Zion Canyon
canyon in Washington County, Utah, United States
Zion Canyon (also called Little Zion, Mukuntuweap, Mu-Loon'-Tu-Weap, and Straight Cañon; weap is Paiute for canyon) is a deep and narrow gorge in southwestern Utah, United States, carved by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Nearly the entire canyon is located within the eastern half of Zion National Park.
Description
The beginning of the canyon is usually delineated as the Temple of Sinawava, a vertical-walled natural amphitheater nearly 3,000 feet (910 m) deep. The canyon begins much further upstream, however, and runs southward about 16 miles (26 km) through the Narrows to reach the Temple, where a seasonal tributary of the North Fork plunges over a tall waterfall during spring runoff and after heavy rain. The gorge then runs southwest through the national park, approaching 2,000 feet (610 m) deep in places. While the canyon rim is dominated by desert, the canyon floor supports a forest and riparian zone watered by the North Fork Virgin River. The gorge then merges with Pine Creek Canyon as it winds out of the national park and past the community of Springdale, Utah. The canyon's end is where it meets the Virgin River; some 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Lake Mead, into which the river ultimately flows.
Zion Canyon Drive and Zion-Mount Carmel Highway are the two major roads throughout the canyon. Zion Canyon Drive ends at the Temple of Sinawava, where the Riverside Walk trail follows the river upstream to the lower end of the Zion Narrows.
The public source identifies “Zion Canyon” as canyon in Washington County, Utah, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zion, Canyon and canyon.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Zion Canyon”, the useful work is to connect “canyon in Washington County, Utah, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8072495. Authority coordinates are 37.165, -113.012. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Zion Canyon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.