Bryce Canyon National Park. Geography and climate[edit] The national park lies within the Colorado Plateau geographic province of North America and straddles the southeastern edge of the Paunsagunt Plateau west of the Paunsagunt Fault (Paunsagunt is Paiute for "home of the beaver").[9] Park visitors arrive from the plateau part of the park and look over the plateau's edge toward a valley containing the fault and the Paria River just beyond it (Paria is Paiute for "muddy or elk water").
The edge of the Kaiparowits Plateau bounds the opposite side of the valley. History[edit] Native American habitation[edit] Little is known about early human habitation in the Bryce Canyon area. European American exploration and settlement[edit] It was not until the late 18th and the early 19th century that the first European Americans explored the remote and hard-to-reach area.[12] Mormon scouts visited the area in the 1850s to gauge its potential for agricultural development, use for grazing, and settlement.[12] Members of U.S. Grand Canyon National Park. Grand Canyon Visitor Center at South Rim.
Shuttle Bus for Kaibab Rim Route near Grand Canyon Visitor Center. Grand Canyon National Park is the United States' 15th oldest national park. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the park is located in Arizona. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The park covers 1,217,262 acres (1,902 sq mi; 4,926 km2) of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties. History[edit] Grand Canyon National Park was named as an official national park in 1919, but the landmark had been well known to Americans for over thirty years prior. Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and his strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated a national park.
The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement. Geography[edit] North Rim[edit] South Rim[edit] Services[edit] Lodging[edit] Death Valley National Park. A series of Native American groups inhabited the area from as early as 7000 BC, most recently the Timbisha around 1000 AD who migrated between winter camps in the valleys and summer grounds in the mountains. A group of European-Americans that became stuck in the valley in 1849 while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams. The valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies.
Tourism blossomed in the 1920s, when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Geographic setting[edit] There are two major valleys in the park, Death Valley and Panamint Valley. Desert and abandoned radiator water tank near Grapevine. Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Tree National Park on a 2003 Landsat image Joshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S.
National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act (Public Law 103-433), it had previously been a U.S. History[edit] The park was initially created as a National Monument on 10 August 1936, containing 825,000 acres, after Minerva Hoyt led activism aimed at persuading the state and federal governments at protecting the area.[4] The park was elevated to a National Park on 31 October 1994 by the Desert Protection Act, which also added 234,000 acres to the park.[5] Geography and botany[edit] Mojave Desert[edit] Colorado Desert[edit] Below 3,000 feet (910 m), the Colorado Desert encompasses the eastern part of the park and features habitats of Creosote bush scrub Ocotillo, desert Saltbush and mixed scrub including Yucca and Cholla cactus (Cylindropuntia bigelovii).
Geology[edit] Joshua Tree National Park; a typical view Hiking[edit] Yosemite National Park. The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks and remnants of older rock. About 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About 1 million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet (1,200 m) during the early glacial episode. History[edit] Ahwahneechee and the Mariposa Wars[edit] The California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century dramatically increased travel by European-Americans in the area, causing competition for resources between the regional Paiute and Miwok and the miners and hangers on.
Accounts from this battalion were the first well-documented reports of ethnic Europeans entering Yosemite Valley. Zion National Park. Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to half a mile (800 m) deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The lowest elevation is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest elevation is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain.
Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park's unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. Geography and climate[edit]