Utah State Parks Southwest

Utah has some amazing state parks.

This page will cover those in the Southwest part of the state.

Fremont Indian State Park and Kodachrome Basin State Park are outstanding.

Dead Horse Point and Goblin Valley are also outstanding and covered on other pages.

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Page Last Revised Date:

7/31/2008

Larry grew up in northern Indiana and the Indiana Dunes were a playground. The color of the Coral Pink Sand Dunes and the method of the formation were interesting, but did not measure up to the Indiana Dunes.

Coral Pink Sand DunesEscalante Petrified Forest

Escalante Petrified Forest, like most petrified forests, consists of trees that were downed first, then petrified. The hike to the best samples is rugged, except for the few near the rest rooms. The park is small. Even more interesting (and hard to get to) would be the standing petrified forest in Yellowstone National Park

WOW! For anyone not familiar with petroglyphs (writing carved into the rock), Fremont Indian State Park is quite an introduction. The huge numbers of petroglyphs include the relatively recent (a train) but go back at least 1000 years to the time of the Fremont people.

Kodachrome BasinFremont Indian

Kodachrome Basin is an amazing place.

 

When National Geographic first visited this remote area in the 1930’s, the only film that could record the colors was Kodachrome. With the permission of Eastman Kodak, the area was named Kodachrome Basin.

 

The geological history of the area is even more interesting. Apparently this area was once like Yellowstone is today. There are many formations that are the result of geysers building up cones and formations. What you see are ancient geysers that no longer have water. (right top and second)

 

Liberty Cap in the Mammoth Hot Springs section of Yellowstone is very similar to these formations.

Chimney Rock

Shakespeare Arch

Snow Canyon

Quail