The Colorado Plateau and the Four Corners, which encompass parts of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, is worldly unique because it preserves more Earth history than any other place on the planet. It encompasses 5 National Parks, 8 National Monuments, 8 Scenic Byways, 2 Tribal Parks, 2 National Recreation Areas, and 1 National Historic site. Each has a distinct personality all its own. What they have in common is preservation of historic people and historic lands. Native Americans populated the area from 7000 BCE. But the geologic basis for the land is more than a billion years old!
Spring and fall are the best time to visit, when the weather is cooler. Morning and later afternoon are best, when parks are not too crowded. Capitol Reef, because of its fruit tree orchards, is lovely in the spring. Zion, on the Virgin River, has colorful foliage in the fall. Bryce is special in the winter, with the snow dusting the spires and hoodoos. Arches is spectacular at sunset. To avoid overcrowding and damage to the landscape, many parks now require reservations to tour or hike.
ZION
Zion was the first National Park. Established in 1909 as Mukuntuweap National Monument, it was renamed Zion National Park 10 years later. Rich in history and geology, Zion includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. Everything in Zion takes life from the Virgin River, which is still forming the park through erosion, flooding, and landslides. The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes 9 formations that together represent 150 million years of sedimentation.
ARCHES
Arches National Park. Northwest of Moab. This 73,234-acre park is a wonderland of eroded sandstone fins, towers, ribs, gargoyles, hoodoos, balanced rocks, and, over 2,000 arches. Landscape Arch, spanning 290 feet is the longest arch in the world—and it’s only 7 feet thick! Arches Scenic Drive is easy to travel by car. Some of the largest arches are in the Windows Section. A self-guiding booklet is available at the Visitor Center, which should be your first stop.
ARCHES
Arches National Park. Northwest of Moab. This 73,234-acre park is a wonderland of eroded sandstone fins, towers, ribs, gargoyles, hoodoos, balanced rocks, and, over 2,000 arches. Landscape Arch, spanning 290 feet is the longest arch in the world—and it’s only 7 feet thick! Arches Scenic Drive is easy to travel by car. Some of the largest arches are in the Windows Section. A self-guiding booklet is available at the Visitor Center, which should be your first stop.
BRYCE CANYON
Bryce Canyon is not a single canyon, but a series of natural amphitheaters or bowls, carved into the edge of a high plateau. The most famous of these is the Bryce Amphitheater (pictured above), which is filled with irregularly eroded spires of rocks called hoodoos. The park is open all year, but we found winter especially picturesque with snow-striped spires.
CAPITOL REEF
Capitol Dome, a Navajo sandstone feature that resembles the US Capitol, and the nearly 100-mile long ‘Waterpocket Fold’ that looks like a barrier reef inspired the park’s name. The 242,000-acre park is designated as an international ‘Dark Sky Park’. The park is also famous for its orchards The orchards, with over 3000 trees, are two miles from the Visitor Center. Established in 1880, and now with over 3,000 trees, the orchards are preserved and protected as part of the Fruita Rural Historic Landscape listed on the National Register of Historic Places. https://www.nps.gov/care/learn/historyculture/orchards.htm
CANYONLANDS
Canyonlands National Park is 337,598 acres divided into four districts separated by the Green and Colorado rivers: The Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and the rivers themselves. Though they appear close on a map, there are no roads that directly link them. Travel between the districts by vehicle requires two to six hours as there are few places to cross the rivers. Canyonlands is near Capitol Reef and the Glen Canyon Recreation area. The park’s isolation and preponderance of backcountry make visiting a spectacular experience, but there are few visitor facilities and paved roads.
Utah is part of the Grand Circle, which encompasses 6 states—Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah—in the United States historic Southwest. The region includes Utah’s “Big Five” National Parks plus the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley (both in Arizona), Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado), and Valley of Fire state park in Nevada.
The 1.9 million-acre Monument’s size, resources, and remote character provide extraordinary opportunities for geologists, paleontologists, archeologists, historians, and biologists in scientific research, education, and exploration. There is no other place on earth that provides for study of over 250 million years in one setting. Spanning five life-zones – from low-lying desert to coniferous forest, the land is among the most remote in the country; it was the last to be mapped in the contiguous United States. Comprised of sedimentary rock layers, the “staircase” lies on the Colorado Plateau, which encompasses parts of Utah, Colorado (the largest), Arizona, and New Mexico. It sits on top of an underground salt bed. Thousands of feet thick in places, it was deposited 300 million (or more) years ago, when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated. Over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with residue from floods, winds, and oceans that came in intervals. Much of the debris was compressed into rock and colored by mineral deposits. At one time this overlying earth may have been 1 mile thick. Through natural erosion and weathering, sections of the outer layers faded away, leaving the spires, fins, buttes, arces, and hoodoos, which tell the geologic story of the Monument.
What to do, see, and explore in Utah
5 National Parks
• Zion National Park near Springdale
• Bryce Canyon National Park near Tropic
• Capitol Reef National Park and near Torrey
• Arches National Park near Moab
• Canyonlands National Park near Moab
8 National Monuments
• Bears Ears National Monument near San Juan County
• Cedar Breaks National Monument near Cedar City
• Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal
• Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near Kanab
• Hovenweep National Monument near Bluff
• Natural Bridges National Monument near Mexican Hat
• Rainbow Bridge National Monument near Page, Arizona
• Timpanogos Cave National Monument near Highland
2 Tribal Parks
• Monument Valley Tribal Park
• Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation
2 National Recreation areas
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Kane County, San Juan County, Garfield County
• Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Daggett County
1 National Historic Site
• Golden Spike National Historic Site near Brigham City
8 Scenic Byways
• Trail of the Ancients. Ancestral Puebloan history of the Four Corners.
• Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway. Moab to Vernal and Dinosaur in Colorado.
• Energy Loop: Huntington and Eccles Canyons over Wasatch Plateau from U.S. 6,
• All-American Road. Hwy 12 from Panguitch to Torrey. 119 mi/4+ hrs
• Flaming Gorge-Uintas.
• Zion. LaVerkin to the Park.
• Nebo Loop. FR15. Payson to Nephi.
• Logan Canyon. U.S. 89. Northern Utah to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone in Wyoming.
31 National Wilderness Areas
2 National Conservation Areas
18 National Recreation Trails
