Highway 9: Visitors entering Zion National Park from the east travel Utah Highway 9, (Zion-Mt. Carmel Byway). This short 24-mile drive takes travelers through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Tunnel: The Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel was considered an engineering marvel when constructed in the 1920s. The tunnel stretches 1.1 miles on Highway 9 within Zion National Park. The tunnel was blasted through sandstone rock formations to complete the Highway 9 entrance to the park. The roadway opened in 1930. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
A visit to Zion National Park in Utah is always very special but not until you approach the park from the eastern side do you begin to see just how special this national park is.
If you approach the park from the east you will pass through Mt. Carmel, Utah and begin the 24-mile drive on Utah Highwy 9 to Zion National Park. The park is extraordinary in many ways, but this Post will feature the drive along Highway 9 and the eastern entrance to the park.
Zion National Park is considered a geological wonderland and the wonderland begins along the Zion-Mt. Carmel Byway (Highway 9) before you even enter the park. This drive is short in distance but huge in jaw-dropping views and an amazing landscape that is some of the most unique and amazing in the world.
While Zion became a National Park in 1919, Utah Highway 9 was not completed until 1930. One of the engineering marvels of this roadway is the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel, which was picked and blasted through sandstone to complete the highway. The tunnel is 1.1 miles long that span the landscape transitions from rolling mesas of the Upper East Canyon to massive verticle towers of the walls and peaks of Zion Canyon.
After drivers pass through the tunnel, the road begins a series of switch-backs as it drops in elevation almost 1,000 feet to the Zion Canyon floor.
Southern Utah is one of my favorite travel destinations and Zion is one of five national parks in this state. All five parks are spectacular in different ways but one common feature is the beautiful red rock landscape throughout the region.
Zion National Park is the most rugged and dramatic of the five parks and the east entrance along the Zion-Mt. Carmel Byway is a grand introduction to this specatular national park.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Geological Wonderland: Zion National Park is considered a geological wonderland. It is easy for visitors to see why as they enter the park on Utah Highway 9. The rock formations create some of the most unique and amazing landscape anywhere. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Checkerboard: Checkerboard Mesa is one of the unique areas in Zion’s eastern region. The freezing and thawing of water along with wind have created this criss-crossed pattern on the rock formation hence its name of Checkerboard Mesa. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Slick Rock: Layers of deposits over millions of years created the slick rock mesas and domes scattered through eastern Zion. These colorful formations give way to steep canyon walls and peaks as visitors drop almost 1,000 feet in elevation into Zion Canyon. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Up Close: An up close view reveals the amazing layers and colorful patterns that have been created over the eons at Zion National Park. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Traffic: Zion National Park is one of the most visited national parks and the traffic often confirms the crowded roadways. Shown are travelers in stop and go traffic near the Zion National Park East Entrance. Being stuck in a traffic jam is no fun but when it happens on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Byway there are no better views to see anywhere. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com