What was Utah’s first national park?
Zion National Park, established by Congress on November 19, 1919, was Utah’s first national park. From the Heritage Area, the route toward Zion runs through the Under the Rim district and the Highway 89 corridor.
How it became a park
A 1909 presidential proclamation first set the area aside as Mukuntuweap National Monument. On March 18, 1918, the monument was enlarged and renamed Zion National Monument. It became Zion National Park on November 19, 1919.
It was the first area in Utah given national-park status. Bryce Canyon became a national park on February 25, 1928. Capitol Reef became a national park on December 18, 1971.
The Southern Paiute called this place Mukuntuweap, meaning “straight canyon.” Mormon pioneers named the area Zion, ancient Hebrew for “sanctuary” or “refuge.” President William Howard Taft reserved the canyon as Mukuntuweap on July 31, 1909. His proclamation said:
the Mukuntuweap canyon, through which flows the North Fork of the Rio Virgin, or Zion River, in Southwestern Utah, is an extraordinary example of canyon erosion and is of the greatest scientific interest
The 1918 proclamation enlarged the monument from 15,840 acres to 76,800 acres and adopted Zion, the name already in local use. Congress kept that name when it established the national park the next year.
The canyon
The park covers 232 square miles. More than 100 miles of wilderness trails and 15 miles of paved trails run through the park. The sandstone formed from ancient dunes. The cliffs rise more than 2,000 feet today. The Virgin River cut Zion Canyon through Navajo sandstone. Flowing water shaped the canyon over about a million years.
How to get there
After 1909 the new monument was hard to reach. Roads were poor, and the closest railhead was a hundred miles away. The Utah State Road Commission, established that year, built the early roads and worked with Union Pacific on rail, auto links, and tourist facilities. By the summer of 1917, touring cars could reach Wylie Camp, a tent camp that was the first visitor lodging in Zion Canyon. After the park was established, the National Park Service, the state of Utah, and Union Pacific promoted a southern Utah loop that tied Zion to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon.
Today Highway 89 connects the Under the Rim towns, including Kanab and the southern rim, to the park. That corridor is the Heritage Area approach. Use the Travel Planner, Tours, and the parks hub. The longer Zion film on this site is Zion – You’ll Remember Me.
The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway and Tunnel, built from 1927 to 1930, opened an east-west route through the park, from the canyon floor up Pine Creek and through 1.1 miles of Navajo sandstone toward Mount Carmel Junction on Highway 89. Discovery Road tells the story of the Zion Park Tunnel and its early travelers in Crossing Time.
Watch Crossing Time on Discovery Road.
Entrance fees are set by the National Park Service. Confirm current details on our Zion National Park page or the official NPS site. Park information: (435) 772-3256.