Angels Landing, the Altar of Sacrifice, the East Temple, the great White Throne, the names of Zion's landmarks reflect the mood of awe and reverence that so impressed early settlers and visitors to this wondrous canyon, carved through solid rock by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Nowadays that mood of tranquility is sometimes tarnished by traffic jams and throngs of visitors. But with proper planning, early-morning, late-evening, and off-season tours, visitors can still experience the Zion of old.

Occasional sounds then interrupt the silence: birds sing from the cottonwoods that line the river; leaves rustle in the breeze; here and there water trickles down the canyon cliffs and splashes into tranquil pools. But mostly there is an all-pervasive hush, a serene silence that provokes grand thoughts and the contemplation of eternity. Hemmed in by sheer walls that soar straight upward for 2,000 feet or more, mere humans gain a new sense of perspective as they stand beside the stream that carved such wonders.

Water colors all of our perceptions of Zion, for in addition to creating the canyon itself, it is water that brings the park to life. The streamside woodlands along the Virgin River and its tributaries cover only a small fraction of Zion's total acreage. Yet the cottonwoods, box elders, and ash trees beside the watercourses shelter the park's greatest wealth of wildlife. Cool and shady, the woodlands are also favored by humans as vantage points for viewing the park's rock formations. In spring and summer we see the red sandstone cliffs within frames of brilliant green cottonwood leaves. Later the golden leaves of autumn accent the colors of the rocky walls, and in winter we see them through the twisting tracery of bare but living twigs and branches.

Water, surprisingly, is present too on the cliffs themselves, trickling down from innumerable seeps and springs high on the canyon walls. The moisture is the outflow from a vast invisible reservoir held in pore spaces in the 2,000-foot-thick Navajo Sandstone that makes up much of the canyon walls. Water from rain and snow that fall on Zion's uplands seeps slowly down through openings in the sandstone until it reaches a layer of impermeable shale at the base, then flows sideways atop the shale to emerge at the so-called spring line found along much of Zion's walls.

Many of these seepage points support lush green oases of ferns and wildflowers, inhabited by all sorts of water-loving animals. At dripping springs on sheer walls along Narrows, for instance, lives the Zion snail, a species that developed in this moist haven in the desert and is found nowhere else in the world.

The best-known oasis, however, is Weeping Rock, so named for the multiple little streams of water that sprinkle like tears from the overhanging rock. The short hike to Weeping Rock, a favorite destination for many park visitors, affords a seemingly endless variety of experiences. Along the way you can marvel at the myriad hues of wildflowers, sample the flavor of a canyon wild grape, listen to the surprisingly goatlike bleats of canyon treefrogs, and savor the refreshing coolness of the rock's dripping tears.

Because of all this unexpected dampness within the confines of the canyons, we tend to think of Zion as much more lush and alive than it really is. The effect is heightened because we must travel across broad expanses of sparsely vegetated desert to reach the sanctuary of the well-watered canyon floor. By contrast with the desert, the springs and streamside woodlands seem all the more verdant and inviting.