Savvy Sightseer - tips and insights for seasoned travelers!
South Rim
Go West! U. S. National Parks and Canyons
Whether just to admire the varied and stunning scenery or to challenge sheer walls by climbing or to bike/hike/meander, or whatever - our largely untouched National parklands and canyons can appeal to virtually everyone.
in Arizona we have one of the most famous canyons in the world – the Grand Canyon; the Navajo Nation is blessed with two incredible venues - Monument Valley and the very dramatic Antelope Slot Canyon; while Utah lays claim to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Each one is very different; all are inspirational and majestic.
Grand Canyon, Arizona
Just past the Grand Canyon Visitor Center is Mather Point - where most visitors get their first glimpse of the mighty natural wonder. It’s surreal to go from concrete and cars to this and a view spanning 10 miles without a car in sight.
For countless generations, Grand Canyon has been a residence and sacred space for 11 different tribes within the Southwest, some of which are more familiar names to us, such as: Navajo, Apache, Hopi, Paiute, Yavapai and Zuni.
For a sense of how native Indians lived on the edge of the canyon more than a 100 years ago, there’s the Hopi House, built in 1905 by female architect – a standout for the era – Mary Colter.
Just past the Grand Canyon Visitor Center is Mather Point - where most visitors get their first glimpse of the mighty natural wonder. It’s surreal to go from concrete and cars to this and a view spanning 10 miles without a car in sight.
Click on the picture above for a slideshow of the Grand Canyon and more information.
For 277 miles, the Colorado River etched contours of Grand Canyon, earning it a place among the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. At every turn a new aspect of the Canyon’s spirit is revealed. Unbelievably, in 1857 an Army Corps of Engineers leader declared the Canyon “altogether valueless,” a “profitless locality” that resembles a vast ruin. He added once you get there, there’s “nothing to do but leave.” He predicted it would “be forever unvisited and undisturbed."
He couldn't have been more wrong! Those who failed to appreciate what they saw, have a lot of crow to eat – far from worthless, the Canyon attracts some five million visitors a year, and reportedly generates nearly a half-million dollars in annual revenue.
Along with the great views, there's also a geology museum and Hopi House, a recreation of a typical tribal home in a 900-year-old North American Indian village.
Monument Valley, Navajo Nation
About 150 miles NE of Grand Canyon is Monument Valley, a 30,000-acre Navajo Tribal Park established in 1958 and located on the border of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The Navajos are believed to be the first group of people to establish themselves in the valley, roughly 1000 years ago.
Monument Valley is characterized by towering sandstone rock formations up to 1,000 feet tall. Sculpted over the millennia, they have earned the region acclaim from National Geographic for having the most famous collection of buttes in the world. Buttes are defined as “isolated hills with steep sides,” taller than they are wide, with a flat top. The Valley’s landscape is so striking it is said to be one of the most photographed places on earth, and frequently serves as the backdrop for Hollywood westerns and other films.
Despite being within the Navajo Nation, names of the Buttes are not derivatives of Indian terms; they are entirely from the fanciful minds of settlers, generally based on personal connections or how the look of the buttes struck them.
There’s a central hole in the roof which serves several purposes; one is for smoke from the fireplace to escape; another is more symbolic – it joins mother earth with father sky; there is no division between the two realms in the Navajo tradition.
Click on the picture above for a slideshow of the Monument Valley and more information.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
The vast array of irregular rock spires in Bryce are called "hoodoos.” Early residents, the Southern Paiutes’ name for today’s Bryce Amphitheater certainly captured the visual – it translates to: "Red Rock Standing Like a Man in a Hole.”
From different perspectives around the amphitheater, the view can be completely new.
Old Bryce Town, at the edge of Bryce Canyon National Park, sports a Main Street fashioned to provide an "authentic" Wild West feel.
The vast array of irregular rock spires in Bryce are called "hoodoos.” Early residents, the Southern Paiutes’ name for today’s Bryce Amphitheater certainly captured the visual – it translates to: "Red Rock Standing Like a Man in a Hole.”
Click on the picture above for a slideshow of Bryce and more information.
The first thing you should know about 36,000-acre Bryce Canyon is that it isn’t technically a canyon at all. It’s considered a collection of amphitheaters, or bowl-shaped areas. It got the erroneous name from a pioneer, Ebenezer Bryce, who’d settled here in 1870 to do some ranching and built a road into a canyon nearby, which everyone around then referred to as Bryce’s Canyon. What’s truly amazing about places like Bryce is why there are so many designated viewing points. It’s all the same amphitheater, but from each point, the view can be totally different due to the angles of how you see the rock formations and the way the light and shadows play across them. it’s a striking and colorful park that draws over 1.5 million visitors a year.
In 2019, Bryce Canyon National park officially gained "International Dark Sky" status. Bryce Canyon's high elevation, clean air, and remote location creates some of the darkest skies in the country. During a new Moon on a clear weather night, you can see thousands of stars and the spectacular band of the Milky Way Galaxy shooting across the sky.
Zion National Park, Utah
In contrast to Bryce, Zion National Park actually is a canyon. It is a deep and narrow gorge carved out by the Virgin River through southwestern Utah, stretching about 15 miles long and almost 3,000 feet deep in places. It is Utah’s oldest and most visited national park, annually hosting an average of 4.5 million visitors. That level of popularity eventually overwhelmed the park and drastic measures had to be taken; in 2000, Zion became the first national park to mandate shuttle transportation only during most of the year, ensuring there’s no traffic jams or blaring horns to interrupt the quiet pleasures of nature.
In the mid-1800s when Brigham Young, head of the Mormon Church, set out with some followers to avoid religious persecution and find a place that would be for them an “American Zion.” They stopped their search at a salt lake in a valley. One early settler remarked, “A man can worship God among these great cathedrals as well as in any man-made church – this is Zion.” And so it became known as that. Given the religious nature of the earliest settlers, it’s no surprise many of the massive peaks have been christened with names pulled from the Bible, like Temples, Towers of the Virgin and the Court of the Three Patriarchs, identified as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In 1851, Congress created the territory of Utah and installed Brigham Young as its first governor. In 1858, Young sent a missionary to explore the upper Virgin River region, and Nephi Johnson became the first white man to enter a magnificent canyon.
Unfortunately, given the recent drought, water levels were very low, and even the Virgin River going through the canyon was not very robust in 2022, but still a great spot to sit and relax.
A phenomena seen in various areas of Zion are gardens of ferns and flowers that cling to the sheer mountain walls. Unlike their soil-based cousins, they are able to establish themselves in rock where they thrive. These so-called Hanging or Weeping Gardens develop when water seeps in through the top sandstone layer and then, when it hits a hard rock layer, is diverted to flow horizontally along cracks until it oozes out of porous sandstone to nourish the shrubs.
In 1851, Congress created the territory of Utah and installed Brigham Young as its first governor. In 1858, Young sent a missionary to explore the upper Virgin River region, and Nephi Johnson became the first white man to enter a magnificent canyon.
Click on the picture above for a slideshow of Zion and more information.
The park bus travels along a nearly eight-mile route, stopping at nine key jumping off spots for various trailheads and views.The end of the shuttle line is the Temple of Sinawava, named not from the Bible but by a Union Pacific Rail Road public relations exec, as a tribute to the Southern Paiute Coyote god, in an attempt to enhance the park’s allure.
Antelope Canyon, Navajo Nation
A very different type of Slot Canyon is on the Navajo Nation’s land near Page, AZ and the Utah border. Upper Antelope Canyon was discovered in 1931 by Sue Tsosie, a Navajo girl then 12 years old, herding her sheep. The tribal name for the phenomena translates to “the place where the water flows through the rocks.” The Tribe considers the Canyon to be spiritual and sacred to the Navajo culture and way of life; they view it as a symbol of the gifts of Mother Nature, the passage of time, and the fact that there are things larger and greater than themselves. The forces of nature have pulsed through this canyon leaving beautiful swirling formations behind. Lit by sun poring in through the open top, walls – some 120’ tall - take on stunning shades of orange and yellow; pinks and greys.
Due to its importance to their heritage, the Tribe made Antelope Canyon a Navajo Tribal Park in 1997, and hikers cannot enter Upper or its sister, Lower Antelope Canyon, without being accompanied by a Navajo guide. Shaped by millions of years of water and wind erosion, these magnificent slot canyons are said to be the most photographed in world. Australian photographer Peter Lik achieved a place in art history when his monochrome Phantom sold for a record-breaking $6.5 million in late 2014!
Click on the pictures above for pop-ups and more information about Antelope Canyon.
For more details about amazing and awe-some Arizona, check out my video or in--person presentation through your local library or community center. For a listing of programs and places I'll be, check my Programs page.
