Beaver County News | 1927-07-15 | Page 11 | Ceber Breaks, ''the Battlements of the Gods,'' and Zion Canyon, ''Land of Majestic Crags and Temples''

. - - - -' ' ..- r' i , , si ' 3" Courtesy Zion Studio "The Habitate of the Godsd," Cedar Breaks. Cedar Breaks, "The Battlements of the Gods' and Zion Canyon, "Land of Majestic Crags and Temples" MYRTLE DECKER JANSON Former Head of the English Department, Branch Agricultural College "We gaze and turn away, and know not where, Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart Reels with its fullness; there for ever there Chained to the chariot of triumphal Art, We stand as captives, and would not depart." LORD BYRON. Cedar Breaks and Zion National Park are the outstanding scenic resources re-sources of this section of the country. They furnish places of recreation and inspiration holy places where we come nearer God not only for us, but also for the tourists of the entire nation. The;e natural wonders together togeth-er with Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, Kaibab Forest, For-est, and the mountain views between these points, constitute the grandest scenic tour America affords. Cedar Breaks, only twenty-three miles from Cdar City by an excellent turnpike road leading through the majestic ma-jestic gorges of Coal Creek canyon, is the highest of Utah's gorgeously colored amphitheatres. In fact, it is a series of seven great amphitheatres eroded to a depth of 2,000 feet into the Pink Cliff formation of Blowhard mountain. The rim of this highly tinted abvss stands at an elevation of 10,300 feet. At a little distance to the north, the volcanic crest of Brian Head rises to a height of 11,200 feet, affording afford-ing a vast panorama of most of southern south-ern Utah, Nevada, and Northern Arizona. This blazing chasm is reached through groves of aspens and forests of stately pines and firs, without warning. warn-ing. The contrast between the green mountains and the gigantic fiery furnace apparently in the bowels of the earth, is to many over-whelming. Men as well as women have sobbed like babies at the breath-taking flame of color that flashed into their eyes from the myraids of fantastic shapes of the colossal pit at their feet. Cedar Breaks displays a wilder, loftier beauty on a much vaster scale than Bryee canyon, though the .two amphitheatres resemble each other in general outline, coloring, and a sandstone sand-stone formation. Both are masterpieces master-pieces of the marvelous sculptor and architect, erosion. Both are monstrous mon-strous abysmal basins with serrated floors and millions of grotesque architectural archi-tectural designs. But Cedar Breaks is carved on larger proportions; it lacks the lacy fretwork, the intricate maze of architecture, the limitless labyrinths labyrin-ths and grottos of Bryce, but exhibits more terraces, with precipitous alluvial allu-vial fans at the base, more massive Gothic walls, and Egyptian Sphynx-like Sphynx-like statues. At present comparatively few viewers view-ers of the Breaks follow a guide down the uncertain trails of the scalloped slopes into the midst of the columns, corridors, painted buttresses, colonnades, colon-nades, natural bridges, stairways, organs, or-gans, alabaster shrines, altars, sculptured sculp-tured figures of fauns, satyrs, eagles, lions. Christian martyrs, Gothic cathedrals, ca-thedrals, and Grecian temples. Only a trip to the bottom can impress one with the full immensity, variety, and grandeur of the Cedar Breaks. But to me the most inspiring views are seen from Point Perfection and Point Supreme of the rim from which the out-flung bastions, buttresses, towers parapets and craggy spires are not lost in the symphony of color the delightful de-lightful pink and white of the terraces mingled with tints of orange, yellow, lavender, purple, ivory, ruby and vermilion ver-milion in all their intermediate shadings. shad-ings. One is reminded of ancient Greece and Rome by the glorified temples tem-ples . and acropolises moldering in rosy marbled ruins. Cedar Breaks, with its glorious panorama pan-orama stretching down through Ash-down Ash-down gorge. Coal Creek canyon, and across the desert to the westward, with the erotoscnie wildness of its etchings as the setting sun warms the various figures into living, glowing fantasy of peerless color, is a vision that chains us to "triumphal Art; we stand captives and would not depart." On the homeward journey front the Breaks, only two or three miles west of Midway where the mountain dugway decends the Markagnut plateau pla-teau is unfolded the most magnificent panaroma of the entire tour of Cedar mountains. It is the inimitable bird's eye view of the entire Dixie country, extending to he hazy purple peaks beyond be-yond the Colorado river. A precipitous drop of about 2,000 feet down the heavily wooded mountain moun-tain side would bring an adventurous hiker to a wide sweep of terraced plateau covered with aspens, pines, and firs. Beyond is the Kolob plateau from the green forests of which blaze forth the white and pink topped temples tem-ples and towers of Zion, the grand West Temple or Steamboat Mountain dominating the scene. Beyond the fiery tops of Little Zion are barely discernible the white, pink and vermilion ver-milion cliffs, the misty arch of Kaibab, and the mazy dome of Navajo mountain moun-tain the other side of the Colorado. People from the east particularly are astounded at the immense range of visibility in this arid, terraced, plateau region; it is one of . the strong attractions at-tractions of Western sight-seeing. Though it is a glorious panorama, a bird's-eye view of Zion canyon at the distance of twenty-five miles by air, is only a stimulation to the highway high-way sixty-four miles from Cedar City. , No wonder the early settlers of Utah gave the name of Zion to the majestic crags and the temples of the Mukuntuweap. No one can step within with-in the portals of Guardian Angel pass without feeling the presence of his Maker. Mukuntuweap, according to one of the translations by Major Powell, means "place of the gods" so that even the Indians reverenced Little Zion canyon as sacred ground, and placed their sacrifices of fruit and flesh at the foot of thj sacred crags of the darkly crimson temple of Sin-awana. Sin-awana. No Indians would spend the night in the shadows of its darkening towers. Gigantic soaring scraps with the biblical titles of Court of the Patriarchs, Patri-archs, Angels' Landing, Altar of Sacrifice, Sac-rifice, Great White Thorne, the Great Organ, East Temple, West Temple, to gether with the hallowed peace, religious reli-gious serenity, and superb natural grandeur of the canyon, impress us more convincingly than any church ritual can, with the power and sublimity su-blimity of God. The enormous towers and temples of Zion canyon have been chiseled by the Mukuntuweap river (the north fork of the Virgin river) from the Kolob Ko-lob plateau through more than 3,000 feet of jurassic standstone of the white and vermilion cliffs and into Tie lower beds of mauve sandstone and purple and maroon shales. Most of the cliffs stand from two to three thousand feet above the river bottom, and many stand alone as individual gigantic buttes of surpassing beauty j and majesty. Among these, at the great bend of the river and across the canyon from Angles' Landing, stands the most massive and imperial of the entire group, the Great White Throne. True to its royal title, it stands crowned with white which catches all the diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, topazes, emeralds, and garnets the sun's brilliance can bedeck it with. Every hour of the day flashes new gems of color, and light and shade, over the ivory surface of this regal dome. The lower portion of his unscalable, colossal butte is a deep red or maroon. Angles' Landing across the stream to the north, is the delight of all hikers hik-ers who enter Zion. It is easily accessible ac-cessible by means of an excellent horse trail from camp t'i within a few rods of the landing itself. The narrow neck of cliff with perpendicular walls descending de-scending to the river bottom on both sui s of the narrow trail leads to the di"y Angels' Landing giving the zest of adventure to those who love dangerous dan-gerous heights. From this isolated point is obtained a glorious panorama of the surrounding cliffs of vermilion, ivory, pink, and buff, and the beautiful beauti-ful river bottom green with aspens junipers, and cottonwoods. The same trail leading to Angels' Landing turns to the north and extends ex-tends a mile or two farther to the West rim, from which one can look down on Angels' Landing as a comparatively com-paratively small peak. From this altitude the canyon assumes the wierd foreign atmosphere of a strange land of giants living in solemn dragon's blood towers and mosques and worshipping wor-shipping in their white-capped and pink tinted temples. The high pinnacles, pin-nacles, the deep gorges are awe-inspiring, and with the general effort of the glorious panorama with its ever-shifting ever-shifting color and light effects, the spectacle is not only enchanting, but sublime. Those who are sure footed and not inclined to dizziness on perilous, heights, may enjoy the hike up Lady mountain more than any other, but I prefer the four-mile tramp to the East rim. The wide horse trail enables en-ables us to climb and drink in the incomparable in-comparable beauty at the same time. The great chasm 3,000 feet below with its tiny serpentine river bordered in green, takes our breath as we wind around the dizzy curves of the highest accessible point along the gorge. The scenery every step of the long climb is marvelous from the narrow rock walled tiny gorge we pass through near the bottom of the trail to the winding, breath-taking dugways at the top of the world. The ox-blood gorges open tKeir dragon throats and perpendicular rock temples loom into space with awe-inspiring awe-inspiring dignity. The main gorge yawns deeper than from the West rim and a larger panorama is visible. The river itself sparkles for twelve miles, winding its delicate course like a blue ribbon joining dazzling gems of ruby, amethyst, garnet, topaz, and bloodstone, blood-stone, as one after another of Zion's temples assume these various colors in their myriads of tints and Mendings. Mend-ings. Like a great emerald brooch, the trees of Springdale decorate the throat of Little Zion. Words are futile in expressing the magic of this most impressive, most inspiring view I ever beheld. People who ride into Zion and straight out again as many do, are likely to be disappointed, for the beauty beau-ty of Zion canyon is like the beauty of great art or great literature. It must be lived; it must be seen again and again for the mind to grasp its full glory and harmony; it must have time- to sink deep into one's soul. The person who sits and gazes long as at a gallery of famous paintings, is going to be benefited far more by the beauty of Zion than one who rushes madly from one scene to another. To see Zion properly one should have at least a week at his disposal to wander at will and revel in the delights of sumptuous beauty. Still those who have only a half day to spend in the canyon can be well paid for their trip. Almost any hike can be made in four or five hours by rushing, but if less strenuous sight-seeing is desired, an automo bile can be taken to within a mile or so of the Narrows. From here a foot trail leads as far up the constantly narrowing gulch as the water ner-mits. ner-mits. On the way a refreshing little nook is encountered called "Zion Stadium," and the performers make the high walls echo with their music. They are a company of silver frogs that live in the emerald pool of this stadium when they are not skipping over the silver gray boulders at its edge. As the journey continues up the canyon, the precipitous dark red and mahogany walls grow closer, higher, and more imposing. Then the path has to give way to the river, and onlv those who wish to ride horses can go farther. For adventurous spirits there are eight miles more of the canyon much of it so narrow that the outspread out-spread arms can touch the wide walls, and the over-hanging cliffs shut out the light of day and occasionallv even the light of the stars. But most of us are not eager to venture into rushing torrents in the dark. On the j return trip we have to stop and gaze i 'n wonder at the master raining of ! Little Zion The Great White Throne oon through a vista between the ! Great Organ and Angels' Landing. It , is n superb piece of art. ! Near the great bend in the river we come to Weeping Rock which presents one of the most fantastic view's of the park. From the constant dripping a ; recess has been formed. In this little cavern spectators may sit perfeetlv 1 dry and watch the 'falling water's Courtesy Zion Studio Zion Canyon Narrows, One of a 1000 Beauty Spots. from the cliffs above. From the brink of the mountain comes a waterfall which spreads in a veil of spray splashing and refreshing the ferns, mosses, and flowers about the spot. The distant rosy buttes and cliffs seen through that mist lend to the scene the air of enchantment. We ask ourselves our-selves if we have accidently fallen into Alice's Wonder Land. Then there is the Grotto, another fairy-like nook only a fifteen minutes' walk south of camn. Here we should enjoy gazing indefinitely. The shimmering shim-mering waterfall from the top of another vertical cliff sends a shower into the sparkling stream on the rocks below. A charming little amphitheatre amphithe-atre with the stage set and decorated for a grand oratorio stands waiting for the festival. About a mile west of camp in the direction of Lady mountain are the Emerald pools, limpid as crystal but with a greenish tinge from the reflection reflec-tion of light effects in the water. Here, too, delightful and fantastic veils of spray shimmer bewitchingly from the high'peak into the pools beneath, causing caus-ing the most phantom-like plays of changing color. A vertiable paradise for fairies and elves as well as for deer that hide their young behind blankets of spray! At last when all the enchanting nooks of the river bottom have been enjoyed, when Lady mountain, Cable mountain, and Angels' landing have been scaled and the glories of Little Zion have been viewed from the East and West rim. and you are still eager for new visions, perhaps you can find a way to scale the west temple of the Great White Throne whose heights have never known human foot step. Or perhaps you can solve the mystery of Mystr-ry mountain tnd learn on j which side of its delicate pink and I white cone flows the Mukuntuweap j river. It is a lofty peak near the i Narrows, of such "suprising symme-I symme-I try. delicate and ethereal tints" that I the beholder exclaims in admiration.