Reflections from the tour in Zion national park 2022/03/15
Zion, the Sacred Name
Zion National Park locates in southwestern Utah. The name "zion" was originally a place name in Bible meaning the place of Jerusalem, and now days it is considered as the place of "holy of holies" where God lives near Zion Mount. Over 100 years ago, Mormons fled from Illinois and came to Utah and became the first people of European descent to settle the Virgin River region. The name “Zion” was given by a Mormon Pioneer Issac Behunin in 1863 who once said of the area “A man can worship God among these great cathedrals as well as he can in any man-made church; and this is Zion."
The Court of Three Patriarchs
One icon view of Zion, is the Court of Three Patriarchs which are three sandstone peaks on the west side of Zion Canyon. Each peak is named after biblical fathers, the peak of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Patriarchs were named by Frederick Vining Fisher in 1916, who labeled numerous prominent points in Zion Canyon. These names are not so special to me until I entered Zion in my spring break tour along virgin river in March. They become so meaningful to me after two days hike there.
The Watchman Trail
One of the most popular hiking trail in Zion is named Watchman. I am not sure this name is related to the Patriarchs or not, but with this, I noticed a lot of "watchmen" along the hike trails watching watching every steps of hikers. Below are a few of many of such watchman rocks along the trail:
The most impressive watchman rocks I found from the hike is the view of the top of the white peaks as shown in the cover picture. They looks so vivid like the statues of Bible story.
From here, the sacred names of Zion as God's living place, the Three Patriarchs Peaks, and the Virgin River and its original name Adam River, all come together. When I walk passing each of these grand watchmen and facing the mighty cliffs of sandstones formed over 200 million years, I do feel the sense of touching the Holy of the Holies of nature.
When I touch the rocks of each Watchman rock, I feel I touched the fossil of human giants same as I saw the fossil in the Dinosaur discovery museum in St. George nearby Zion. Even my girl friend who never saw rock heads as I do, can see all these watchmen wherever we hike in Zion. Below are two rock heads we both saw at the Navajo Cliff Trail.
Watchmen at Riverside Walk
This sacred scenery becomes even more overwhelming when we walk along the Virgin River that follows through the Zion Canyon. The parking lot of the riverside walk are surrounded by breathtaking high cliffs that no camera is good enough to capture what we saw with eyes.
The 2nd day when we drive into the park, I saw a giant face Ape from the white cliff facing me and I took the picture from car window as below:
My husband once said to me:"When you have a hammer in your hand, you see everything looking like a nail". It's true, yet it is also true in other way that we won't see many hidden nails if we don't focus. In fact, there are many blinded zone in our normal vision that prevents us from seeing the unknown myth of life.
What we can not sense may not be Nonsenses:
We intend to believe what we cannot sense simply nonsense, but it is not that simple. Besides the coincidences of the name Patriarchs and Watchman with those giant rock heads, I found more interesting coincidences when I check the name of Zion as the holy place of Jerusalem.
I saw the map of West Bank a stunning Giant's head facing the West, and Jerusalem locates right at the Giant's throat. Moreover, the map of Jerusalem looks like a standing human walking toward the west, and the heart of Jerusalem is like a Lion facing the west with his claw pointing ahead. It is just like the Coat of Arm of Jerusalem.
If you are curious about the rationals behind these coincidences, check my book "Dog & God" on Amazon book, and my other book on Apple Books "Beyond Imagination", to explore the Titan's on earth and to discover how the world and life are connected beyond our conscious in the deep ocean of collective unconscious.