Question 1: We’re taking a look at the beautiful Virgin River as it flows through which national park in southwestern Utah?
- Death Valley
- Zion
- Joshua Tree
Correct Answer: Zion
Fact: When it became a national monument in 1909, Zion was still virtually inaccessible to visitors. Even after it became Zion National Park in 1919, fewer than 4,000 people came the following year. But in 1930, the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway and Tunnel were completed, allowing easier access.
Question 2: What is the Grand Staircase?
- A vast geologic formation
- A pile of petrified logs
- A feature of the ranger station
Correct Answer: A vast geologic formation
Fact: Zion is one of several national parks and reserves located along the Grand Staircase, an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers. The layers of sediment, stacked like stairsteps, date back as far as 600 million years. Many layers hold fossils of long-extinct creatures.
Question 3: Zion’s original name, ‘Mukuntuweap,’ comes from which Indigenous people’s language?
- Paiute
- Apache
- Navajo
Correct Answer: Paiute
Fact: Explorer John Wesley Powell named the canyon 'Mukuntuweap' in honor of the Southern Paiute people who had lived in the region for centuries. The Paiute word was thought to mean 'straight canyon' or 'straight river.' President William Howard Taft named the area Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. But the acting director of the National Park Service, Horace Albright, thought 'Mukuntuweap' was too difficult for most Americans to pronounce and spell, so in 1918 he renamed it Zion National Monument, adopting the name that some local Mormons called the canyon.