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Exercising body and mind in
Utah’s National Parks
PHOTO BY CINDY SHEPPARD
For their perseverance, determined hikers were rewarded with breathtaking vistas from atop canyon rims.
By Kathy Corbett day adventure in southwest Utah, eager Nevada and Arizona borders, the areas
to broaden their knowledge of the area now known as Bryce Canyon and Zion
Throughout its 16 years of operation which they would be exploring on foot. National Park were first settled roughly
as a chartered club, the Sun City 2,600 years ago by humans who built per-
Hiking Club had already organized As an outdoor activity, hiking requires manent dwellings known as pueblos. Evi-
more than 40 hiking trips to destinations varying degrees of physical exertion. The dence of the Virgin Anasazi and Parowan
in Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Min- level of mental exertion, however, is usu- Fremont peoples can be traced back as
nesota and Colorado. Groups had even ally less rigorous. Hikers normally limit far as A.D. 500; however, these groups
ventured to distant climes in England their cerebral activities to engaging in abandoned the area around A.D. 1300,
and the U.S. Virgin Islands. But for our light banter while simultaneously admir- presumably due to drought. In Bryce
September 2016 venture through Bryce ing the beauty of nature and scanning Canyon, these groups were replaced by
Canyon and Zion National Parks, the Hik- the trail for protruding roots and rocks. the Paiute Indians who incorporated the
ing Club decided to introduce an educa- Recently, however, members of the Sun area’s many hoodoo rock formations into
tional component to the standard travel City Hiking Club decided to vigorously their mythology.
itinerary. Working with the not-for-profit exercise their muscles and their minds
tour organization Road Scholar, 37 club on a week-long outdoor adventure. In the late 1840s, Mormon farmers began
members embarked on a six night/seven to settle in the area, bringing with them
Located in southwestern Utah near the
70 | SUNRAYS MARCH 2017 ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
