Dates
Apr 15th - Apr 21st 2012
Service Project
Planting, weeding & trail maintenance 
Free Days
Hiking, exploring, photography, wildlife viewing, horse riding
Accommodations
Car and tent camping in designated campground
Trip Rating
Active : Bending, kneeling, lifting, lopping, digging, raking
Leaders
Richard Johnson
Ruth Rosenstein
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Massive canyon walls ascend toward a brilliant blue sky. To experience Zion, you need to walk among the towering cliffs, or challenge your courage in a small narrow canyon. These unique sandstone cliffs range in color from cream, to pink, to red. They could be described as sand castles crowning desert canyons. Zion's unique geographic location and variety of life zones combine to create a variety of habitats for a surprising array of plant and animal species including bighorn sheep and deer. Located on the Colorado Plateau, but bordering the Great Basin and Mojave Desert provinces, Zion is home to plants from each region.
In 1909, Zion Canyon was practically inaccessible to outside visitors; and while only a few had laid eyes on the towering cliffs, the country still understood its significance and established Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 2009, the National Park Service celebrated the nation's commitment to preservation and protection of these natural and cultural resources, providing visitor enjoyment in Zion National Park for 100 years. Evidence of ancestral puebloans date from 2,000 years ago; Paiutes from about 800 years ago to present. Mormon settlers arrived in the 1860s and planted orchards along the Virgin River towns of Springdale, Rockville and the now ghost town of Grafton.
Our service project is a mix of seasonal trail maintenance on popular Zion backcountry trails and native vegetation planting in the park greenhouse, where needed in the park, and possibly some invasive weed pulling. The trail project is mostly digging, raking, lopping, shoveling and generally clearing and stabilizing trails for the upcoming season. The greenhouse work involves planting and cultivating native desert plants for future use by park biologists. Participants will drive short distances to the project sites daily from our base camp in either Park Service vehicles or personal vehicles. We'll be camping in The Watchman group site. It has bathrooms, wash sinks and running water.
Check out more photos from previous year's Zion NP projects in our gallery.
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