Monday, April 30, 2012

National Parks & the Mojave Desert, oh my!

Today's post is short, sweet & to the point...so let's get to it.


Fredonia, AZ
  • The northernmost city in AZ.
  • The Anasazi were the first inhabitants of this area. The ruins of their ancient cave dwellings can still be seen today.
  • Fredonia is known as Arizona's Desert Rose

Zion National Park, UT

  • Our 2nd of 3 National Parks this summer, the 3rd to be Yosemite.
  • In July temperatures during the day often reach 100 degrees.
  • Human settlements began 8,000+ years ago with the Anasazi, also the first inhabitants in Fredonia.
  • The scenery varies widely from canyons wide & narrow to steep sandstone cliffs.
St. George, UT
  • Biking into St. George will officially bring us into Mojave Desert territory. Eek!
  • The town was originally founded in 1861 under the direction of Brigham Young as a cotton mission (the plan didn't work out quite as planned, but the city remained.)
  • An atomic bomb (originally called "Harry" and eventually nicknamed "Dirty Harry") detonated by the U.S. gov. in 1953 generated tremendous off-site fall-out. Marked increases in certain cancers were reported between 1950-1980 as a result of the fall-out from multiple nuclear tests near the city.

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