zion National Park, credited to John Wesley Powell, 1895, to be very fitting:

"All this is the music of waters".