1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Utah
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Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U. S. on January 4,1896, Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million, approximately 80% of whom live along the Wasatch Front, Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast, approximately 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS, which greatly influences Utahn culture and daily life. The LDS Churchs world headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church. The state is a center of transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, in 2013, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated that Utah had the second fastest-growing population of any state. St. George was the metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah also has the 14th highest median income and the least income inequality of any U. S. state. A2012 Gallup national survey found Utah overall to be the best state to live in based on 13 forward-looking measurements including various economic, lifestyle, the name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe. It means people of the mountains in the Ute language, according to other sources Utah is derived from the Apache name Yudah which means Tall. These Native American tribes are subgroups of the Ute-Aztec Native American ethnicity and were sedentary, the Ancestral Pueblo people built their homes through excavations in mountains, and the Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo, settled in the region around the 18th century, in the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute, the Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Ute people, also settled in the region. These five groups were present when the first European explorers arrived, the southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cíbola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California, the expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in the region, but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature, in 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California. European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada, the city of Provo, Utah was named for one, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah was named after Peter Skene Ogden, in late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake. Due to the salinity of its waters, Bridger thought he had found the Pacific Ocean
3.
State park
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State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use state as a political subdivision. State parks are established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U. S. state, some of the Mexican states, the term is also used in the Australian state of Victoria. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies. State parks are thus similar to parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, in general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. As of 2014, there were 10,234 state park units in the United States, there are some 739 million annual visits to the countrys state parks. The NASPD further counts over 43,000 miles of trail,217,367 campsites, many states include designations beyond state park in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state recreation areas, state beaches, some state park systems include long-distance trails and historic sites. The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by Niagara Falls State Park in New York, however several public parks previously or currently maintained at the state level pre-date it. Indian Springs State Park has been operated continuously by the state of Georgia as a park since 1825. In 1864 Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were ceded by the government to California until Yosemite National Park was proclaimed in 1890. In 1878 Wisconsin set aside a vast swath of its forests as The State Park but, needing money. The first state park with the designation of state park was Mackinac Island State Park in 1895, list of U. S. state parks National Association of State Park Directors Wilderness preservation systems in the United States Ahlgren, Carol. The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development, the State Park Movement in America, A Critical Review excerpt and text search Larson, Zeb. Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement, oregon Historical Quarterly 112#1 pp, 34-57 in JSTOR Newton, Norman T. When Forests Trumped Parks, The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950, Maryland Historical Magazine 101#2 pp, 203-224
4.
Fremont culture
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In the Navajo culture the pictographs are credited to people who lived before the flood. The Fremont River itself is named for John Charles Frémont, an American explorer and it inhabited sites in what is now Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from AD1 to 1300. It was adjacent to, roughly contemporaneous with, but distinctly different from the Ancestral Pueblo peoples located to their south, Fremont Indian State Park in the Clear Creek Canyon area in south-central Utah contains the biggest Fremont culture site in Utah. Thousand-year-old pit houses, petroglyphs, and other Fremont artifacts were discovered at Range Creek, nearby Nine Mile Canyon has long been known for its large collection of Fremont rock art. Other sites are found in The San Rafael Swell, Capitol Reef National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Zion National Park, first, Fremont culture people foraged wild food sources and grew corn. The culture participated in a continuum of fairly reliable subsistence strategies that no doubt varied from place to place, other unifying characteristics include the manufacture of relatively expedient gray ware pottery and a signature style of basketry and rock art. Most of the Fremont lived in single and extended family units comprising villages ranging from two to a dozen pithouse structures, with only a few having been occupied at any one time. The Fremont are sometimes thought to have begun as a group of the Ancestral Pueblo people. According to archaelogist Dean Snow, Fremont people generally wore moccasins like their Great Basin ancestors rather than sandals like the Ancestral Puebloans and they were part-time farmers who lived in scattered semi-sedentary farmsteads and small villages, never entirely giving up traditional hunting and gathering for more risky full-time farming. Snow notes that Fremont culture declined due to changing climate conditions c.950 CE, the culture moved to the then-marshy areas of northwestern Utah, which sustained them for about 400 years. Traces of Fremont, Society and Rock Art in Ancient Utah, text by Steven R. Simms, photographs by Francois Gohier. ISBN 978-1-60781-011-7 Snow, Dean R. Archaeology of Native North America, video on Fremont culture- Scientific American Frontiers
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Interstate 70
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Interstate 70 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah to I-695 near Baltimore, Maryland. I-70 approximately traces the path of U. S. Route 40 east of the Rocky Mountains, West of the Rockies, the route of I-70 was derived from multiple sources. The Interstate runs through or near major cities, including Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh. The sections of the interstate in Missouri and Kansas have laid claim to be the first interstate in the United States. The construction of I-70 in Colorado and Utah is considered an engineering marvel as the passes through the Eisenhower Tunnel, Glenwood Canyon. The Eisenhower Tunnel is the highest point along the Interstate Highway system with an elevation of 11,158 ft. Interstate 70 begins at an interchange with Interstate 15 near Cove Fort. Upon leaving the valley near Salina, I-70 crosses 7,923 ft Salina Summit, prior to the construction of I-70, the swell was inaccessible via paved roads and relatively undiscovered. It also became the longest piece of highway to be opened at one time. Although opened in 1970, this section was not formally complete until 1990, since I-70s construction, the swell has been noted for its desolate beauty. The swell has since been nominated for National Park and/or National Monument status on multiple occasions, if the swell is granted this status it arguably would be the first time a National Park owes its existence to an interstate highway. Most of the exits in this span are rest areas, brake check areas, I-70 exits the swell near Green River. From Green River to the Colorado state line, I-70 follows the edge of the Book Cliffs. Entering from Utah, I-70 descends into the Grand Valley where it meets the Colorado River, here I-70 serves the Grand Junction metro area before traversing more mountainous terrain. The last section of I-70 to be completed was the 15-mile Glenwood Canyon, construction was delayed for many years due to environmental concerns. Much of the highway is elevated above the Colorado River, the speed limit in this section is 50 mph due to the limited sight distance and sharp corners. The Eisenhower–Johnson Memorial Tunnel, the highest vehicular tunnel in North America, because of the rugged and narrow terrain of the Rocky Mountains, I-70 is one of few roads connecting Colorados ski resorts with Denver. Descending through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the Denver skyline can be seen on a clear day. This can fool truckers and other unsuspecting drivers because there is still over 10 miles of steep grade road before reaching the city, a series of signs warns truckers of the steep grade
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Hunter-gatherer
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A hunter-gatherer is a human living in a society in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, in contrast to agricultural societies, which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was humanitys first and most successful adaptation, occupying at least 90 percent of human history, following the invention of agriculture, hunter-gatherers who did not change have been displaced or conquered by farming or pastoralist groups in most parts of the world. Only a few contemporary societies are classified as hunter-gatherers, and many supplement their activity with horticulture and/or keeping animals. In the 1970s, Lewis Binford suggested that humans were obtaining food via scavenging. Early humans in the Lower Paleolithic lived in forests and woodlands, which allowed them to collect seafood, eggs, nuts, and fruits besides scavenging. Rather than killing large animals for meat, according to this view and this hypothesis does not necessarily contradict the scavenging hypothesis, both subsistence strategies could have been in use – sequentially, alternating or even simultaneously. It remained the only mode of subsistence until the end of the Mesolithic period some 10,000 years ago and this specialization of work also involved creating specialized tools such as, fishing nets, hooks, and bone harpoons. The transition into the subsequent Neolithic period is defined by the unprecedented development of nascent agricultural practices. Agriculture originated and spread in different areas including the Middle East, Asia, Mesoamerica. Forest gardening was also being used as a production system in various parts of the world over this period. Forest gardens originated in prehistoric times along jungle-clad river banks and in the wet foothills of monsoon regions, in the gradual process of families improving their immediate environment, useful tree and vine species were identified, protected and improved, whilst undesirable species were eliminated. Eventually superior introduced species were selected and incorporated into the gardens, many groups continued their hunter-gatherer ways of life, although their numbers have continually declined, partly as a result of pressure from growing agricultural and pastoral communities. Many of them reside in the world, either in arid regions or tropical forests. Areas that were available to hunter-gatherers were—and continue to be—encroached upon by the settlements of agriculturalists. In the resulting competition for use, hunter-gatherer societies either adopted these practices or moved to other areas. In addition, Jared Diamond has blamed a decline in the availability of wild foods, as the number and size of agricultural societies increased, they expanded into lands traditionally used by hunter-gatherers. As a result of the now near-universal human reliance upon agriculture, archaeologists can use evidence such as stone tool use to track hunter-gatherer activities, including mobility. Most hunter-gatherers are nomadic or semi-nomadic and live in temporary settlements, mobile communities typically construct shelters using impermanent building materials, or they may use natural rock shelters, where they are available
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Ancestral Puebloans
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The Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara Tradition, who developed from the Picosa culture. They lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, the Ancestral Puebloans possessed a complex network that stretched across the Colorado Plateau linking hundreds of communities and population centers. They held a distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that found form in their architecture, the kiva, a congregational space that was used chiefly for ceremonial purposes, was an integral part of this ancient peoples community structure. In contemporary times, the people and their culture were referred to as Anasazi for historical purposes. The Navajo, who were not their descendants, called them by this term, reflecting historic traditions, the term was used to mean ancient enemies. Contemporary Puebloans do not want this term used, archaeologists continue to debate when this distinct culture emerged. The current agreement, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence around the 12th century BC, beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers identified Ancestral Puebloans as the forerunners of contemporary Pueblo peoples. Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in the United States are credited to the Pueblos, Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Taos Pueblo. Pueblo, which means village in Spanish, was a term originating with the Spanish explorers who used it to refer to the particular style of dwelling. The Navajo now use the term in the sense of referring to ancient people or ancient ones, Hopi people used the term Hisatsinom, meaning ancient people, to describe the Ancestral Puebloans. The Ancestral Puebloans were one of four major prehistoric archaeological traditions recognized in the American Southwest and this area is sometimes referred to as Oasisamerica in the region defining pre-Columbian southwestern North America. The others are the Mogollon, Hohokam, and Patayan, in relation to neighboring cultures, the Ancestral Puebloans occupied the northeast quadrant of the area. The Ancestral Puebloan homeland centers on the Colorado Plateau, but extends from central New Mexico on the east to southern Nevada on the west. Structures and other evidence of Ancestral Puebloan culture has been found extending east onto the American Great Plains, in areas near the Cimarron and Pecos Rivers, terrain and resources within this large region vary greatly. The plateau regions have high elevations ranging from 4,500 to 8,500 feet, extensive horizontal mesas are capped by sedimentary formations and support woodlands of junipers, pinon, and ponderosa pines, each favoring different elevations. Wind and water erosion have created steep-walled canyons, and sculpted windows, in areas where resistant strata, such as sandstone or limestone, overlie more easily eroded strata such as shale, rock overhangs formed. The Ancestral Puebloans favored building under such overhangs for shelters and defensive building sites, all areas of the Ancestral Puebloan homeland suffered from periods of drought, and wind and water erosion. Summer rains could be unreliable and often arrived as destructive thunderstorms, while the amount of winter snowfall varied greatly, the Ancestral Puebloans depended on the snow for most of their water
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Arches National Park
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Arches National Park is a US National Park in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River,4 miles north of Moab and it is home to over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations. It contains the highest density of natural arches in the world, the park consists of 76,679 acres of high desert located in the Colorado Plateau. Its highest elevation is 5,653 feet at Elephant Butte, forty-three arches are known to have collapsed since 1977. The park receives on average 10 inches of rain a year, administered by the National Park Service, the area was originally named a National Monument on April 12,1929. It was redesignated as a National Park on November 12,1971, over millions of years, the salt bed was covered with debris eroded from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the northeast. During the Early Jurassic desert conditions prevailed in the region and the vast Navajo Sandstone was deposited, an additional sequence of stream laid and windblown sediments, the Entrada Sandstone, was deposited on top of the Navajo. Over 5,000 feet of sediments were deposited and have been mostly eroded away. Remnants of the cover exist in the area including exposures of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale, the arches of the area are developed mostly within the Entrada formation. The weight of this caused the salt bed below it to liquefy. The evaporites of the area formed more unusual salt anticlines or linear regions of uplift, faulting occurred and whole sections of rock subsided into the areas between the domes. In some places, they turned almost on edge, the result of one such 2, 500-foot displacement, the Moab Fault, is seen from the visitor center. As this subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape, erosion removed the rock layers from the surface. Except for isolated remnants, the formations visible in the park today are the salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone, in which most of the arches form. These are visible in layer cake fashion throughout most of the park, over time, water seeped into the surface cracks, joints, and folds of these layers. Ice formed in the fissures, expanding and putting pressure on surrounding rock, breaking off bits, winds later cleaned out the loose particles. A series of free-standing fins remained, wind and water attacked these fins until, in some, the cementing material gave way and chunks of rock tumbled out. Others, with the degree of hardness and balance, survived despite their missing sections
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Bryce Canyon National Park
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Bryce Canyon National Park /ˈbraɪs/ is a National Park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors, Bryce sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet, the Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon became a National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a National Park in 1928, the park covers 35,835 acres and receives substantially fewer visitors than Zion National Park or Grand Canyon National Park, largely due to Bryces more remote location. In 2016, Bryce Canyon received 2,365,110 recreational visitors, Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southwestern Utah about 50 miles northeast of and 1,000 feet higher than Zion National Park. The weather in Bryce Canyon is therefore cooler, and the park receives more precipitation, yearly temperatures vary from an average minimum of 9 °F in January to an average maximum of 83 °F in July, but extreme temperatures can range from −30 to 97 °F. The record high temperature in the park was 98 °F on July 14,2002, the record low temperature was −28 °F on December 10,1972. The national park lies within the Colorado Plateau geographic province of North America, Park visitors arrive from the plateau part of the park and look over the plateaus edge toward a valley containing the fault and the Paria River just beyond it. The edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau bounds the opposite side of the valley, Bryce Canyon was not formed from erosion initiated from a central stream, meaning it technically is not a canyon. Instead headward erosion has excavated large amphitheater-shaped features in the Cenozoic-aged rocks of the Paunsaugunt Plateau and this erosion exposed delicate and colorful pinnacles called hoodoos that are up to 200 feet high. A series of amphitheaters extends more than 20 miles north-to-south within the park, the largest is Bryce Amphitheater, which is 12 miles long,3 miles wide and 800 feet deep. A nearby example of amphitheaters with hoodoos in the formation but at a higher elevation, is in Cedar Breaks National Monument. Rainbow Point, the highest part of the park at 9,105 feet, is at the end of the 18-mile scenic drive, from there, Aquarius Plateau, Bryce Amphitheater, the Henry Mountains, the Vermilion Cliffs and the White Cliffs can be seen. Yellow Creek, where it exits the park in the north-east section, is the lowest part of the park at 6,620 feet, little is known about early human habitation in the Bryce Canyon area. Archaeological surveys of Bryce Canyon National Park and the Paunsaugunt Plateau show that people have been in the area for at least 10,000 years, basketmaker Anasazi artifacts several thousand years old have been found south of the park. Other artifacts from the Pueblo-period Anasazi and the Fremont culture have also been found, the Paiute Indians moved into the surrounding valleys and plateaus in the area around the same time that the other cultures left. These Native Americans hunted and gathered for most of their food, the Paiute in the area developed a mythology surrounding the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon
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Canyonlands National Park
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Canyonlands National Park is a U. S. National Park located in southeastern Utah near the town of Moab. It preserves a colorful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas, and buttes by the Colorado River, the Green River, legislation creating the park was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on September 12,1964. The park is divided into four districts, the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, while these areas share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character. Author Edward Abbey, a frequent visitor, described the Canyonlands as the most weird, wonderful, Canyonlands is a popular recreational destination. Since 2007, more than 400,000 people have visited the park each year with a record of 776,218 visitors in 2016, the geography of the park is well suited to a number of different recreational uses. Hikers, mountain bikers, backpackers, and four-wheelers all enjoy traveling the rugged, the White Rim Road traverses the White Rim Sandstone level of the park between the rivers and the Island in the Sky. Since 2015, day-use permits must be obtained before travelling on the White Rim Road due to the popularity of driving and bicycling along it. The park services intent is to provide a wilderness experience for all visitors while minimizing impacts on the natural surroundings. Rafters and kayakers float the calm stretches of the Green River, below the Confluence, Cataract Canyon contains powerful whitewater rapids, similar to those found in the Grand Canyon. However, since there is no large impoundment on the Colorado River above Canyonlands National Park, river flow through the Confluence is determined by snowmelt, not management. As a result, and in combination with Cataract Canyons unique graben geology, as of 2016, the Island in the Sky district, with its proximity to the Moab, Utah area, attracts 76.7 percent of total park visitors. The Needles district is the second most visited, drawing 20.7 percent of visitors, the remote Maze district accounts for only about 1.5 percent of visitors, while river rafters and other river users account for the remaining 1.1 percent of total park visitation. Political compromise at the time of the parks creation limited the area to an arbitrary portion of the Canyonlands basin. Conservationists hope to complete the park by bringing the boundaries up to the high sandstone rims that form the border of the Canyonlands landscape. The Colorado River and Green River combine within the park dividing it into three districts called the Island in the Sky, the Needles and the Maze, the Colorado River flows through Cataract Canyon below its confluence with the Green River. The area was home of the Ancestral Puebloans, of which many traces can be found. Although the items and tools used have been largely taken away by looters, some of their stone. The Ancestral Puebloans also left traces in the form of petroglyphs, the Maze district is located west of the Colorado and Green rivers, and is the least accessible section of the park, and one of the most remote and inaccessible areas of the United States
11.
Capitol Reef National Park
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Capitol Reef National Park is a United States National Park, in south-central Utah. The park is approximately 60 miles long on its north–south axis, the park was established in 1971 to preserve 241,904 acres of desert landscape and is open all year with May through September being the highest visitation months. Located partially in Wayne County, Utah, the area was originally named Wayne Wonderland in the 1920s by local boosters Ephraim P. Pectol, easy road access only came in 1962 with the construction of State Route 24 through the Fremont River Canyon. The majority of the nearly 100 mi long up-thrust formation called the Waterpocket Fold—a rocky spine extending from Thousand Lake Mountain to Lake Powell—is preserved within the park, Capitol Reef is the name of an especially rugged and spectacular segment of the Waterpocket Fold by the Fremont River. The local word reef refers to any rocky barrier to land travel, Capitol Reef encompasses the Waterpocket Fold, a warp in the earths crust that is 65 million years old. It is the largest exposed monocline in North America, in this fold, newer and older layers of earth folded over each other in an S-shape. This warp, probably caused by the same colliding continental plates that created the Rocky Mountains, has weathered and eroded over millennia to expose layers of rock, the park is filled with brilliantly colored sandstone cliffs, gleaming white domes, and contrasting layers of stone and earth. The fold forms a barrier that even today has barely been breached by roads. Early settlers referred to parallel, impassable ridges as reefs, from which the park gets the half of its name. The first paved road was constructed through the area in 1962, today, State Route 24 cuts through the park traveling east and west between Canyonlands National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, but few other paved roads invade the rugged landscape. The park is filled with canyons, cliffs, towers, domes, the Fremont River has cut canyons through parts of the Waterpocket Fold, but most of the park is arid desert country. A scenic drive shows park visitors some of the highlights, hundreds of miles of trails and unpaved roads lead the more adventurous into the equally scenic backcountry. Fremont culture Native Americans lived near the perennial Fremont River in the part of the Capitol Reef Waterpocket Fold around the year 1000. They irrigated crops of lentils, maize, and squash and stored their grain in stone granaries, in the 13th century, all of the Native American cultures in this area underwent sudden change, likely due to a long drought. The Fremont settlements and fields were abandoned, many years after the Fremont left, Paiutes moved into the area. These Numic speaking people named the Fremont granaries moki huts and thought they were the homes of a race of people or moki. In 1872 Alan H. Thompson, an attached to United States Army Major John Wesley Powells expedition. Geologist Clarence Dutton later spent several summers studying the areas geology, none of these expeditions explored the Waterpocket Fold to any great extent, however
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Zion National Park
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Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. The lowest elevation is 3,666 ft at Coalpits Wash, located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the parks unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds,75 mammals, and 32 reptiles inhabit the parks four life zones, desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans, the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Anasazi stem from one of these groups. In turn, the Virgin Anasazi culture developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities, a different group, the Parowan Fremont, lived in the area as well. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits, Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s. In 1909 the President of the United States, William Howard Taft, named the area a National Monument to protect the canyon, under the name of Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1918, however, the director of the newly created National Park Service changed the parks name to Zion. According to historian Hal Rothman, The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time, many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience, the United States Congress established the monument as a National Park on November 19,1919. The Kolob section was proclaimed a separate Zion National Monument in 1937, the geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine formations that together represent 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation. At various periods in that warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet starting 13 million years ago, the park is located in southwestern Utah in Washington, Iron and Kane counties. Geomorphically, it is located on the Markagunt and Kolob plateaus, the northern part of the park is known as the Kolob Canyons section and is accessible from Interstate 15, exit 40. The 8, 726-foot summit of Horse Ranch Mountain is the highest point in the park, streams in the area take rectangular paths because they follow jointing planes in the rocks. The stream gradient of the Virgin River, whose North Fork flows through Zion Canyon in the park, the road into Zion Canyon is 6 miles long, ending at the Temple of Sinawava. At the Temple the canyon narrows and a foot-trail continues to the mouth of the Zion Narrows, the Zion Canyon road is served by a free shuttle bus from early April to late October and by private vehicles the other months of the year. Other roads in Zion are open to private vehicles year-round, the east side of the park is served by Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, which passes through the Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel and ends at Mount Carmel
United States
Utah
Media related to Fremont Indian State Park at Wikimedia Commons