According to ehangzhou, the state of Utah has been a household name in the capital, Salt Lake City, at least since the 2002 Olympic Games. The state has some mountainous regions where you can go hiking and climbing.
In Utah it is usually very warm and dry, but there is occasional rainfall in the mountains, but this is usually limited. In terms of culture, Utah has several art museums, with the Utah Museum of Fine Arts being particularly interesting.
However, when it comes to natural sights, there is a lot more choice in Utah, as there is no shortage of national parks in Utah. The Arches National Park and the Canyonlands National Park are particularly beautiful, with impressive natural spectacles, but the other parks are also always worth a visit. The Monument Valley is a private park, which is administered by Indians living here, so that one can get to know the Indian way of life and culture here.
Not to be missed are the many natural landmarks that are spread across the Utah area. Utah is a state of the USA that is really worth visiting, which not only looks back on a long history, but can also be seen in the truest sense of the word, be it in terms of nature or culture.
Utah – key data
Land area: 219,887 sq km (13th place of all US states)
Share of water surface: 3.25%
Population: 2.74 million people (2008 estimate, ranked 34th of all states in the United States)
Population density: 12.4 residents per square kilometer (41st place of all states in the USA)
Member of the USA since: January 4, 1896 (as the 45th state in the USA)
Capital city: Salt Lake City (180,651 residents, 2007, metropolitan area 1.10 million residents)
Largest city: Salt Lake City
Highest point: 4,126 m, Kings Peak
Lowest point: 664 m, Beaver Dam Wash
Governor: Jon Huntsman Jr. (Republikaner)
Lieut. Governor: Gary R. Herbert (Republikaner)
Local time: CET -8 h. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November: CET -7 h.
The time difference to Central Europe is -8 h in both winter and summer.
Postal abbreviation: UT
Utah Geography and Map
The state of Utah is located in the western United States. The capital is Salt Lake City. Utah’s nickname, The Beehive State, is said to go back to the Mormon work ethic.
The Utah area extends from east to west for a width of 435 kilometers. The north-south extension is 565 kilometers. Utah covers a total area of 219,887 square kilometers. The 4,126 meter high Kings Peak is the highest point in the state, the territory of which averages 1,920 meters above sea level. The lowest point in Utah is 6,000 feet at the Beaver Dam Was.
Utah borders Idaho in the northwest and to the northeast on Wyoming. To the east is Colorado. The neighbor to the south is Arizona. To the west, Utah joins the Nevada area. At one point, in the southeast, Utah meets New Mexico. There is a four-country triangle, also called Four Corners, where New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona meet. It is the only quadrangle of states in the USA and has a memorial, the Four Corners Monument.
Only 3.25 percent of Utah is covered by water. The Great Salt Lake has the largest share of these water areasin the north of the state from which the capital on its east coast owes its name. In the west and south-west, the greater than 10,000 square kilometers of the Great Salt Desert borders the lake.
The Great Salt Lake is at an altitude of around 1,280 meters and is on average 4.5 meters deep. Its length is around 120 kilometers; its width varies between 48 to 80 kilometers. The lake has three tributaries : the Bear and Weber Rivers, and the Jordan River. A railway line running through the lake divides it in half. Economically, the salt lake is used, among other things, to break down salts and minerals and to harvest brine shrimp. It also attracts many tourists every year.
The Great Salt Lake and Salt Flats region is part of the Great Basin, a large, arid area that stretches between the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range in the west and the Wasatch Range in the east.
The center of Utah is the Wasatch Range, a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. The mountain range is about 350 kilometers long and extends from central Utah to southern Idaho. Its highest peak is Mount Nebo, which measures more than 3,600 meters.
To the south, Utah has a small portion of the Colorado Plateau. It is shaped like a shallow bowl and criss-crossed by canyons, table mountains and faults, as well as columns and arches. This region is home to some of Utah’s wildlife sanctuaries, such as Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park.
Utah Landmarks
Utah has a wide variety of sights and attractions to offer its visitors.
So you shouldn’t miss the Salt Lake Temple. The temple was built from 1853-1893. It is the most famous and largest Mormon temple in the world. Another Mormon building worth seeing is the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. The foundation stone for the building was laid in 1864 and it took three years to build.
What is special about the tabernacle is that the building houses an organ with over 11,000 pipes.
The Mormon Temple is absolutely impressive. It was built entirely from white stucco in 1877.
The Kennecott Smokestack is also worth seeing. This is the chimney of a copper smelter, which is more than 370 meters high. In its early years it was considered the tallest chimney in the world.
Museum lovers shouldn’t miss the Springfield Museum of Art. It is the oldest museum in Utah.
Nature lovers get their money’s worth in Utah. A visit to Arches National Park is definitely recommended. The park has a size of approximately 296 square kilometers and is actually a desert land.
There are some rock formations and natural sandstone arches to be seen in Arches National Park. Canyonlands National Park has something similar to offer.
Other interesting national parks in Utah, in which one can experience a fantastic flora and fauna, as well as a wonderful landscape are the Bryce Canyon National Park, the Capitol Reef National Park, the Zion National Park, the Big Rock Candy Mountains and Monument Valley.
