St. George & Zion National Park

Sid Kaplan of Calgary, Canada’s Troy Media recently wrote an article about the trails of Zion National Park, calling the park a “walker’s paradise.” Kaplan specifically highlighted what seem to be the park’s two most famous hikes – the Zion Narrows and Angels Landing. The two hikes could not be more different. When hiking through the Zion Narrows, the trail is the Virgin River. The narrow canyon’s walls tower thousands of feet above hikers, providing a breathtaking bottom-up view.

In contrast, Angels Landing is one of the best top-down views in the park. The first two miles of the trail to Scout Lookout is a little strenuous, but doable. Many of its hikers describe the last half-mile, the ascent up to the viewpoint, as “freaky” for good reason. Sheer drop-offs face hikers along this stretch. Chains bolted to the rock provide hikers with one more thing to hold onto as they venture up the “freaky” portion. If neither of these hikes sounds appealing, Zion is also full of shorter, less strenuous hikes, including Weeping Rock, the Riverside Walk, and Canyon Overlook. Come visit to find your favorite trail in this “walker’s paradise!”

According to Travel Web site TripAdvisors travelers and editors, southern Utah’s Zion National Park is the best national park in the United States. Zion finished ahead of parks commonly referred to as the “crown jewels” of the National Park System, including Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (2nd) and Yosemite National Park in California (9th). For the complete top 10 list of best national parks, click here .

Zion National Park celebrates is 100th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion, the park will host a variety of events all year long. The William Howard Taft administration created Mukuntuweep National Monument on July 31, 1909. The name changed to Zion National Monument in 1918. A year later, it received national park status.

Utah’s most visited national park and southern Utah’s top tourist attraction, Zion will hold centennial events that will educate visitors about the park as well as its future. Centennial programs kick off with an art show in the Human History Museum March 1 – April 20. Events include juried photo and art exhibitions, a fun run, a walk through the 1.1-mile Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel, a park employee reunion, and more. The keystone event will be a 100th Anniversary Ceremony at a historic building in the Grotto picnic area on July 31. For more information about Zion’s centennial activities, visit the park website or read this recent Salt Lake Tribune article .

The 19th annual St. George Area Parade of Homes will start this Friday, February 13, and run until Sunday, February 22. The Parade of Homes boasts the latest in architectural designs and décor and is an excellent place to get ideas if you are building a home of your own in the near future. The event will display the latest in innovative building techniques, exquisite accents, diverse landscaping, and groundbreaking entertainment systems. This year, some of the homes incorporate green building philosophies. Over 100 exhibitors will be on hand in the homes’ garages to show off their latest home-building related products. The St. George, Utah area is an incomparable natural environment in which to exhibit these amazing homes, with its black rock and red rock cliffs and its backdrop of the snow-capped Pine Valley Mountains.

Tickets for the Parade of Homes are $12.50 per person and are available at Lin’s Market Service Desks throughout southern Utah and the center court of the Red Cliffs Mall. The ticket entitles its holder admittance into all 26 homes over the course the event.

It will require each visitor two days to tour every home at a comfortable pace since homes are located in many different locations throughout the St. George area. Visitors can choose to visit any number of homes in any order. Signs set up along roads assist visitors in finding each home. All tickets grant their holders reentry into any one home of their choice.

For more information about the Parade of Homes, visit its website .

“Hatching the Past,” an exhibit examining the phases of dinosaur development through embryos, nests and eggs collected from around the world is on display from now until August 31 at the Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. The exhibit, on lease from the Stone Co. of Boulder, Colorado, is the first outside exhibit shown at the museum in its four years of operation. Part of the exhibit will show visitors how to differentiate between ordinary rocks and dinosaur eggs. Most of the display’s eggs are from northern China – eggs of oviraptors, a feathered dinosaur that, ironically, liked to eat other dinosaur’s eggs. For more information on the exhibit, read this recent Salt Lake Tribune Article or visit the Dinosaur Discovery site website .

The St. George Winter Bird Festival kicks off its sixth year Thursday evening with presentations at the St. George BLM office. The four-day event runs through Sunday with most of the activities taking place at the Tonaquint Park and Nature Center on Dixie Drive in St. George. The event, for anyone interested in birding whether novice or expert, includes presentations by experts on a variety of subjects, including binoculars and scopes, bird photography, and specific species of birds such as the Southwest Willow Flycatcher. The event also includes a banquet on Saturday night, field trips to excellent bird watching areas and children’s activities, including building birdhouses and feeders! For specific information about the festival, visit its website .

St. George, Utah has been selected by Trip Advisor as the number one emerging hot-spot in the U.S. for 2009 - click on the link below to learn more. http://www.utahstgeorge.com/press.html

St. George has also been selected as a Baby Boomer Mecca. Click on this link to learn more. http://www.utahstgeorge.com/press.html

St. George Utah is the ideal location for a driveaway vacation in 2009. Several factors lead to this determination with nearby Las Vegas being one of the key reasons. Las Vegas is just over 1.5 hours drive from St. George and that makes it easy to fly to Las Vegas (one of America's least expensive flight hubs) and rent a car to begin your adventure in the St. George and Zion National Park region.

Los Angeles is just 6 hours away from St. George via car, and Phoenix is about 7 hours away from Zion National Park. Salt Lake City is just four hours away from Zion National Park or St. George, so you can pick your hub and easily make the transition to the scenic and outdoor adventure mecca of the St. George area.

St. George is well known for excellent golf with 12 courses, all within about 20 minutes of each-other. Mountain biking trails are everywhere and hiking trails are so abundant that you can usually find one with minutes, in any direction, no matter where you are.

Entertainment options are excellent with the Tuacahn Outdoor Amphitheater. www.tuacahn.org. Dining, shopping and all the activities you'd expect in a great vacation are found in the St. George and Zion National Park area.

Check out these other website for more information.

http://www.redrockgolftrail.com/
http://www.zioncountryactiontours.com/
http://www.atozion.com

While most of the rest of the state is covered in snow during the winter, Utah’s Dixie enjoys relatively little of the white stuff during the colder months, making it an ideal place for hiking in December, January and February. Zion National Park, Snow Canyon State Park, and the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve feature hikes ideal for winter hiking. In Zion, one of the best hikes in the winter is the Pa’rus Trail, a paved path that begins at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center and ends at Canyon Junction, where the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive intersects UT 9. The easy trail is ideal for all ages and is the only trail in the park that allows bikes. In a recent article in The Daily Spectrum , Brian Passey also recommends Snow Canyon’s Three Ponds Trail, which leads to natural potholes filled with seasonal water, and numerous trails in the Red Cliffs Desert Preserve as perfect paths for exploring in the winter.

Two top-notch annual events are coming to Utah’s Dixie soon – the Tuacahn Festival of Lights and the Dixie Rotary Bowl. Held Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday beginning the day after Thanksgiving and running until December 22, the Tuacahn Festival of Lights reminds its patrons of the true meaning of Christmas. The festival, held at the Tuacahn Amphitheater and Plaza features a Live Nativity, which reenacts Jesus Christ’s birth. Event goers can enjoy the lights, sip hot chocolate, visit with Santa Claus, ride a holiday train and shop at the Gift Gallery. For more information, visit the Tuacahn website .

The only NCAA bowl game in the state of Utah, the Dixie Rotary Bowl pits the top finishers from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. This year’s game will be held on Saturday, December 6 and feature the Colorado Mines Orediggers and the Western Washington Vikings. The event is more than just a football game, it also includes a golf tournament, a parade, a concert, a marching band competition, a banquet and a tailgate party. For more information, visit the Rotary Bowl website .