including national parks, monuments, historic sites, and other park areas

Browse below for books on National Park System areas in Utah,
or click for Arches National Park,  Bryce Canyon National Park,   California National Historic Trail,   Canyonlands National Park,  Capitol Reef National Park,   Cedar Breaks National Monument,   Dinosaur National Monument,   Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,  Golden Spike National Historical Park,  Mormon Pioneer Trail National Historic Trail,  Natural Bridges National Monument,  Pony Express National Historic Trail,  Rainbow Bridge National Monument,  Timpanogos Cave National Monument,  Zion National Park

ANCIENT LANDSCAPES OF THE GRAND CANYON REGION. by Edwin D. McKee.
The geological story of Zion, Bryce, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert, and Grand Canyon. Details events in geologic periods from the earth's oldest rocks in the Grand Canyon through the formation of mountains, early climates, oldest known life and the first animal life, the age of fish, deposits of sedimentary rocks that make up so much of the landscapes of this area. Includes fossil trees, dinosaur tracks, and the "frozen" sand dunes of massive cliffs plus arches and bridges. Concludes with the erosive origins of features including cutting of canyons, glaciers, volcanic eruptions, and recent but now extinct animals, ending with the advent of man. Photographs, drawings, charts, and maps, bibliography, 52 pages.
ISBN: None. 1972. Order #: NOLA1008 paper$4.95.

 

ARCHES: the story behind the scenery (UT). Johnson.
How rock shapes formed in Utah national park, life on the outcrops, history. Color photos, 48 large-format pages.
ISBN: 0-88714-002-5. 1987. Order #: KCPU0742 paper $8.95.

 

 

BRYCE CANYON AND ZION NATIONAL PARKS--a photographic and comprehensive guide. by Michael D. Yandell.
History, geology, hiking, motoring. Tells how the cliffs, spires, and textures were eroded from massive rock to create their forms, tells of man's use of the land and the coming of a new civilization, then provides a motorist's view of each of the parks; features, explaining the individual characters of features seen from the roads. Tells of the hiking trails. Color photos, maps, 64 large-format pages.
ISBN: None. 1972. Order #:  WOWI1811 paper$7.95.

 

 

BRYCE CANYON: A Wish You Were Here Postcard Book (UT).
15 postcards each portray individual scenes of this national park in Utah--its unusual eroded cliff-breaks, spires, castles, arches, tunnels, and hoodoos. Interpretive information describes the features and explains how they were formed--with plenty of room for entering your own notes and send-to address. In book format, color photographs..
ISBN: 0-939365-06-5. Order #: SIER5275 paper $4.95.

BRYCE CANYON IN PICTURES: the continuing story (UT). Colclazer.
Extended captions with full color photographs explain the origin of the landscape features of this Utah national park. Includes wildlife, history. 48 large-format pages, color illustrations.
ISBN: 0-88714-032-7. 1989 First printing.  Order #: KCPU4723 paper$8.95.

 

 

 

BRYCE CANYON: the story behind the scenery. Bezy.
Colorful eroded columns, spires, and arches--how they formed, plus history, plants and wildlife, scenery. 48 large-format pages, color illustrations.
ISBN: 0-916122-69-7. 1981. Second printing. Order #: KCPU4619 paper$8.95.

 

 

C.P.R.R.: the Central Pacific Railroad. by Charles Nordhoff.
Reprinted from Marvels of the New West,1882. This is the epic story of building the line across the Sierra Nevada of California, the deserts of Nevada, and the salt flats of Utah to meet the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point on May 10, 1869. Rail fans and history buffs have access today to historic parks and museums at the ends of this line in Sacramento and Promontory Point and along the way at the Donner Lake State Park. There is also an article explaining train travel by passengers at this early date. Period engravings. 48 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
Inventory = in stock. ISBN-10: 0-89646-097-8. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-097-3. Order #: VIST0097 paper$6.95.

THE CACTI OF ZION NATIONAL PARK. by Carolyn Trapp.
Description and identification of cactus species of this desert national park in southern Utah. Explains the park has three general cactus categories: hedgehog, cholla, and prickly pear. Tells where the various kinds can be expected to be found with the park. Includes a key to the cacti, glossary of cactus terms, and descriptions of the individual species. Diagrams, map, 21 pages.
ISBN: None. 1969. Order #: ZION1881 paper$3.95.

 

 

CANYONLANDS: the story behind the scenery (UT). by David Johnson.
Imagine an arid land of colored rock; a land of cliffs, canyons, arches, spires and mesas carved by water and time; a land of grand vistas and narrow rocky crevices; a wild land visited by people for millennia--Canyonlands. The Colorado Plateau is a rugged land, a land of contrasts--unbroken expanses of rock, towering monoliths, great rivers, scorching canyon bottoms and icy mountain peaks.  At the heart of the Plateau is a mile-high maze of canyons, mesas and spires carved by the Green and Colorado rivers--Canyonlands National Park. This bopok escorts the reader through this high-desert land of rock as far as the eye can see and opens eyes to a close look at the life that thrives and has thrived for eons.  Natural and human history is sensitively examined and explained, as is the remarkable geology of this awe inspiring region. 9x12, 48 pages, 66 color photos and 2 maps.
ISBN: 978-0-88714-034-1. 1989. First printing. Order #: KCPU4628 paper $8.95.

CANYONLANDS: the story behind the scenery (UT). Johnson.
Geologic wonderland of rocks, spires, mesas, Indian petroglyphs at Utah National park. Color photos, 48 large-format pages.
ISBN: 0-88714-034-3. 1993. Third printing. Order #: KCPU3823paper $8.95.

 

 

THE CAÑONS OF THE COLORADO-- the 1869 discovery voyage down the Colorado River. by Major John Wesley Powell.
Note the word cañons in the title would today be spelled canyons but we have preserved the usage from the time when this voyage was made and written about by the major himself. From Wyoming, into Colorado, through Utah, to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, and to Nevada--this was the journey of the "Colorado River Exploring Expedition", what Powell called his group of 9 men and 4 boats as they began charting what was the last major unexplored part of the then United States. The trip was not only scientific in its goals, but it naturally became a grand adventure, with two of their party opting to leave the expedition before attempting a furious cascade, only to be killed by Indians. Much of the land and scenery which they drifted or dashed past is today included in National Park System areas.
Illustrations are by Thomas Moran and others. 64 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
.ISBN-10: 0-89646-059-2. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-059-1. Order #: VIST0059 paper $4.95.

CANYON COUNTRY OFF-ROAD VEHICLE TRAILS: Island Area. by F.A. Barnes.
Covers the large area west of Moab, Utah, including the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park, listing and describing all of the backcountry access roads and 29 (most)of the major off-road vehicle segments. This is a land of unusual, often spectacular scenery including tall cliffs, narrow (even slot) canyons, desert landscape, spires, arches, colored rock, occasional wide rivers, more common dry sandy wash streambeds and potential heat and flash floods or wet and slick dirt roads. Trail notes give times and distances with notes on special features to see and situations to negotiate, often with notes on abandoned mines or settlements and geological features. Photographs, drawings, maps, 96 pages.
ISBN: 0-915272-15-6. 1978. bent cover. Order #: WASA1679 paper$4.95.

 

CANONS GRANDE: visions of the Grand Staircase. by Lynn Wilson, Jim Wilson, & Jeff Nicholas.
Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Parks--famous landmarks to subtle details are presented as a celebration of this landscape in all its moods. The staircase is a region of Utah and Arizona in which the landscape steps in broad levels due to underlying geologic factors, exposing at the Earth surface varying rock types that themselves give rise to unusual scenic formations. Chart showing interrelationships of geologic formation in the steps separately bearing Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce. Nearly 100 color photographs, 96 pages.
ISBN: 0-939365-09-X. Order #: SIER1281 paper$12.95.

CAPITOL REEF: the story behind the scenery (UT). Olsons.
Colorful, bold rock formations, desert plants, man at this Utah national park. 69 color photos, 48 large-format pages.
Inventory = 1. ISBN: 0-88714-043-2. 1992. Sixth printing. Order #: KCPU0727 paper$8.95.

 

 

 

DEVILS GARDEN TRAIL GUIDE: Arches National Park (UT). Canyonlands Natural History Association.
Trail leads to seven arches, provides views of several more, overlooks Fin Canyon, and wanders through the habitat of plants and animals that have adapted to this arid climate of Utah desert. Arches seen are Pine Tree, Tunnel, Double O, Landscape (with a span of 291 feet, largest in the world), Partition, Navajo, Wall. Tells how arches are formed, identifies geological formations and plants of this desert environment in Utah. Map shows trail, indicates approximate hiking time (one-way) of 2 hours and a distance of  2 1/4 miles, although arches are seen all along the way so one can take a shorter hike. Photographs, map, 21 pages.
ISBN: None. Order #: CALA2202 paper$3.95.

 

DINOSAUR: the Dinosaur National Monument quarry. by Linda West & Dan Chure.
Fossil quarry plus geology of rocks and nature of dinosaurs contained in them. Discovery of this rich fossil bone deposit in Utah and early excavations. How the bones were deposited and preserved, the colossal beasts that were buried and revealed through painstaking toil to become displayed in international museums. How scattered bones and fragments are reassembled into once-living forms and speculation on the functions of ancient structures and how the dinosaurs "made their living" before their extinction. Color illustrations, 40 large-format pages.
ISBN: None. 1994. Order #: DINO2313 paper$7.95.

 

DINOSAUR: the story behind the scenery (UT). Hagood.
Fossil bones in fantastic quarry, river canyon, wildlife, history of Utah/CO National park. 65 color photos, 48 large-format pages.
ISBN: 0-916122-10-7. 1981. Fourth printing. Order #: KCPU4006 paper$8.95.

 

 

 

GLEN CANYON--LAKE POWELL: the story behind the scenery(UT). Everhart.
Canyon geology, native Americans, fishing, boating, dam history of Utah national recreation area. 69 color photos, 48 large-format pages.
ISBN:0-916122-85-9. 1983. Order #: KCPU0724 paper$8.95.

 

 

 

#GLEN CANYON--LAKE POWELL IN PICTURES: the continuing story (UT). by Denny Davies.
The Lake Powell shoreline is 1,960 miles long yet the huge lake is only 13% of the park's 1.25 million acres of rugged attractions.  Open this treasure trove of fascinating sights, sounds, and sensations. 9x12, 48 pages, 70 color photos & 2 maps.
ISBN: 0-88714-066-1. 1992. Order #: KCPU8021 paper$11.95.

GRAND CIRCLE ADVENTURE. by Reed.
Parks and monuments in southern Utah and Colorado, northern Arizona and New Mexico--desert and rockscapes, Indian sites. 72 color photos, 48 large-format pages.
ISBN: 0-916122-94-8. 1983. Order #: KCPU0726 paper $8.95.

 

 

THE GUIIDE TO AN AUTO TOUR OF ARCHES NATIONAL PARK. by National Park Service and Canyonlands Natural History Association..
Describes arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other geologic oddities along the roadways of this national park in Utah, explaining their origins and giving history of arch formation and collapse. Rock types are explained both as background to help understand the arch structures but also to know more about how Earth processes of erosion and sedimentation produced the original material that became the sandstones and shales of the region and in which the unusual features are carved. The role of upward movement of salt domes to create upward pressures on overlying earth is explained as are faults that have moved segments of the Earth into new positions. The pioneer Wolfe ranch is identified at one spot. Photographs, map, 28 pages.
ISBN: None. Undated. Order #: CALA2201 paper $3.95.

A GUIDE TO NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT, UTAH. by Canyonlands Natural History Association.
Nature and history at points along park roads of Utah site. Points out and describes the rocks and several bridges, trees, wildlife, and Native American heritage of this desert area. Photos, maps, 45 pages.
ISBN: None. Order #: CALA2204 paper$3.95.

HIKING IN ZION NATIONAL PARK: the trails. by Bob Lineback.
Describes 18 of Zion's more popular trails such as Narrows, Angels Landing, Weeping Rock, Emerald Pool. Trail distances and hiking times are given as well as difficulty ratings, seasons, and use levels General information is given for hiking in this region of varied habitats, narrow canyons with potential for flash flooding, steep ascents and extreme dropoffs, lightning,  campsites, hiking and backcountry ethics and rules. Color and black-and-white photographs, map, 48 pages.
ISBN: 0-915630-24-9. 1988. Order #: ZION0673 paper$3.95.

 

LAKE POWELL: a photographic essay of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (UT). by Anne Markward; photos by Gary Ladd.
An artful pictorial display of the ordinary, unusual, and spectacular rock and scenic features of this region perhaps unique in the world--from intimate details to wide landscapes--arches, ripple-marks, Native American rock art, and reaches of the great reservoir. Color photographs, 96 pages.
Inventory =1. ISBN: 0-978-0-9441-97-29-5. 2009. Order #: MOPR6855 paper $24.95..

 

 

LIVING COLOR: wildflower communities of Bryce Canyon & Cedar Breaks. by Hayle Buchanan.
Organizes the plants of these two National Park System areas in Utah into habitat groups and describes their appearances--size, color, stem and leaf characteristics--to help identify them and thereby get to know their stories. Plants may be on the breaks, in the ponderosa pine forests, on high plateau sagebrush, in fir-spruce-aspen forest, growing in subalpine open semi-moist meadows, or in subalpine marsh meadows. Another type of area is timberline forest, and there is even alpine tundra in one locality. Index of species and references. Drawings and color photographs. 66 pages.
ISBN: None. 1979. Order #: BRCA6355 paper$6.95.

 

MAJOR JOHN WESLEY POWELL: voyage of discovery--the story behind the scenery. by Dan Murphy.
Travel with Powell on his harrowing 1869 journey of exploration to descend the Green River to the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. 9x12, 64 pages, 63 color photos, 28 maps.
  ISBN: 0-88714-059-9. 2001. Third printing. Order #: KCPU8090 paper$12.95

 

 

PLANTS OF ZION NATIONAL PARK: wildflowers, trees, shrubs, and ferns. by Ruth Ashton Nelson.
Introduction explains how to use the book and describes vegetation zones and habitats as well as blooming seasons as factors useful in identifying plant species. Plants are described by families with habitats, uses, physical characteristics, and specific places in the park where they are likely to occur. Drawings and color photographs further enhance learning about the individuals. Common non-native plants are listed and common roadside flowers are noted by season and color. There is a glossary and references. 333 pages, index.
ISBN: 0-915630-01-X. 1976. Order #: ZION1256 paper$12.95.

 

RAINBOW BRIDGE: the story behind the scenery (UT). by Gary Ladd.
The largest natural rock span on Earth, Rainbow Bridge almost seems lost in a chaos of slickrock canyons, cliffs, pinnacles, cracks, and domes.  See its beauty in all four seasons. 9x12, 48 pages, 65 color photos, 2 maps/diagrams.
ISBN: 0-88714-136-6. 1998. Order #: KCPU8049 paper$11.95.

 

 

REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF ZION NATIONAL PARK. by Roland H. Wauer.
Lizards, snake, salamanders, toads, and frogs of the cliffs and canyons of this national park in southern Utah. Tells where to find the animals below the plateau of Zion and upon the plateau and more precisely within the various habitats of these places and what species may be expected. Common and scientific names are provided and there is a checklist and index of the species present. All 33 species of these creatures are described with notes on how and where they live and their identifying characteristics along with a color photograph. Map, 55 pages.
ISBN: None. 1964. Order #: ZION1878 paper $4.95.

 

 

RIVER RUNNER'S GUIDE TO CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK & VICINITY: with emphasis on geologic features. by Felix E. Mutschler.
Mileage logs--with emphasis on geology: Green River from Green River, Utah, to confluence of Green and Colorado Rivers; from above confluence to Hite, Utah; from Moab, Utah, to the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. River guide with explanation of rock types, ages, and characteristics. Charts of geologic formations with geologic eras and ages. Glossary, references, photographs, river maps, 99 pages.
ISBN: None. Order #: POSO1165 paper $4.95.

 

 

A STORY OF LIFE AT WOLFE RANCH; Arches National Park. by Maxine Newell.
History of pioneer living in the Moab, Utah area. In 1906 John Wolfe brought part of his family from Ohio to establish in what is now Arches National Park a 100-acre ranch and a one-room cabin, now gone, but with the next edition still standing near the Delicate Arch Trailhead. Ranching provided beef as food and for trading with prospectors and Indians and a small dam furnished water for a garden of vegetables. There are tales of family dynamics in this area of rugged living from folks with a "civilized" path and of educating their own children. Supplies were ordered by catalog and received four times per year after a day's ride. In 1975 Wolfe Ranch Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a reminder of pioneer life in the western desert. Photos, 27 pages.
ISBN: None. Order #: CALA2203 paper $3.95.

THIS IS ZION. by Allen Hagood.
An interpretation of a colorful landscape in picture and story--geology and the erosion cycle. Presents a pictorial approach to the park's geological story--a theme of beauty in stone with much information on the origin of Zion landscapes. Zion's rocks in its cliffs and canyons were originally sand dunes, which were buried deeply, hardened, uplifted, then eroded into their present form, their sand grains once again released heading down the Virgin River to perhaps repeat the cycle. Color and black-and-white photographs, 74 pages.
ISBN: 0-915630-06-0. 1969. Order #: ZION1879 paper $6.95.

TIMPANOGOS CAVE: window into the Earth. by Stephen Trimble.
Utah national monument--natural and human history of this cave in the Wasatch Mountains. Begins with geologic setting in Mount Timpanogos, explores the cave itself, its dripstone formations and how they were formed and their various minerals, cave life living without light, how the cave was discovered and developed for use, plus life in the adjacent canyons and valleys and the regional story. 28 color photos, 48 pages, map.
ISBN: 0-911408-64-9. 1983. Order #: SOPM1323 paper$6.95.

VIEWS OF CEDAR BREAKS. by Beth Gilcrest.
National monument in Utah comprising of a deep natural amphitheater that exposes colorful red and purple cliffs eroded into spires, columns, and arches. Text explains the geologic origin and also their scenic wildlands above the rim of the break. Plants and animals and the changing seasons are introduced including park use in winter when road access is lacking or limited. Chart explains distribution of native species by altitude in life zones. Color photos, maps, 16 large-format pages.
ISBN: 0-915630-19-2. 1982. Order #: ZION1877 paper $4.95.

ZION: A Wish-You-Were-Here Postcard Book. by Sierra Press.
15 postcards of the cliffs, canyons, potholes, streams, mesas, spired of this southern Utah national park, each with interpretive information about the plant life included and the geologic nature of the rock that caused the formations to be eroded in such shapes. Plenty of room is left for writing your own note and for a send-to address. In book format, color photographs.
ISBN: 0-939365-33-2. Order #: SIER0513 paper $4.95.

ZION: A Wish You Were Here Postcard Book. by Sierra Press.
15 postcards of the cliffs, canyons, potholes, streams, mesas, spired of this southern Utah national park, each with interpretive information about the plant life included and the geologic nature of the rock that caused the formations to be eroded in such shapes. Plenty of room is left for writing your own note and for a send-to address. In book format, color photographs.
ISBN: 0-939365-14-2. Order #: SIER3291paper $4.95.

ZION: the story behind the scenery. Earley & Schaack.
Surveys this Utah national park and its features of scenery, geology, wildlife, and history. 48 large-format pages, color illustratrions.
Inventory =1. ISBN: 0-916122-07-7. 1981. Sixth printing. Order #: KCPU6882 paper$8.95.

 

 

ZION IN PICTURES: The Continuing Story (UT). Jackson.
History, wildlife, scenery, human use of southern Utah national park. Color photos, maps, 48 large-format pages.
ISBN: 0-887147-031-9. 1989. First printing. Order #: KCPU4237 paper$8.95.

 

 

 

List of National Park System areas in Utah:
(books available for areas with links)
Arches National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
California National Historic Trail
Canyonlands National Park
Capitol Reef National Park
Cedar Breaks National Monument
Dinosaur National Monument
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Golden Spike National Historical Park
Hovenweep National Monument
Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
Natural Bridges National Monument
Old Spanish National Historic Trail
Pony Express National Historic Trail
Rainbow Bridge National Monument
Timpanogos Cave National Monument
Zion National Park

VISTABOOKS HISTORY REPRINTS--
Utah national park areas
(in stock: for quantity orders, go to vistabooks.com):
also available on ebay and ebid

THE CAÑONS OF THE COLORADO--the 1869 discovery voyage down the Colorado River. by Major John Wesley Powell.
Note the word cañons in the title would today be spelled canyons but we have preserved the usage from the time when this voyage was made and written about by the major himself. From Wyoming, into Colorado, through Utah, to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, and to Nevada--this was the journey of the "Colorado River Exploring Expedition", what Powell called his group of 9 men and 4 boats as they began charting what was the last major unexplored part of the then United States. The trip was not only scientific in its goals, but it naturally became a grand adventure, with two of their party opting to leave the expedition before attempting a furious cascade, only to be killed by Indians. Much of the land and scenery which they drifted or dashed past is today included in National Park System areas.
Illustrations are by Thomas Moran and others. 64 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
ISBN-10: 0-89646-059-2. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-059-1. Order #: VIST0059 paper $4.95.

C.P.R.R.: the Central Pacific Railroad. by Charles Nordhoff.
Reprinted from Marvels of the New West,1882. This is the epic story of building the line across the Sierra Nevada of California, the deserts of Nevada, and the salt flats of Utah to meet the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point on May 10, 1869. Rail fans and history buffs have access today to historic parks and museums at the ends of this line in Sacramento and Promontory Point and along the way at the Donner Lake State Park. There is also an article explaining train travel by passengers at this early date. Period engravings. 48 pages. See sample pages, illustrations.
ISBN-10: 0-89646-097-8. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-097-3. Order #: VIST0097 paper$6.95.


ROCK ART OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN. by Campbell Grant.
This book surveys the myriad rock paintings and carvings--numbering possibly some 15,000 sites--pecked into and painted onto boulders and rock surfaces throughout North America by its aboriginal artists. With photographs and drawings on virtually every page, this book presents the rock artists through the work they left--illustrating their extraordinarily diverse techniques, styles, and subjects. Meanings of the designs are discussed, and their roles in hunting or puberty rites interpreted. Major rock art sites are located, and methods of recording, preserving, and dating them are indicated. Author Grant has done rock art books on the Chumash Indians, the Coso Range, and Canyon de Chelly. 192 pages + 16 page color insert. Large-format.
ISBN-10: 0-89646-084-3. ISBN-13: 978-0-89646-084-3. Order #: VIST0084 paper$12.95. See sample pages, illustrations.
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