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Show each side is set off by the deep green of wall-to-wall meadow grass. On the north end of Hop Valley the deep grass gives way to undulating sand-and the stream that feeds the meadow slowly disappears before us. KOLOB CAVE. A recess 300 feet wide, 200 feet high, and 100 feet deep, this enchanting cave overlooks La Verkin Creek about a mile and a half upstream; from our base camp. Only experienced climbers should attempt to gain the cave, but all can view it from the trail to Beartrap Canyon. SANDSTONE BED POOLS. This area has no formal name. Sandstone bed pools does, however, describe what is found here: a series of pools that is formed when La Verkin Creek washes over a bed of sandstone about an hour's hiking time downstream. The rhythm of the water in the smaller pools creates a sitzbath, or whirlpool, effect on tired muscles. The broad sandstone banks offer inviting benches for warming and tanning. KOLOB ARCH. Now established as the world's largest natural span at 310 feet from base to base, the arch is 230 feet from the base to the top of the arch at mid-point, and 208 feet to the arch's underside. The "bridge" is 65 feet wide. It stands off the canyon wall (distance out from shelf) an even 50 feet. Beneath the arch grow five species of trees: oak, juniper, birch, fir, and western yellow (ponderosa) pine. With the park's diamond jubilee just around the corner-the summer of 1984- and with a major part of that celebration the opening of a visitors' center at the Kolob Canyons entrance, park officials recognized the need to have an official measurement of Kolob Arch. Still, with funds stretched too thin to |