Court of the Patriarchs, Zion National Park, Utah

Early-season snow frosts the immense sandstone amphitheatre known as “The Court of the Patriarchs” in Zion National Park. Named by the first European settlers to this region over 100 years ago, these formations epitomize the grandeur that led to the designation of Zion National Park in 1919. Approximately 190 million years ago, a vast sea of windblown sand similar to today’s Sahara covered much of Utah, Arizona and northwest New Mexico. As these dunes were subsequently buried beneath additional layers of sediment, dissolved minerals in groundwater percolated down through the sand and cemented the grains together into what we now call the Navajo Sandstone. Massive tectonic forces have since pushed this layer high into the Utah sky where the relentless forces of erosion have sculpted the landscape we see today. As one of our nations first national parks, Zion was formally designated in the year 1919.