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National Parks &
Monuments
National Parks
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National
Park Service Map of Utah
Find information about Utah's National Parks using this
interactive map provided by the National Park Service. |
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Arches
National Park
Arches National Park features over two thousand natural sandstone arches, including
world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources
and formations. The extraordinary features of the park, including balanced rocks,
fins and pinnacles, are highlighted by a striking environment of contrasting
colors, landforms and textures. |
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Bryce
Canyon National Park
At Bryce Canyon National Park, erosion has shaped colorful Claron limestones,
sandstones, and mudstones into thousands of spires, fins, pinnacles, and mazes.
Collectively called "hoodoos," these colorful and whimsical formations
stand in horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters along the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt
Plateau in Southern Utah. |
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Canyonlands
National Park
Canyonlands National Park preserves a colorful landscape of sedimentary sandstones
eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River and its
tributaries. The Colorado and Green rivers divide the park into four districts:
the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the rivers themselves. While
the districts share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character
and offers different opportunities for exploration and learning. |
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Capitol
Reef National Park
The Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth's crust known as a
monocline, extends from nearby Thousand Lakes Mountain to the Colorado River
(now Lake Powell). Capitol Reef National Park was established to protect this
grand and colorful geologic feature, as well as the unique historical and cultural
history found in the area. |
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Zion
National Park
Zion is an ancient Hebrew word meaning a place of refuge or sanctuary. Protected
within the park's 229 square miles is a dramatic landscape of sculptured canyons
and soaring cliffs. Zion is located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau,
Great Basin and Mojave Desert provinces. This unique geography and the variety
of life zones within the park make Zion significant as a place of unusual plant
and animal diversity. |
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National Monuments
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Cedar
Breaks National Monument
A huge natural amphitheater has been eroded out of the variegated Pink Cliffs
(Claron Formation) near Cedar City, Utah. Millions of years of sedimentation,
uplift and erosion have created a deep canyon of rock walls, fins, spires and
columns, that spans some three miles, and is over 2,000 feet deep. The rim of
the canyon is over 10,000 feet above sea level, and is forested with islands
of Englemann spruce, subalpine fir and aspen; separated by broad meadows of brilliant
summertime wild flowers. |
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Dinosaur
National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument protects a large deposit of fossil dinosaur bones
discovered in 1909 named as a national monument by President Woodrow Wilson in
1915. The rock layer containing the fossil bones forms one wall of the Quarry
Visitor Center where paleontologists have carefully chipped away the rock to
uncover the bones and leave them in place. |
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Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument extends across 1.9 million acres
of Utah public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, representing a
unique combination of archaeological, historical, paleontological, geological,
and biological resources. The monument is divided into three distinct regions:
the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante. |
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Hovenweep
National Monument
Hovenweep National Monument protects five prehistoric, Puebloan-era villages
spread over a twenty-mile expanse of mesa tops and canyons along the Utah-Colorado
border. Multi-storied towers perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders
lead visitors to marvel at the skill and motivation of their builders. |
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Natural
Bridges National Monument
Natural Bridges protects some of the finest examples of ancient stone architecture
in the southwest. Located on a tree-covered mesa cut by deep sandstone canyons,
three natural bridges formed where meandering streams eroded the canyon walls.
The bridges are named Kachina, Owachomo and Sipapu. |
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Rainbow
Bridge National Monument
Rainbow Bridge is the world's largest natural bridge. The span has undoubtedly
inspired people throughout time – from the neighboring American Indian
tribes who consider Rainbow Bridge sacred, to the 300,000 people from around
the world who visit it each year. |
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Timpanogos
Cave National Monument
Timpanogos Cave National Monument sits high in the Wasatch Mountains. The cave
system consists of three spectacularly decorated caverns. Each cavern has unique
colors and formations. Helictites and anthodites are just a few of the many dazzling
formations to be found in the many chambers. As visitors climb to the cave entrance,
on a hike gaining over 1,000 feet in elevation, they are offered incredible views
of American Fork Canyon. |
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National Historic Site
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Golden
Spike National Historic Site
Completion of the world's first transcontinental railroad was celebrated here
where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met on May 10, 1869. Golden
Spike was designated as a national historic site in nonfederal ownership on April
2, 1957, and authorized for federal ownership and administration by an act of
Congress on July 30, 1965. |
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National Recreation Area
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Glen
Canyon National Recreation Area
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area offers unparalleled opportunities for water-based & backcountry
recreation. The recreation area stretches for hundreds of miles from Lees Ferry
in Arizona to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah, encompassing scenic vistas,
geologic wonders, and a panorama of human history. The park offers opportunities
for boating, fishing, swimming, backcountry hiking and four-wheel drive trips. |
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National Historic Trails
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Mormon
Pioneer National Historic Trail
Led by Brigham Young, roughly 70,000 Mormons traveled along the Mormon Pioneer
Trail from 1846 to 1869 in order to escape religious persecution. The general
route is from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Salt Lake City, Utah, covering about 1,300
miles. The Mormon Pioneer Trail travels through five states over both public
and private land. |
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Pony
Express National Historic Trail
The Pony Express National Historic Trail was used by young men on fast paced
horses to carry the nation's mail across the country, from St. Joseph, Missouri
to Sacramento, California, in the unprecedented time of only ten days. Organized
by private entrepreneurs, the horse-and-rider relay system became the nation's
most direct and practical means of east-west communications before the telegraph. |
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California
National Historic Trail
The California Trail carried over 200,000 gold-seekers and farmers to the gold
fields and rich farmlands of California during the 1840's and 1850's, the greatest
mass migration in American history. Today, more than 1,000 miles of trail ruts
and traces can still be seen, reminders of the sacrifices, struggles, and triumphs
of early American travelers and settlers. The trail passes through the states
of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon,
and California. |
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