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Show .lIIiilliFOOI PATH IN IR PM i i The problem of development of Zion National Fark is as yet largely an engineering one. Zion differing as 'it does from most of the other nation-; nation-; al parks, in the fact that entrance to the park is made by way of the floor of the canyon and not by driving i over high plateaus and approaching from the rims as is the case in some of the other parks. In order that visitors may gain a knowledge of j what Zion National park really is, a system of trails and foot paths lead- ing to the most prominent points on both the east and west rims is being undertaken and pushed to completion comple-tion as fast as funds are available. The first path to receive consideration considera-tion was the Lady Mountain foot path, which was completed in September, Sep-tember, 192S, after many difficult, j problems both in engineering and j construction were met and overcome. 1 Lady Mountain, a bold pile of granite i and sandstone, is the highest acces-' acces-' sible point on the west rim and the I view from the top is well worth the j effort necessary to make the ascent, i To the north, rising pile on pile stand the mighty ranges of the Cedar and Kanarra mountains, flanked on either eith-er side by the Pink Cliffs, and before which, spread in all its rugged grandeur lies the great west side of Zion National park. To the sauth and east a panorama, unequaled for color and ruggedness as well as dist-tance, dist-tance, meets the view. On past Pipe Springs National monument, to Kanab, and on on to the beautiful Kiabab forest. The mighty Buckskin Buck-skin range that forms the backbone of the Kiabab plateau, looks from this distance to be a blue-black dere-j dere-j lict ship with broken mast and spars going down, stern foremost in a sea ! of gold and brown and blue sand. To the south and west the colors are much the same. It is possible with a good pair of glasses to follow the ! tortuous windings of the Virgin river ! from the time it leaves the park, on through Utah's Dixieland into Ariz- ona, and after joining with the slow I running sluggish Muddy river in Nevada, it makes one last wild ! plunge down Boulder canyon to join I tlio ftnlnrjirto nil it wnv frt (tin ftnlf And that's that. The trail itself is unique and will provide thrills a-plenty for even the most hardened mountain climbers. To ascend a mountain twenty five hundred feet in height by a trail distance dis-tance of seven thousand nine hundred hun-dred and twenty feet, requires an average grade of thirty one and one-half one-half per cent, were the going all of an even grade the climb would amount to nothing, but such is not the case,. In places stairways arc cut in the solid rock and to ascend and descend them without the hell) of the guard rail or cable requires a strong steady arm and foot as well as a cool head. Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Watkins, Jr., of Salt Lake City, were the first visitors to make the complete trip to the top. A day or so later the superintendent, 'making a trip of inspection, found a piece of paper that had been torn from a pocket memorandum book, fastened with wooden pegs to a tree that, stands on the highest point of the niounta'-' and the inscription read: "All .. who go farther, leave all hope l,el,:e J." As soon . . fends tire available a 1 shelter cai.n will be built, at this ! point, and . register placed within, so thai all .ho "leave all hope behind" may n. ice their names with a record of their experiences on the trip. |