Zion National Park

ZION NATIONAL PARK -- Biologists for The Peregrine Fund say they found a condor dead near a popular landmark at Zion National Park.

ZION NATIONAL PARK — Rangers rescued two hikers who were unable to complete one of the more strenuous canyoneering routes at Zion National Park.

SPRINGDALE — Zion National Park is making one of its parking lots smaller to discourage overcrowding.

ST. GEORGE -- Somewhere beneath the waters of the Virgin River -- perhaps even of Lake Mead more than 100 miles downstream -- lie the remains of two Boy Scouts killed 50 years ago in a flash flood that swept through the Zion National Park Narrows.

A skull fragment recovered from the river five years ago and believed to be from one of the flood victims is evidence of the passage of time since the deadly incident. Even now, the memory of that day in September 1961 doesn't rest easily for one of the survivors of the ill-fated trek undertaken by a wilderness expedition group called Socotwa.

CEDAR CITY -- Firefighters are monitoring a southern Utah wildfire in Zion National Park that they say has been 100 percent contained over the weekend.

SPRINGDALE -- Zion National Park is ramping up a crusade against drunken driving during the last days of summer and through Labor Day weekend.

"Come on!" yelled the guy on the four-wheeler. "People do it all the time. I'm sure you'll make it."

He shrugged as if our Mercury Villager minivan was made for crossing rivers, and then zoomed across the river, the water tugging at the tops of his wheel wells.

"All right," said Mike, my husband, taking a deep breath. And in we plunged.

This trip, a kid-free adventure in Zion National Park with a group of fit friends, was all about plunging. (And not the toilet variety, although there was some questionable water involved.)

We had come to Zion looking for good hiking, a little swimming, and some climbing. Zion and the surrounding area, full of deep slots, windswept rock, and the meandering Virgin River, combines the best of nature into a luring siren song of adventure.