Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Zion is also home to a great variety of animals, drawn here in large part by
the year-round water source. Indigenous mammals range from pocket gophers to
mountain lions; you'll also spy hundreds of birds, lizards of all shapes and sizes,
and a dozen species of snakes. (Only the Great Basin rattlesnake is poisonous, and
it usually slithers away from you faster than you can run from it.) Mule deer are
commonly observed grazing along the forest edges, and practically every park vis-
itor comes across squirrels and chipmunks. A few elk and bighorn sheep may sur-
face, although they're seldom seen. Among the creatures unique to the park is the
tiny Zion snail. See chapter 10 for more details on the flora and fauna of the parks.
Impressions
Nothing can exceed the wondrous beauty of Zion . . . in the nobility and beauty of the sculptures,
there is no comparison.
—Geologist Clarence Dutton, 1880
Of course, it's not only plants and animals that need water. For some 1,500 years,
humans have come here seeking not only water but also the plants and animals
that the water nurtures. There is evidence that a group of people, known as the
Basket Makers, lived here as early as a.d. 500, hunting the area's wildlife, gather-
ing berries and seeds, and growing corn, squash, and other crops. They apparently
abandoned the area about a.d. 1200, perhaps because of climate changes. Mem-
bers of the American Indian Paiute tribe—whose descendants still live in southern
Utah—are believed to have spent time in what is now the national park, but built
no permanent homes. Spanish explorers were in the area in the late 18th century,
and American fur traders came in the early 19th century, but there is no evidence
that either actually entered what is now Zion Canyon National Park proper.
Historians believe that it was not until the 1850s that European-Americans fi-
nally ventured into Zion Canyon. Probably the first was pioneer Nephi Johnson,
who was shown Zion Canyon by Paiutes in November 1858, and for whom Johnson
Mountain is named. He was among a group of members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) that was sent from Salt Lake
City by church leader Brigham Young in search of arable land. By the early 1860s,
the Mormons had begun to establish farms and ranches in the area, near where
Zion Lodge is located today and at other locations in what is now the national
park. It was early Mormon settler Isaac Behunin who is credited with naming his
homestead “Little Zion” because it seemed to him to be a bit of heaven on earth.
In the 1870s, Major John Wesley Powell explored the area, describing Angels
Landing, Court of the Patriarchs, and some of the park's other now-famous land-
marks in his journals. At about the same time, surveyor G. K. Gilbert was mapping
