Approaching Zion National Park

Cottonwood Trees, Cliffs - Utah  2016

Concerning This Property - Utah  2016

Fun fact: Zion National Park was initially established as Mukuntuweap National Monument (by President Taft, in 1909). (I'm getting this from Wikipedia.)

Continuing on with our story:

In 1918, however, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service changed the park's name to Zion, the name used by the Mormons. 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."

A prevalent bias of the time! I'm sure that that wouldn't happen today.

Driving through the increasingly spectacular scenery towards the park, one expects the park entrance to be just around the corner. But it isn't. As I've noted before, the total area encompassed by the park is disappointingly small.