Zion National Park

Campgrounds are open year-round, as is the Zion Lodge, providing accommodations within the park. Between May and October temperatures frequently rise above 99°F/37°C, and there are often short, violent thunderstorms during the afternoon in July and August. The best times for a visit to the National Park, therefore, are spring and autumn.Situation and topographyZion National Park takes in the imposing canyons of the often tumultuous Virgin River, a tributary of the Colorado River, and its tributaries, which in the course of millions of years have carved their way through the horizontally bedded sandstones, limestones and slates of the Markagunt plateau, an offshoot of the Colorado Plateau, creating a magnificent landscape of sheer-walled gorges up to 3000ft/900m deep, mesas (isolated tablelands), rock domes and battlements, in a play of colors ranging from whitish-gray by way of orange and red to deep purple. The predominant coloring of the park is red, in many shades and tones: even the roads are rust-red. A number of Indian cultures (Basketmaker, Anasazi, Paiute) have left their traces in Zion Canyon. When the Mormons came here in 1858 they gave the valley and its most striking features the names they now bear, many of them Biblical.Flora and faunaCottonwood trees, juniper trees, piñon pine, ponderosa pine, golden aquilegias and maidenhair ferns are only a few of the many species of plants to be found in the National Park. The commonest animals are mule deer, and bighorn sheep are occasionally seen. Small bats flit about in the twilight. Frequent visitors to campgrounds and picnic sites are the comical ground squirrels.

Zion National Park Highlights