No visit to Las Vegas is complete without a trip into the desert to see Zion National Parks. Ranging from dry, alien rock formations and slot canyons to lush greenery and peaceful rivers, this is truly a land of extremes! Take a day tour to Zion Canyon, or to a Combination of Both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. If you want more time, Stay Overnight!

Zion National Park is also located in southwestern Utah, about 50 miles southwest of Bryce Canyon National Park. The Park consists of natural arches, slot canyons, mesas, buttes, rivers, mountains, and the 15 mile long Zion Canyon. Four distinct life zones can be found within the park borders: desert, riparian, woodland, and pine forest.

Like Bryce Canyon, Native American tribes such as the Anazasi, Ute, and the Southern Paiute first lived in the area thousands of years ago and was later settled by Mormon missionaries starting in the 1840s. The Mormons were not only fascinated by the beauty of Zion canyon, but also impressed with its potential for farming and grazing. In 1863, a settler by the name of Isaac Behunin, named the canyon “Zion”, referring to a place of peace in the Bible. In 1872, General John Wesley Powell visited the area and named it “Mukuntuweap”, based on its Paiute given name.

With vivid photographs and paintings capturing the beauty of the canyon at hand, in 1909, President William Taft declared the area into the Mukuntuweap National Monument using Powell’s name. In 1919, the canyon and additional surrounding areas were established as Zion National Park, with one historian noting that visitors may have avoided visiting the Park if they couldn’t pronounce the name, hence the name change.

Tourism and road infrastructure has increased greatly since those early years, and the Park established a mandatory public shuttle system on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive to ease traffic congestion during the busier months between April and October.

Notable landmarks in the Park include Angel’s Landing, Checkerboard Mesa, the Temple of Sinawava, the Virgin River Narrows, and the “Subway”, a slot canyon to the west of Zion Canyon. Some of the side canyons of the Narrows hike are so narrow that one can touch both walls at the same time.