Hiking and Exploring the Paria River : Including The Story of John D. Lee and Mountain Meadows Massacre

This is a hiking guide to the Paria River drainage of southern Utah. The upper part of the system begins near Bryce Canyon National Park, and flows south to the Colorado River and Lee's Ferry. Lee's Ferry is not far below the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Many people have now heard of the hike down the Paria, but there are many less-known and less-visited parts of this drainage included in this book.

This guide covers the entire river system, including a couple of mountain climbs in the far north, plus the dozen or so slot canyons in the middle and lower end. The more famous slot canyons are Bull Valley Gorge, the scene of a pickup wreck (still lodged in the slot) which left 3 hunters dead. Also,Round Valley Draw, the Buckskin Gulch and of course the Paria itself. This 3rd Edition includes for the first time Coyote Buttes and its best know part, The Wave, an international destination for fotographers. For this edition, 16 pages and several new hiking areas have been added, plus the author re-hiked many canyons and updated all of them. This editon has 178 fotographs.

As in previous edtions, the history of early-day ranchers and cattlemen are included. The history of gold miners at Lee's Ferry and around the old ghost town of Pahreah is also discussed. And the best story of all is that of John D. Lee, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre (about 120 people were killed), and his life on the run from Federal authorities. It was John D. Lee who was sent by the Mormon Church to the lower end of the Paria River to hide out and build & operate a ferry across the Colorado River. His entire life story is told.