The Canyonlands region in southern Utah and northern Arizona comprises a portion of the Colorado Plateau in the American Southwest known as the Grand Circle. A vast wonderland featuring some of the most spectacular landscapes on earth, it offers rugged mountains, deep canyons, towering cliffs and gigantic mesas. Elevations within the Grand Circle range from 2,000 to 10,000 feet. The forces of nature have exposed nearly two billion years of geology and fossilized records of prehistoric plants, dinosaurs and other animals, telling the story of the ages. Ancient Indians once inhabited the area leaving a legacy of mysterious petroglyphs and pictographs and exquisitely carved stone dwellings.

The climate in this arid region produces some of the most extreme weather conditions found in North America. Summer temperatures can reach 110 degrees fahrenheit in the shade. In the winter, freezing temperatures well below zero are accompanied by fierce winds and significant accumulations of snow.

The seemingly naked landscapes are home to a wide variety of plants and animals. Over time, at the lower elevations, species of sage and cacti mix with the pinyon- and juniper forests that are most common to the region. In the mountains, oak and mahogany trees at the higher elevations eventually give way to Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine. The spectrum of wildlife found here range from reptiles such as lizards and snakes to mammals as small as mice and as large as bighorn sheep, antelope, deer, mountain lions and bears. Numerous owls, hawks, ravens and hummingbirds make their home here.

Monument Valley is located on the Navajo Indian Tribal Reservation in northern Arizona and presents the visitor with a surreal landscape of towering buttes, monuments and spires.

Capitol Reef National Park is characterized by deep canyons and towering cliffs, stretching some 70 miles; the formations start where the north rim of the Grand Canyon ends. The cliffs outline a major geological feature called the Waterpocket Fold. Layers of flat rock were uplifted and created a giant stair-step. The earth's crust drooped over the step into a huge s-shaped fold coupled with erosion exposed. These pushed-up layers form a sandstone barrier nearly 100 miles in length. To the early pioneer visitors, this wall of rock resembled an ocean reef. The remoteness of this picturesque land is evident even today, as only a single paved road traverses this great barrier along the Fremont River Canyon as a lush oasis contrasts with the high desert setting.

Bryce Canyon National Park was known to the Paiute Indians as "red rocks standing like men in a bowl-shaped canyon." This horseshoe-shaped canyon, actually configured like an amphitheater, ranges in altitude from 6,600 to 9,100 feet and in some spots reaches a depth of 800 feet. Bryce was formed as a result of three major geological forces - deposition, uplift and water erosion.

At the heart of Canyonlands National Park, the Green River and the small Colorado River flow together, having carved out one-mile high canyons, spectacular mesas, needle-like spires and graceful arches. The two rivers apportion the park into three districts forming a great "Y." In the center lies the Island in the Sky Mesa, rising 2,000 feet above the rivers' confluence; to the east is The Needles, with its 400-foot pinnacles banded in red and white layers of rock; and to the west is the Maze, a vast labyrinth of primitive canyons - remote and pristine.

Arches National Park contains the greatest density of natural arches in the world - more than 1,000 have been catalogued. These range in size from 3-foot "beginner" to the willowy 105-foot Landscape Arch. Delicate Arch, probably the best known arch in the park, is only 45 feet high but appears much taller in its setting. This elegant ring of stone frames the Colorado Plateau in a time-honored setting. Unlike most geological processes, which can take millions of years, the significant modification of some arches has been observed in as little as 50 years. The same forces at work in creating the arches will undoubtedly leave them to dust.

The breathtaking beauty of the Canyonlands region will give the visitor glimpses of the prehistoric past, ancient Indian civilizations, and a remote wilderness ostensibly untouched by modern man.