Green canyons, red cliffs, blue skies: Zion’s colors can stop in your tracks. Water enables greens rare amidst otherwise desert landscape. Visible or not, water forcefully shapes these stalwart walls. Trickling falls summon emerald growth in nooks and crannies. Sculpted evidence testifies to the carving of red slot canyons. Winter’s icy-blue snow-melt feeds anew the rushing, scouring river torrents of spring.  Almost 12,000 years ago Zion’s first peoples, who are now almost invisible, tracked mammoths, giant sloth, and camel across southern Utah. Due the climate change and overhunting these animals died out about 8,000 years ago. In 1860s, just after settlement by Mormon pioneers, John Wesley Powell visited Zion of the first scientific exploration of southern Utah.

Everything in Zion takes life from the Virgin River’s scarce desert waters. Water flows, and solid rock melts into cliffs and towers. The Vermilion, White, and pink cliffs are part of the Grand Staircase, the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  Landscape changes as canyon deepen to create forested highlands and lowland deserts. A ribbon of green marks the river’s course as diverse plants and animals take shelter and thrive in this canyon oasis. From the beginning people sought this place, this sanctuary in the desert’s dry reaches. The very name Zion, a Hebrew word for refuge, evokes its significance.

Zion’s nature multiplies with each slope, aspect, and soil type, with each minute change in precipitation or temperature. Add to these influences species from nearby ecosystems, Zion becomes an assemblage of plants, and thus of animals, found nowhere else exactly like this. This unlikely desert harbors a mosaic of environments, each fine-tuned to place. Zion is alive with movement, a river of life always here and always changing.

Park elevations range from 3,600 to 8,700 feet and provide vastly different environments. Fir pine and aspen prefer snowy high-country winters, while pinon, cliffrose, and mesquite flourish in the desert’s heat. This national park is beautiful but not pristine. Research shows that 150 years of farming, grazing, and recreation changed Zion’s environment. Exotic species like tamarisk and cheat grass replace native willow and native grasses. It is the mission of the National Park Service to provide sanctuary for and reinvigorate Zion’s remaining diversity. Although most park species are not unusual and much has changed, these unique assemblages create and sustain the relevance and sanctity of this wondrous place called Zion.

Be prepared and plan well
• Plan your trip. Choose trails that are without your ability.
• Falls cause most injuries and deaths at Zion.
• Carry and drink 2l of water per person per day.
• Wear a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.
• Know the weather before you go. Distant storms can cause flash floods. When in doubt, stay out!
• Cell phones don’t work in most areas and don’t make you invincible.
• Your safety is your responsibility.

Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and un-motorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider. It allows you to own an aircraft that doesn’t require an expensive hangar or special pilot license. ?his is a very extreme experience. Hang gliding is one of the most exciting solutions for most people. You will have the unique sensation of flying, surrounded by beautiful mountains and beaches.

The training needed to get you flying solo is minimal. The basic techniques of hang gliding – launching, turning, and landing – are fairly easy to learn. The Health and Safety Executive says you have a one in 116,000 chance of dying during a hang-gliding flight. To put it in perspective, that’s roughly twice as dangerous as scuba diving.

There are plenty of spots to hang glide located all over the world. Utah is one of the places in the United States that features some of the best places to hang glide. For magnificent natural beauty nothing beats the Swiss Alps. New Zealand and Britain have their own associations, as do many other countries.

The hot geothermal springs inside a large rock dome are the Utah’s version of tropical dive sites. The natural cavern is shaped like an hourglass and offers opportunity to scuba enthusiasts. The dive center is accessed only by tunnel, leading to the crater. The Homestead Crater is 18 m wide with a depth 20m deep. It’s a Utah’s largest hot tub where the water’s temperature is a balmy 35°C.

The crater is the only warm water scuba diving destination in the continental U.S. and it attracts many diving enthusiasts. The crater is open year round. Diving rates are $20 Monday through Friday, and $25 weekends. Scuba and snorkeling lessons and equipment rentals are available.

About 10 miles south of the Great Salt Lake in the desert outside Grantsville, Utah, thousand of fish live in the murky saltwater at Bonneville Seabase, which is an independent experiment in marine biology. Seabase has an end-of-the-earth feeling, with no noise and little life and it’s open to snorkelers and scuba diver.

The entrance of Bonneville Seabase.

Seabase consists of three pools open for diving that receive water naturally from the ancient salt beds of prehistoric Lake Bonneville, which once covered the region.

A school of minnows feed on the banks of one of the saltwater bays.

Divers participate in an apple-bobbing contest. Local residents make up most of Seabase’s 1,500 to 2,000 annual visitors, including regulars from area dive clubs and people seeking scuba certification before trips to Cozumel or the Caribbean.

Moab is a tiny Utah town, where dipping green valleys and great red rocks piercing the wide blue sky. While you’re sipping coffee on the Main Street, you will surrounded safely by the Wild Canyonlands National Park and the surrealism of Arches National Park.

Even if you look at a thousand of images of the Arch (like those ones), but nothing gives you for the real deal. At the park take the mile-and-a-half hike up and hit the landscape just beforethe  sun goes down.

Hmmm it’s not California, but when you’re hungry enough swing by La Hacienda a townie favourite, for a tasty pair of fried fish tacos. Then at the Moab Adventure Center you can drive a Tomcar, haah, an off-road vehicle developed by the Israeli Army.

Like most small towns, Moab has main street with pretty cute character. Start your walk with an iced coffee ($180) and a fish slice of quiche. For a good lesson on local topography, check out the area at the Museum of Moab. In the 70’s Moab has been known as the mountainbiking capital of the world.  The town of Moab is 235-miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

Utah is very appropriate place to find fast water. In the San Juan Mountains, the Animas River snakes along the Utah-Arizona border before pouring into Lake Powell. The river also follows the northern border of the Navajo reservation and shares much of the worthy red-rock scenery.

Today a dozen of rafters float the river between April and Octomber and thousands of camera- clicking tourists shoot them. In April, the river was clocking along at 4, 600 cubic feet per second. This makes the river one of the greatest hits album of southern Utah’s attractions.

Years ago some of the river’s first visitors were trappers and Mormon missionaries. After them were the gold seekers. As many as 200 gold miners a day swooped in during the 1890s, but the river’s fine-grain gold was too hard to collect. A few years later, geological expeditions scouted the river for a good spot to dam. Hardly Times!

You can bring the kitchen sink on a raft trip, because there is so much time for cooking and eating. Days on the river are windy but warm, with temperatures in the 70s. The water is as cold as the Atlantic in early summer. At night in the desert, the temperature plummets; in April, nighttime lows can reach freezing.

A three-day trip with Wild Rivers Expeditions (101 Main Street; Bluff, Utah; 800-422-7654;) costs $686 for adults and $584 for children age 12 and under.

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake, or its initials, S.L.C. It was originally known as Great Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City Public Library is a system of free public libraries. There are six locations: the main library downtown, the Anderson-Foothill branch, the Chapman branch in Glendale, the Day-Riverside branch in Rose Park, the Sprague branch in Sugar House, and the Corrine & Jack Sweet branch in the Avenues.

This 200,000-square-foot facility is part of an ambitious program by the library to double its space for collections, establish a landmark in the city’s civic core, and create a lively interactive public space currently missing in the downtown area. The new library features a triangular main building, adjacent rectangular administration building, glass-enclosed “urban room”, and public piazza. The new Salt Lake City Library is a splendid addition to the downtown area, and it has won several architecture awards. The gradually rising outer wall is both striking and functional, housing a study area, which is connected to the main building by walkways over the atrium. Also highly functional is the raised access floor covered with modular carpet. The library’s underground parking facility can be accessed by turning mid-block from eastbound 400 South. Parking in this facility is free for the first half-hour, then 75 cents per half-hour after that.
Natural light is introduced into all of the spaces where people sit and work. Infused with light from all sides, the library has paid careful attention to ensure that library materials and technology are not affected by direct sunlight. The clear glass on the lens of the triangle has the highest UV rating available for energy efficiency.

Library patrons expressed the desire for even more from the City Library collections - a request that challenged the library to provide more depth and enlarge both the scope and breadth of the collections. For the past three years, collection development librarians have selected and acquired more than 80,000 new items. This brings the collection size for the new Main Library close to 500,000 items and the total library system collection to 750,000. Library materials now include not only books, but audio cassettes, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, and CD-Roms, in addition to visual materials such as art prints and slides. The technology center and training lab offer 42 computer stations with Internet access; an additional 121 Internet computers are located throughout the building. The computers in the technology center have been partially provided through a Gates grant, and staff is available to assist users as they write papers, work on resumes, and develop computer skills.

Set against a stunning backdrop of monumental red rock formations and desert mesas, Sorrel River Ranch Resort presents a prime location not only for nature lovers but for anyone in search of a remote respite to revive the spirit and calm the senses. Travel through the astounding landscape around the resort and you may think you have been there before, on horseback with John Wayne in some of his greatest movies. It still offers adventure…you can ride trails on horseback or by 4×4. You can raft down the Colorado River, or explore Arches National Park, or simply gasp at the awesome red cliffs. At night, the shooting stars are countless! On its verdant oasis, you live in cabin-style luxury suites with rustic wood furniture, traditional fireplaces, wooden deck porches and huge log-built beds. The cuisine is a generous mix of traditional ranch food with Continental and Oriental variations. The oasis theme climaxes with a stunning Spa offering all kinds of holistic treatments and focused therapies. But one feature of the Ranch is still true to its roots…you can’t bring your pets here, but they will stable your horse! Southern Utah’s only AAA Four Diamond resort, the ranch occupies 240 acres along the Colorado River.

ACTIVITIES

More info you can find here.

Snowbird:

* 85 runs, 2500 skiable acres
* 29 miles from airport, in Little Cottonwood Canyon
* small slopeside pedestrian village
* look for Kids Ski Free deals
* Mining Camp fun park
* combined Alta-Snowbird pass gives skiers 4700 acres
* many programs for kids including nursery and child and youth night-time programs
* condo lodging
* flagship accommodation: Cliff Lodge & Spa

Alta

* skiers-only!
* 115 runs, 2200 acres
* 33 miles from the airport
* handful of lodges, condos, restaurants
* ski into neighboring Snowbird (with the right pass)
* ski school, day care, Children’s Ski Adventure Center

Brighton:

* 66 runs, 1050 acres
* 35 miles from airport, at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon
* combined Sol-Bright pass adds Solitude resort
* popular with teens and ‘boarders
* known for terrain parks
* voted #1 for Child/Family Friendly Terrain by local parenting magazine
* skiiing, boarding, any day, all season: kids under 10 ski free
* many lessons available, including Kinder Lessons for ages 4 to 7
* affordable slopeside Brighton Lodge has 20 rooms

Solitude:

* 64 runs, 1200 acres
* 28 miles from the airport, in Big Cottonwood Canyon
* Ski School with kids’ programs
* attractive “village” has ski-in, ski-out condos and inn, restaurants, grocery store, ice-rink, Club Solitude club-house with heated outdoor pool and whirlpools, theatre that shows family movies, games rooms, and lounge

The Canyons:

* Utah’s largest ski and snowboard resort has 152 runs, 3700 skiable acres, 8 mountains
* 33 miles from SLC airport, 4 miles from Park City’s historic Main Street
* kids programs include all-day daycare for ages 2-3 with 1 hour lesson
* teen clinics, terrain park clinics
* slopeside Grand Summit Resort Hotel is a AAA Four Diamond-rated property with outdoor heated pool, gourmet dining, etc. Nearby “ruggedly elegant” Sundial Lodge has rooftop hot tub, outdoor heated pool, lodgings from studios to multi-bedroom condominiums. Both offer ski-free packages.
* surrounding village has food, shops

Park City Mountain Resort:

* so close to Park City that “Town Lift” is actually in the historic part of town
* over 104 runs, 3300 skiable acres, 6-pack lifts
* 37 miles from SLC airport
* Fast Tracks passes skip lineups, and are free w/ 4+ multi-day tickets
* 4 terrain parks, Olympic Superpipe
* Kids Mountain School
* many services, & lodging options

Deer Valley:

* 90 runs, 1750 acres
* chic skiers-only spot with top-of-the-line services
* 36 miles to airport
* childrens’ ski programs, age 3 and up; teen ski programs; child care, 2 months to 12 yrs. old
* Tricks n’ Turns (TNT) terrain park for family fun, with features for novices

The seven ski spots around Salt Lake City are so close that if you want a low-cost mega-snow vacation can stay in a motel in Salt Lake City (as low as $39) and ski / snowboard at a different spot each day. More information about each one of the resorts you can find here.

The 6 million year old Grand Canyon is made up of buttes, plateaus and mesas that cover two billion year old igneous and metamorphic rock.t This Northern Arizona national park has earned its rightful place as one of the “seven wonders of the world.” As one of our most popular national parks, the Grand Canyon is host to about four million local and international visitors each year. Due to the remote location of the North Rim, only a tenth of those visitors will see this magnificent section of the park.

Nature has not rested in Arizona, but has instead spent millions of years working, carving and etching a masterpiece. The river has created a vast canyon deep in the earth, layered with evidence of its handiwork. The Colorado River has cut deep through rocks that are billions of years old, creating the depth of the canyon, and hinting at a history rich of fossils and rock for us to interpret. The vast width of the Grand Canyon was created through weathering, erosion and tributary streams. Uplift, erosion, submergence and lithification has worked together to create the massive and impressive —- Grand Canyon.

Nankoweap, site of ancient Indian ruins, becomes the campsite for the night. After a dinner of halibut, black beans and rice, salad and cherry cobbler, you take an evening hike through the ruins to view the river below. You sit and share stories while some of your rafting companions drift away to find their sleeping bags.

The Grand Canyon Tour Company has been serving Las Vegas visitors since 1982. The Grand Canyon Tour Company has experienced staff who help tourists get where they want to go on first class tours at discount prices.

Over one hundred Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and other Las Vegas area tours are available by bus, helicopter, train, airplane, rafting and more…

The prices on The Grand Canyon Tour Company website are the prices the traveller pays, making on-line reservations easy.

The Grand Canyon Tour Company does not charge the traveller’s credit card until the day of travel. No hidden fuel or airport surcharges, national park entry fees, or extra fee add-ons.