Marathon Pundit: Four Corners Furtherance: Taylor Creek Trail

Friday, August 27, 2010

Four Corners Furtherance: Taylor Creek Trail

In Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond quotes an archaeologist friend: "Life in Greenland is all about finding the good patches of useful resources." The same thing can be said about Utah. Water is of course the most important natural resource, which is why settlers gravitated towards streams and rivers. Mormon pioneers farmed near water, if there was none nearby, they utilized irrigation. Later in this series I will explore this subject in greater depth when I write about Capitol Reef National Park.

We hiked the entire Taylor Creek Trail on our final day in Zion National Park. You'll notice a greener Zion, water brings life, and there is more water there because of the creek. (Not that the rest of the park is "dead," far from it.) Microclimates aren't limited to San Francisco.

There are a couple of homesteader cabins on the trail, the one on the right, the Larson Cabin, was built sometime around 1930. It's located at a safe distance from the creek--near but elevated, desert streams are prone to flash floods.

At the end of the trail is the Double Arch Alcove, which was damp and cool on the afternoon we hiked there. The rock colorations reminded me of Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Zion National Park is famous for its lizards, but there are amphibians too, such as the tadpoles on the right.

Next: Cedar Breaks