God's Mountain
8-8-06
Zion Canyon is named after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the hill upon which heaven was closest to earth in both Jewish and Muslim spirituality (and Christians are pretty fond of the place, too). From the first glimpse of the incredible sandstone monoliths that cram Zion National Park, I am on spiritual overload. These huge structures resemble thrones, altars, temples, cathedrals, palaces; and this is a park that is viewed primarily from the canyon floor, so the monoliths dwarf me as no clifftop visit could. Thousands of feet high, more massive than any human skyscraper, hundreds of millions of years in the making--this is why I come to Utah to recover my place in the universe. Awesome, ancient, incredibly beautiful, painstakingly crafted in tiny increments over a time span that is incomprehensible to the human mind by wind, rain, seeping water, gravity, and river--is there anything puny human beings have built that can even begin to compare? No wonder the Tower of Babel was considered such an act of hubris that God cursed humans with diverse tongues. How dare we even attempt engineering on this scale?
Enough sermonizing. We took a drive this morning, up through the tunnel to Checkerboard Mesa, and on the way, were able to recharge both the laptop and the camera. Sean has not, unfortunately, had the chance to do any more writing, but he'll have something up the next time I post. For now, here are some highlights:
Our first hike was along the Virgin River at the north end of the canyon, where we encountered a buck. On the way back, Sean posed atop a slab of sandstone.
At the top of the trail, we learned that the real glory of the river, the Narrows, involved river walking--something we were not equipped to do. Sean loved the idea of hiking in the river, though, so later in the afternoon, we returned with watersocks for him and old sneakers for me. Unfortunately, I soon discovered the sneakers offered inadequate support to me weak left ankle, as I stumbled from one submerged rock to the next. I stuck it out as long as I could--long enough to brave some shallow, but fiercely rushing, rapids, and to witness plenty of wonders, but nowhere near long enough for the Narrows to become....narrow. A passing couple told us they had been an hour farther upriver, to where the canyon was no more than eight feet wide.
We didn't make it that far, but we did witness a natural wonder: water seeping through the sandstone to create waterfalls. This water fell atop the mesa as many as 2500 years ago, and has only now emerged to give life to the hanging gardens that sprout from the rock face near the canyon floor.
As for our drive to Checkerboard Mesa and back--I can't do any of it justice. The greatest photographic challenge in Zion is knowing what pictures not to take. It's almost impossible to take a bad one here (unless you get part of your body in it, as happened with two of my better shots this morning): the incredible display of color, light, and shadow makes every picture a masterpiece. I'll include just one more for this post, taken from the East Canyon Overlook:
posted by Mark Anderson @ 12:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home