Guide To Zion National Park

Above, Checkerboard Mesa at Zion National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

My first visit to Zion National Park was in August 1969 with my parents. We camped in an umbrella tent that was my grandfather's at the Watchman Campground. It was there we heard on the radio of the Sharon Tate murders in L.A.

Back in those days, there were no crowds and getting a campsite in the park wasn't difficult.

USA Today has posted a guide to Zion National Park as part of their yearlong series on national parks.

They begin it with:

It’s no secret. Zion National Park is one of America’s most spectacular national parks.

It’s also one of the most popular, coming in second or third in visitation each year in recent years, according to National Park Service numbers. And it’s easy to see why.

“Zion National Park encompasses some of the most scenic canyon country in the United States,” said Jorge Hernandez, education supervisor at Zion.

Unlike the Grand Canyon, which most visitors approach at rim level, visitors begin exploring Zion from the canyon floor.

“You look up, and you see these massive Navajo Sandstone cliffs on either side of you. And as you start going into the canyon, you start to see those walls becoming narrower and narrower, which I think is really fascinating,” Hernandez said. “Also, Zion National Park is located in the juncture of the Colorado Plateau, the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin ecoregions, and that creates a very unique environment for a variety of lifeforms and ecosystems here at Zion. Zion also preserves a plethora of human history.”

Here’s what else travelers should know about visiting Zion, the final park in USA TODAY’s yearlong series.

To read more, go here.