A Visit to Zion National Park

In October we checked off another item on our "bucket list" -- Zion National Park, in southern Utah. What a beautiful place! I can't believe it took me 68 years to see it.

Zion N.P. is a canyon that runs through a very mountainous terrain -- mountains that are primarily giant rock structures. 

There are two main roads through the Park-- one you can drive through in your car and one you can only see by taking the free shuttle. We did both over the space of two days.

The first day, we took the car on the winding road through the narrow tunnels about which there are signs well in advance warning away tall and wide vehicles. There are many places to stop along the way to view the scenery and take pictures. We drove all the way to the east entrance of the Park before turning around and heading home. 

On our second visit, we rode the free shuttle, which takes you on the scenic route where there are some pretty amazing rock formations (or mountains, if you like) with lofty sounding names like "The Grotto," the "Court of the Patriarchs," and "Temple of Sinawava," to name a few. Mark got a break from driving, and we even got off once and took a short hike up a hill to a viewpoint. That was the extent of our hiking, however. 

Our only frustration was the parking situation at the visitor center. We couldn't find a parking spot on our first trip in, arriving a little before noon, so we figured we'd have better luck if we arrived earlier in the morning. So on the second visit we showed up at about 9:30 in the morning and the lot was already full. This tells me they need a bigger lot. Fortunately, the little town of Springdale, which is situated by the south entrance, has lots of parking options. There's a fee-- anywhere from $20 to $40, depending on how close to the center of town the lot is-- but Springdale also has a free shuttle, so you can park at the edge of town for cheap(ish), get on the shuttle, and ride up and down the main street of Springdale. Then, you can transfer to the Park shuttle and ride it to the visitor center. And that's what we did on our "shuttle day."

If you like hiking, there are lots of hiking options, from easy to strenuous to you-need-a-special-permit-to-do-it (Angels Landing). We didn't do any this time around. Maybe next time. We did, however, make a final trip in to Springdale the following week and walked the main street, stopping in some of the shops and checking out their wares. I purchased the requisite refrigerator magnet and coffee mug... of course.

Enough talk-- here are some pictures of that majestic place...

Mountain goats

Checkerboard formation

The Patriarchs

Miniature topographical of the canyon. The blue
line is the road.

Mark enjoying an ice cream cone on our
walk through Springdale

We stayed at the St. George/Hurricane KOA through 
our RPI membership. This was the view behind us.

This was the view looking forward. It's a nice park, and
well kept, but the sites are very narrow and crowded.
We were here two weeks and had neighbors on
either side most of our stay.