Zion - Ten Years After

The Canyon

 

Ten years ago this week, a convention in Utah sidetracked my Odyssey around Superior, which by then was a regular workflow routine. Squeezing opportunity from necessity, Heather and I built in a few days pleasure before business ever began.

I left the Linhof and my irreplaceable stack of 4x5 film at home. Utah was 'off topic,' after all. But I went to the great western wilderness well armed with the Mamiya and plenty of transparency film.

And of course, the unassuming if nonetheless revolutionary toy Canon. I pointed that at all the wonders I'd not dare waste precious film on.

If not at least fabled Olympus beyond that, then what?

At one point a fellow traveler told me I shot film like my "hair was on fire." I barely slept, it's true.

Somewhere I read that white folk who early on entered this canyon fell to their knees and wept at the sight.

I don't care if that's true. It should be, considering the likely beliefs they carted in with them to the place, which early on they called 'Zion.'

In 1919, Pres. William Howard Taft federally protected the area and named it Mukuntuweap in honor the Paiute people who used to live there but mostly didn't, anymore. The name was thought to mean 'straight canyon', but that's not necessarily so.

In 1919 and afraid the name was scaring the white folk away, the assistant director of the newly formed National Park Service took it upon himself to rename the place 'Zion', with the actual director was suffering from depression and otherwise unavailable to do the job.

A year later Monument was changed to National Park and Zion it's been ever since. The rest, as they say, is history.

What's true is that at Zion, even stone weeps.

I can attest to that, I've seen it.

Late one night in particular, the solid dark walls of the place and the sound of a barely seen Virgin River running through it damned near enveloped me. Names didn't matter.

At the canyon's base, there's enough water to get by on. Early white settlers farmed there and maybe an Indian they dubbed Muggins, too.

No trace of any of them remains, except in story.