Lower Emerald Pools, Zion National Park

Postcard US-4032251 from Utah shows the Lower Emerald Pools, Zion National Park, Utah. A recent study by the Geological Society of America reports that a massive, violent landslide created Zion National Park 4800 years ago.

Triceratops at Las Vegas Natural History Museum

Postcard US-3916253 to Utah shows a Triceratops skeleton mounted at the Prehistoric Gallery in the Las Vegas Natural History Museum located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.

Triceratops, a term derived from the Greek with a meaning of "three-horned face", is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur that lived between 68 million years and 66 million years ago in what is now North America.

The private and non-profit museum, first opened on July 16, 1991, currently hosts Dinosaur Mummy CSI: Cretaceous Science Investigation, Engelstad Family Prehistoric Life Gallery, Treasures of Egypt, the International Wildlife Gallery, the Wild Nevada Gallery, the African Savanna Exhibit, and the Marine Life Gallery. It is currently participating in the Museums on US program, sponsored by Bank of America, which offers free admission to 150 museums in the US this weekend.

Goblin Valley State Park in Utah

Postcard DE-3022284 from Germany shows Goblin Valley State Park in Utah, USA. It is noted for thousands of hoodoos and hoodoo rocks, known to locally as “goblins”, which are formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some as high as several meters. Those distinct shaped rocks are results from an erosion-resistant layer on top of softer sandstone. The park is about 400 miles or 644 kilometers from Las Vegas.

Watchman in Dazzling Light with an Agate Sky

Zion National Park was established by the U.S. Congress ninety four years ago on November 19, 1919. Postcard US-2468722 to Latvia was a magazine cutout from the Desert Companion, October 2013 issue. It was promoting the Plein Air Art Invitational featuring an acrylic painting on canvas, titled "the Watchman in Dazzling Light with an Agate Sky" by artist Buffalo Kaplinski. The event was held from November 4 to November 11, 2013 with free lectures, demonstrations public painting sales.

Zion National Park

Postcard US-2387594 came from the neighboring Utah with a splendid view of the Zion National Park. The Park is famous for the 24 km long and 800 m deep Zion Canyon, formed by the Virgin River cutting through the reddish Navajo Sandstone. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the Park has many geological features such as mountains, rivers, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, and natural arches. The Park offers unique bio-diversity as it consists of four distinct habitats: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. It was designated as a National Park on November 19, 1919.

Zion National Park is about 258 km or 160 miles from Las Vegas. Therefore you can visit for a day trip by car. For overnight stays, Zion Lodge, operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, is located inside the Park. Other hotels are available in nearby Springdale, UT. For camping information, visit Campgrounds in Zion at the National Park Service's web site.

Petroglyph Panel at the Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument

Petroglyphs by Native Americans

Postcard US-2359303 is traveling to Canada. The petroglyph panel shown on the card is believed to be at least 1,200 years old. It is located at the Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument in Utah, formerly a State Park. Some suggest that the first carvings were made as old as 2,000 years ago, left by Native Americans from the Archaic, Anasazi, Fremont, Navajo, Anglo, and Pueblo cultures.

Newspaper Rock gained the "State Historical Monument" recognition in 1961. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Indian Creek State Park in 1976.

Mighty 5 in Utah

Might 5 in Utah

I received an envelop on Friday that contained a Might 5 postcard and a Might 5 decal from VisitUtah.com, where you can find information on how to visit FIVE iconic national parks in Utah in one trip. You can request your own copy from their Mighty 5 decal online order form.

View The Mighty 5 in a larger map

What can you do in  Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park? Check out this Youtube video to find out: