(gentle instrumental music) - [Narrator] Five of the world's greatest treasures were found in Southern Utah.

These five jewels of the American West are the National Parks of Utah: Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Zion.

This is their story.

(gentle cinematic orchestral music) - [Announcer] This program is made possible by: the R. Harold Burton Foundation, the Utah Travel Council, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the law firm of Stoel Rives, and Clark and Nancy Giles.

(peaceful orchestral music) - [Narrator] It is a landscape like no other on the planet, a seemingly timeless portrait carved by forces of wind, water, and erosion.

(water whooshing) This is a place of contrasts, hostile and forbidding, yet sublimely beautiful.

Some of the most exquisite natural colors on Earth are found here.

(peaceful orchestral music) (soft cinematic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music) The Canyonlands are an almost unearthly lost world of desert maze.

Deep, imposing canyons are slashed by dramatic rivers.

Some of the story of Canyonlands is told by its places: the Maze, the Needles, Cataract Canyon, Island in the Sky.

(tranquil orchestral music) (bird squawking) (serene symphonic music) (wind blowing) The terrain appears tortured and twisted.

Winds can be silent as a whisper then explode with fury and violence.

(tranquil orchestral music) (water swishing) In hidden places, an ancient people tell mysterious stories.

(serene orchestral music) (serene music continues) There is poetry in the Canyonlands, the symphony of nature, and at times deafening silence.

(light orchestral music) Canyonlands was home to Ancestral Pueblo cultures.

(light orchestral music continues) Fossilized dinosaur tracks lead the way.

(wind blowing softly) Red Rock Canyon reveals secrets.

The Great Gallery of Horseshoe Canyon was painted by nomadic hunter atherers.

The images are lifsize.

A story is left for imagination to decipher.

(light gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (faint distant rumbling) (soft tranquil classical music) Winter turns the red desert into a sea of white.

Clouds race along the horizon, their destiny unknown.

(wind blowing) Heat is a distant, fleeting memory.

(soft tranquil music) Only the watching shimmering sun bears witness to the desert's usual radiance.

(serene instrumental music) (soft dramatic classical music) (wind blowing) (symphonic classical music rising) (soft dramatic symphonic music) (wind blowing) (distant rumbling) (distant rumbling) (bright orchestral music) The confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers in Canyonlands National Park predicts turbulent rapids.

(bright orchestral music continues) (bright choral music in foreign language) (bright choral music continues) Cataract Canyon can be among the most challenging river runs in North America.

(choral music continues) Power and beauty blend.

(water splashing) The cascading river becomes a raging liquid world of white water.

Each wave possessing the power of thunder.

(dramatic orchestral music) (sharp violin music) It is the story of the Canyonlands.

One moment, the scene is tranquil and serene.

The next, it explodes with drama.

(dramatic orchestral music) (intense dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music) (vivid articulated violin music) (striking violin music) Canyonlands is home to desert bighorn sheep.

Bighorns can be seen high on canyon walls and at river's edge.

This landscape is alive.

Cryptobiotic soil carpets the desert.

It's a microscopic community of bacteria, lichens, and moss that slows erosion.

Cryptobiotic soil provides nutrition and moisture for desert plants.

It may take decades to recover from a single footstep.

(serene orchestral music) (serene orchestral music) (bright orchestral music) (dramatic violin music) A hot desert wind hisses the story of Canyonlands.

The sky is the bluest blue of the imagination.

Rivers snake and meander seemingly without purpose.

Canyons appear endless.

(dramatic orchestral music) More stars punctuate the night than can ever be counted.

The Canyonlands tell a story.

It is a story of mystery and illusion, and then only silence.

(calm instrumental music) (serene instrumental music) (serene instrumental music continues) (peaceful instrumental music) Arches National Park is a geologic wonder.

Erosion has carved a land of natural arches in a universe of red desert.

Sculpted bridges with the arc of rainbows sit in arid sands, each offers its own window of blue sky, looking into the time and space.

(soft peaceful music) It's a landscape of balanced rocks and fragile beauty.

Delicate Arch stands statuesque in its own amphitheater of red slickrock.

Its existence is solitary, isolated.

Its only companion, a red searing sun.

(peaceful orchestral music) Native people tell stories in this world of stone.

(peaceful music continues) Landscape Arch spans the desert floor in precarious fragility.

Arches are formed gradually by the erosion of sandstone fins over millions of years.

(soft orchestral music) (soft orchestral music continues) The searing heat of summer, the Fiery Furnace earns its name.

A relentless sun inflames this fortress of stone.

Sandy desert washes run like dry water through canyons sitting in an ocean of blue sky.

(tranquil orchestral music) (tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) Storms rip through the valley of Arches.

Snow apped peaks of the La Sal Mountains bear witness in the distance.

(gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (water splashing) (tranquil instrumental music) Winter is a time of change.

Glowing reds of summer give way to a gray landscape, uncharacteristic of the great desert.

(peaceful orchestral music) (quiet instrumental music) (peaceful orchestral music) (water pattering) (gentle orchestral music) (peaceful orchestral music) (wind blowing) (gentle dramatic music) A desert hike in the more isolated northwest part of the park rewards visitors.

The view is of Tower Arch.

It is gold at the end of the rainbow.

(gentle dramatic music continues) (serene violin music) (wind blowing softly) (wind blowing softly) (serene instrumental music) (serene instrumental music continues) (gentle classical music) (soft orchestral music) Arches is a place of wonder.

The landscape is a painting of light and shadow moving across a vastness of red.

(soft orchestral music continues) (serene violin music) Each day is its own creation, different from any other.

There is an emotion of timelessness and cleansing, and then the blackness of night and timeless valleys.

(subtle dramatic orchestral music) (crickets chirping) (soft orchestral music) (quiet dramatic music) Bryce Canyon is a kaleidoscope of geologic colors.

The amphitheater features hoodoos, which are pillars of rock carved by erosion.

The result is a place of imagination.

(peaceful tranquil music) Wind, water, and erosion have carved and sculpted Bryce since the time when dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth.

(soft instrumental music) Bryce is an ornate step in the grand staircase series of plateaus.

Sweeping desert vistas are framed by pink cliffs.

(serene orchestral music) (subtle dramatic music) Bryce Canyon's highest elevation is more than 9,000 feet.

Dense forests meet plunging sheer desert cliffs.

One of the canyon's early settlers was Ebenezer Bryce, who reportedly said, "It's a heck of a place to lose a cow."

Thor's Hammer, Peekaboo, Queen Victoria, and Fairyland conjure secret hidden places.

(serene instrumental music) (quiet instrumental music) Deep in the canyon, below towering cliffs, is an exotic multicolored world.

(dramatic orchestral music) (dramatic orchestral music continues) Wall Street descends spiraling to the canyon floor.

A Douglas fir tree reaches for the sky in solitary confinement.

(soft dramatic orchestral music) Bristlecone pine trees are silent, windblown sentinels of time.

Some may have stood guard for a thousand years.

(gentle orchestral music) (light serene classical music) (water splashing) The trickle of a desert stream plays its own symphony.

Light and shadow paint timeless moments.

(water sloshing) (water splashing) Prairie dogs inhabit the meadows of Bryce Canyon.

They live in intricate underground tunnels.

They're ever alert for the sweeping talons of a hawk.

(soft piano music) (wind blowing softly) (soft piano music continues) (birds chirping) (peaceful piano music) (peaceful piano music continues) (serene piano music) (water splashing) (serene piano music continues) (crickets chirping) (wind blowing) (bird squawking) (gentle music) (soft solemn symphonic music) (solemn symphonic music continues) The magic of winter turns an idyllic instant into a palace of ice and snow.

(solemn symphonic music continues) (water sloshing) A waterfall is frozen in time.

The landscape is rigid and locked.

(gentle instrumental music) (water dripping) Melting icicles drip with effortless grace.

The unspoken promise is the renewal of spring.

(water splashing) (water continues splashing) (peaceful instrumental music) (gentle classical piano music) (water splashing) Capitol Reef is named for the large domes which tower above the desert floor.

Reef comes from the life ike Waterpocket Fold, which slices the terrain.

The Navajo call Capitol Reef, "land of the sleeping rainbow" for its many colors.

The landscape is a rainbow on Earth.

(birds chirping) The Castle perches like a medieval fortress over the valley.

Clouds march through the sky as armored knights prancing into battle.

A darkening sky torches the red desert with emotions of gloom and foreboding, (intense dramatic piano music) and then the sky dramatically clears as if the darkness was only a fleeting illusion.

(soft classical piano music) (birds chirping) (wind blowing) Ancient people have left their art on sheer cliffs.

The Fremont chiseled petroglyphs and painted pictographs with unknown meaning.

(soft piano music) The Fremont River runs below towering cliffs with sounds of rushing water.

It seemingly flows without purpose to an endless destiny.

(intense dramatic piano music) (water splashing) Leaves rustle in a still wind.

Predicting what?

We do not know.

(water sloshing) (gentle piano music) Without warning, the river plunges down a waterfall in angry torrents.

(water whooshing) (gentle piano music) (water whooshing) (water sloshing) (water rushing) (bright piano music) (wind blowing) (birds chirping) (bright orchestral music) Leaves turn brown in the gray of winter.

The waterfall is a sculpture of ice.

(water whooshing) (bright symphonic music) (bright symphonic music continues) (water splashing) (suspenseful orchestral music) The river is restless.

Ice forms and melts with a steady monotonous drip into a steel ray river.

(suspenseful orchestral music continues) (water splashing) (intense suspenseful orchestral music) (quiet peaceful music) A cold, gripping night refreezes the porcelain ice only to meet the sun of a new day.

(water sloshing) (bright majestic orchestral music) (water splashing) (bright symphonic music) (water whooshing) (serene symphonic music) The goosenecks of Sulphur Creek twist towards its rendezvous with the Fremont River.

(dramatic orchestral music) Fruita was an historic Mormon pioneer settlement in Capitol Reef.

The Fruita schoolhouse still stands watch.

Students no longer come for their lessons.

The Fruita orchards are left from this era.

(bright orchestral music) Sweet fruit offers dramatic contrast to stark, imposing desert walls.

(bright orchestral music) (wind blows softly) (serene symphonic music) Chukars scurry among the rocky crags of Capitol Gorge.

A seemingly lifeless desert is alive.

(serene symphonic music) (tranquil orchestral music) (water splashing) (water sloshing) (tranquil orchestral music continues) (bird chirping) (tranquil instrumental music) The monoliths of Cathedral Valley rise from the desert floor as if Egyptian pyramids.

Erosion sculpts nature's art from sandstone.

(tranquil instrumental music continues) (wind howling softly) Wind whistles through sagebrush, in this seemingly alien landscape.

(wind howling softly) Sweeping desert vistas of white clouds against blue skies lead to the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon.

(soft dramatic orchestral music) A gypsum sinkhole collapses in the desert floor in sharp contrast to the monoliths which rise above it.

The sinkhole was a gypsum deposit now dissolved from the erosion of water.

Glass Mountain shimmers in the desert.

Light reflects from selenite crystals known as moonstone.

The image seems as if a mirage of glass.

(serene orchestral music) The landscape is a desert painting brushed with colors of the rainbow.

The desert bleeds a bloody red, cleansed by purifying streams.

A symphony of birds, wind, and water links this world to our own.

(wind blowing) (bird chirping) (serene orchestral music continues) (soft orchestral music) (light gentle music) Zion National Park is a temple in the wilderness.

Its meaning is a place of safety or refuge given by Mormon pioneers.

It is sanctuary.

(soft majestic orchestral music) Names in Zion offer a feeling of reverence for one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

There are names like Cathedral Mountain, the Great White Throne, the Towers of the Virgin, and the Pulpit.

(tranquil orchestral music) (water whooshing) The Watchman stands guard looking toward Zion's main canyon.

A steep, sometimes harrowing climb, brings one to the top of Angels Landing.

The reward is stunning views of Zion's main canyon.

(tranquil music continues) (water sloshing) The Court of the Patriarchs is as monumental as its name implies.

Wild turkeys strut confidently under a canopy of trees.

(peaceful instrumental music) the Virgin River flows through this canyon of sublime beauty.

It is one of the last mostly freflowing rivers in the Colorado River system.

(water whooshing) The Virgin River eventually joins the Colorado in its journey to Mexico and its quest for the ocean.

(soft symphonic music) Dusk falls on the narrows of the Virgin River deep within the Temple of Sinawava.

Slot canyons beckon with cracks to an unknown world to be explored.

(dramatic orchestral music) Streaming clouds over canyon walls race the coming nightfall.

(water splashing) (crickets chirping) (dramatic orchestral music) (wind blowing) (dramatic orchestral music continues) Winter snows surround the Virgin River, which runs silty gray.

(water splashing) Reds of checkerboard mesas meet the white snow as if a welcome blanket.

(gentle dramatic music) The peaks of Kolob Canyon in Zion's northwest corner are deep in winter's grasp.

(wind howling) (upbeat classical music) (insect buzzing) (birds chirping) Spring tells a story of rebirth.

Green new life replaces gray.

(light upbeat classical music) Desert bighorn sheep graze peacefully on red cliffs.

A nursery of lambs is watched by adults.

A clatter of hooves on rock announces their presence.

(hooves tapping) (grass rustling) (birds chirping) (dramatic orchestral music) Zion's emotions are painted by sun and clouds.

Water weeps off rock faces as if tears from Heaven.

(water pattering) (water whooshing) Waterfalls plunge from sheer heights in the red wall to the Emerald Pools below.

(water rushing) Rainbows in the mist paint the canvas.

It is a natural paradise.

(soft classical music) (water splashing) (water splashing) (water pattering) (serene orchestral music) (water pattering) (water sloshing) (water pattering) (insect buzzing) The East Fork of the Virgin River flows through the wilderness of Parunuweap Canyon in Zion's southeast corner.

(wind blowing softly) (water whooshing) (dramatic orchestral music) (water sloshing) (water whooshing) Kolob Canyon is a painting of splendor in summer beauty.

Forests of pinyon and juniper adorn rewall cliffs.

Kolob comes from Mormon theology.

It means "A Heavenly place close to God."

(bird squawking softly) (gentle instrumental music) Deep in the Zion backcountry is a Shangri a. It is fall with colors of burning orange and flaming red.

(gentle orchestral music) (water splashing) (droplets plopping) (gentle music continues) (water sloshing) (gentle music continues) A strenuous hike with numerous stream crossings leads to the Subway.

(tranquil orchestral music) The Subway is so named for its unique formation.

Zion tells a story of hidden places, the land of secrets that time unlocks.

It is a story of majesty, of grandeur, and reverence.

(river water splashing) (water splashing softly) (serene instrumental music) The national parks of Utah offer an experience unique in the world.

There is a poetry at work, a natural drama still to be told.

The story is written upon parched sands, the swirling fiery winds leading to oceans of red desert.

The landscape appears as a mirage, a comforting dream.

(dramatic instrumental music) The illusion is real, ever beckoning to paradise.

(serene instrumental music) (gentle orchestral music) (tranquil orchestral music) - [Announcer] This program is made possible by: the R. Harold Burton Foundation, the Utah Travel Council, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the law firm of Stoel Rives, and Clark and Nancy Giles.

(soft orchestral music)