In the Temple of Sinawava
This wide-angle shot, looking just south of east, gives a partial sense of the huge scale of one of the great spectacles of Zion National Park in Utah.
The Temple is the massive amphitheatre that unofficially marks the beginning of the Virgin River canyon (behind my left shoulder in relation to the image above).
Sheer rusty-red and chocolate brown cliffs rise high into the sky, seemingly never-ending like some of the world's tallest skyscrapers. At my location in the car park I was at an altitude of 1,347m above sea level, whilst that peak at the top of the image tops out at 1,983m.
Picturesque waterfalls like the one in the centre of the image tumble gently into a deep pool below and extensive hanging gardens of lush green foliage and brightly coloured flowers hang from varied levels and crevices, making it seem almost too good to be true.
The light green-coloured Virgin River, which has carved this out, can be seen in the very lower right of the image between the signpost and, further left, a seated man.
Whilst the geology seems stable and everlasting, it is not! In 1995 a landslide involving an estimated 25,000 tonnes of rock occurred several miles further down the valley from here. It trapped the river, which rose 30 feet behind the temporary dam. 430 people were trapped for over 24 hours before a temporary road was created to let them out.
And yet that landslide came from the debris field of a much, much bigger landslide some 4,800 years ago. The debris from that landslide is estimated to have been 3,000m long, 1,000m wide and up to 200m deep! It blocked the valley for 700 years, creating an extensive lake that included the area seen above.
The park and many of its features have names based in Christianity, courtesy of a Methodist minister in 1916 (or a Mormon minister from some time earlier, depending on which story you prefer). But Sinawava was a beneficent wolf god of the Paiute Indians who looked upon the canyon with superstition - to them it was filled with spirits and gods, good and bad, and they seldom let darkness catch them still between the canyon walls. I can well understand where they were coming from!
In the Temple of Sinawava
This wide-angle shot, looking just south of east, gives a partial sense of the huge scale of one of the great spectacles of Zion National Park in Utah.
The Temple is the massive amphitheatre that unofficially marks the beginning of the Virgin River canyon (behind my left shoulder in relation to the image above).
Sheer rusty-red and chocolate brown cliffs rise high into the sky, seemingly never-ending like some of the world's tallest skyscrapers. At my location in the car park I was at an altitude of 1,347m above sea level, whilst that peak at the top of the image tops out at 1,983m.
Picturesque waterfalls like the one in the centre of the image tumble gently into a deep pool below and extensive hanging gardens of lush green foliage and brightly coloured flowers hang from varied levels and crevices, making it seem almost too good to be true.
The light green-coloured Virgin River, which has carved this out, can be seen in the very lower right of the image between the signpost and, further left, a seated man.
Whilst the geology seems stable and everlasting, it is not! In 1995 a landslide involving an estimated 25,000 tonnes of rock occurred several miles further down the valley from here. It trapped the river, which rose 30 feet behind the temporary dam. 430 people were trapped for over 24 hours before a temporary road was created to let them out.
And yet that landslide came from the debris field of a much, much bigger landslide some 4,800 years ago. The debris from that landslide is estimated to have been 3,000m long, 1,000m wide and up to 200m deep! It blocked the valley for 700 years, creating an extensive lake that included the area seen above.
The park and many of its features have names based in Christianity, courtesy of a Methodist minister in 1916 (or a Mormon minister from some time earlier, depending on which story you prefer). But Sinawava was a beneficent wolf god of the Paiute Indians who looked upon the canyon with superstition - to them it was filled with spirits and gods, good and bad, and they seldom let darkness catch them still between the canyon walls. I can well understand where they were coming from!