We invite you to utilize this website to become familiar with Utah, which is one of the most geologically diverse places in the world.   Perfect snow, rugged red rocks, 12,000 years of human history, coral pink sand dunes, mountain rivers & lakes and The Rocky Mountains.   If Utah doesn't have it, you don’t need it.  For a state located in the high desert, Utah has a surprisingly large number of fantastic lakes.   Many of these are reservoirs formed by the damming of mountain rivers.   The state of Utah is one giant playground to visit or to live in.   The lakes tend to be set against mountain backdrops.   Each lake has its own look and feel.   Some are shallow and warm, others are deep and clear, and one is so salty that you float on its surface.   One of Utah's defining characteristics is the variety of its terrain.   Running down the middle of the state's northern third is the Wasatch Range, which rises to heights of almost 12,000 feet above sea level.   Utah is home to world-renowned ski resorts made popular by light, fluffy snow and winter storms that regularly dump feet of it overnight.   In the state's northeastern section, running east to west, are the Uinta Mountains.   It is a high-elevation area covered mostly by plateaus and basins, where a large number of lakes and rivers are, which remain mostly inaccessible.   These mountains rise to heights of over 13,000 feet.   The highest point in the state, Kings Peak, is at 13,528 feet.   At the western base of the Wasatch Mountain Range is the Wasatch Front, a series of valleys and basins that are home to the most populous parts of the state.   It stretches north from Brigham City, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Orem, Provo to Nephi at the south end.   Approximately 75% of the state's population lives in this corridor, and the population is growing.   Western Utah is mostly arid desert.   The Bonneville Salt Flats are an exception, being comparatively flat as a result of once forming the bed of ancient Lake Bonneville.   Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, and Rush Lake are all remnants of this ancient freshwater lake.   Much of the southern and southeastern landscape is sandstone.   Wind and water have carved their way through the sandstone forming huge canyons and arches.   The Colorado River and its tributaries wind their way through the sandstone, creating some of the world's most striking and colorful wild terrain.   Utah's temperatures are extreme, with cold temperatures in winter due to its elevation, and very hot summers statewide.

Utah is home to canyons and mountains, desert and abundant waterways, thriving cities and hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.   Utah has harsh country for individualists and tamer areas for the meeker at heart.   The Beehive State is the geological crossroads of the elevated tableland known as the Colorado Plateau, the western slope of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin, the huge expanse of land cradled between the Sierra Nevada and Wasatch Mountain ranges.   The state boasts six national monuments, five national parks, countless wilderness areas and thousands of additional acres of public lands accessible for hiking, biking, skiing, rafting, fishing, and much more.   Needless to say, these natural spaces provide one of the greatest year-round concentrations of adventurous pastimes.   The preponderance of rugged, virtually primeval terrain lends itself naturally to high adventure.  Furthermore, the territory has long been pre-eminent in the pantheon of spiritual places to the native peoples who were first to settle here, and whose ancient mysteries and modern presence are keenly felt today.   Ride a horse for a day, raft through rapids the next.   Climb mountains for a week and know all the best fishing spots in advance.   Ski at world-class resorts or snowmobile over hundreds of miles of groomed trails.   Climb through ancient Indian ruins.   Steer a jeep or a mountain bike over the Wasatch Plateau.   Soar above it all in a glider, a balloon, or take a scenic motorized flight.   Trek through labyrinthine canyon country with a llama to carry your gear.   Snuggle under a blanket of stars while a draft horse pulls your sleigh through the snow.   Dip a toe into thermal hot springs.   Paddle a canoe or cruise on a houseboat.   There's enough to fill vacations for years, and it's no surprise that so many people return year after year.

Utah is also home to some of the world's best skiing.   Feather-light snow, which dries out over the vast Great Basin, frequently slams hard into the Wasatch Range.   The result is feet, not inches of white snow, cover the mountains.   The majority of resorts are clumped within an hour's drive of Salt Lake City.   Utah contains the modern mountain biking mecca of Moab, which seems to grow more popular every year.   And there is much more, such as Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, awesome Dinosaur National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce and Zion National Parks, the San Juan, Green, and Colorado rivers flowing into Lake Powell, the world's second largest man-made body of water, and the less overrun option, striking Flaming Gorge National Park.   The Great Salt Lake is an underutilized playground and pristine Bear Lake offers plenty of elbow room for sailors and motorboaters.   This is to say nothing about the expansive spaces between these landmarks, slickrock trails, multi-colored tiered sandstone formations, snow peaks above clear alpine lakes, and cactus-studded deserts.   Towering natural arches and bridges formed over millions of years by the effects of wind and water on stone dot the landscape.   The rugged contours of Southwestern geography haven't changed much throughout the years.   The enormity of the Southwest provides space that cannot be found in urban areas.   Even if you are accustomed to the outdoors, there's no place else where you can find so many diverse geological, historical, cultural, and just plain drop-dead beautiful features.   It's a vast canvas on which to paint your own adventure.   Personal values aside, the land remains the dominant force here.   Everybody needs to pay close attention to nature's power.   In Utah's canyon country the earth reveals deep cracks, dropping precariously to distant rivers.   Buttes and mesas are nearby, striped in iron-tinged red and orange colors painted by geological epochs, with mountains, usually snow-capped, looming beyond.   This spectacular landscape was created over eons by the geological forces of volcanoes, wind, erosion, flowing water, and movements of geological plates inside the earth's crust.







           
              
           
           
              
              
              
              
           
              
           







        
        







           
















        

































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