ST. GEORGE — Exploring Utah’s best beat-the-crowd travel destinations has become more entertaining and effortless thanks to an update to an app.
The Natural History Museum of Utah Explorer Corps app got a facelift for its passport program of 29 unique locations statewide.
Beth Mitchell, senior manager for external relations at The Natural History Museum of Utah, told St. George News they have launched an updated Explorer Corps app that delivers users an enhanced experience.
The new app uses personal profiles created to track visits to marker locations automatically. Mitchell said this lets travelers update their logs easily and progress toward Explorer Corps rewards, while they last.
Mitchell noted sites were chosen for the program with input from local officials, tourism operators, the Natural History Museum of Utah research teams, curators and collections managers. The museum started the Explore Corps program in 2020 and went live in the summer of 2021.
“We were looking for spots of natural or cultural history significance in each county,” Mitchell said. “Confluence Park was a really good source of natural history landmark for Washington County.”
The Natural History Museum of Utah Curator of Archaeology Lisabeth Louderback helped choose Washington County’s site. It is the meeting place of Ash Creek, LaVerkin Creek and the Virgin River. Mitchell said thousands of years ago, ancient inhabitants grew crops there.
The location would draw wildlife and produce a variety of plants and vegetables. The Virgin Anasazi and Southern Paiute Indian cultures were the first to inhabit the area, she said. Today it is known as Confluence Park in LaVerkin.
“I think what we found in Confluence Park is something that either is out of the ordinary, something that is uniquely Utah, that’s not found anywhere else,” Mitchell said. “And we tried to find that with each location in each county in Utah.”
According to the Natural History Museum of Utah website, the growing of corn caught the attention of one of the first European colonists that visited the area. On Oct. 15, 1776, Spain’s Dominquez-Escalante Expedition stopped in Confluence Park. The priests hoped to find a route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Monterey, California.
During their stop, they found large ears of corn placed on a mat and small fields of corn still growing there. However, visitors of Confluence Park today will find no fields of corn being tended. The 344 acres of the park is a nature preserve, home to many animals and plants native to Utah.
Mitchell said the Natural History Museum of Utah is hosting The Ultimate Utah Road Trip contest to promote the app. Mitchell said thanks to the continued support from Salt Lake City-based Kellville Vans, road-trippers will have the chance to win one of two week-long adventures in a luxury RV of their choosing. The winner will be announced Sept. 5. She said additional support for Explorer Corps 2023 is from The Union Pacific Foundation.
“We are so excited to deliver Explorer Corps participants a fully updated app experience on iOS and Android,” Mitchell said. “I hope everyone will download the updated app and plan their road trips. Each summer, there will be limited Explorer Corps rewards for the earliest app users.”
Iron County’s site on the app is the popular petroglyph site called the Parowan Gap. Mitchell said most of the Parowan Gap comprises Jurassic rocks laid down by dune-covered deserts around 200 million years ago.
Other geologic formations exist, such as the Late Cretaceous Iron Springs Formation, which contains dinosaur tracks. But the reddish and orange stone of the Jurassic would play a critical role in the gap’s later history.
For those who visited markers with the former app or using the physical passport, Mitchell said they would transfer marker visits to the new app. Participants should delete the old app and download the new one for iOS or Android, creating a new profile.
According to a news release, to transfer visits, use this form to request visits be moved from the old app to the new one or to submit photos of your Passport Booklet or previous marker visits.
Please note that rewards are only accrued using the new app, but stops will reset yearly for multiple chances to win. Explorer Corps runs until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 4.
Here’s how to get involved:
- Download the Explorer Corps Passport or pick one up at participating libraries.
- Download the NHMU Explorer Corps App to your iOS or Android devices
- Enter the Ultimate Utah Road Trip sweepstakes for a chance to win one of two weeklong RV rentals from Kellville Vans for Summer 2024
- Share photos of your Explorer Corps adventures and experiences using #ExplorerCorps and get featured on @NHMU’s social channels.
Follow along @NHMU on Instagram and “Like” the Natural History Museum of Utah on Facebook for weekly prize giveaways from Utah-based companies, including Albion gift cards, Klymit camping seat cushions, and a uniquely curated collection of T-shirts, hats, stickers and other summer swag.
Visit this webpage for more updates and information on the Natural History Museum of Utah’s Explorer Corps program.
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