The Virgin River is the Colorado River of Zion National Park. Millions of years ago, this whole area of what is now the United States was an ancient sea. Over the millennia, sediment built up on the ancient seabed and hardened. However, this area won’t stay underwater too long and the entire area was uplifted into what became the Colorado Plateau. Everything on the seabed was now above sea level including the built up sediment which has turned into sandstone. The power of water would carve out the Colorado Plateau into canyons and part of it is what we now know as Zion National Park. The river that was part of this carving is now the Virgin River which runs right through the park.

Honestly, looking at the river right now won’t take your breath away. I don’t know if it is any different elsewhere in the park but the Virgin River which is near the visitor center wasn’t very impressive. It could be because much of the water which feeds the river is being sequestered into ice and would only melt when spring comes. From what I can see here, the river is certainly very clear. I would not want to drink from this river since I know there are visitors upstream and who knows what they do there. I would be interested to see how the Virgin River looks like when it is at its best. I guess, this is one of the downsides of coming here in the winter.

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