@ Zion National Park

Our favorite and last park was Zion.
I can't wait to go back.

Getting There
Where to Stay
The Trails
Weather
Links for Info

Getting There

Coming from Bryce Canyon, we backtracked west on the 12 and then south on the 89 to the Mt. Carmel Junction and took the 9 west. The 9 goes through the park. We entered the park from the East end; it only took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get there from Bryce Canyon. What's really cool about Zion is you enter from the east end on this beautiful, two-lane, super-windy road that leads you slowly into the canyon, showing you new postcard-like views of cliffs, rock formations, and vistas at every bend. It passes you through one rock-hewn tunnel and one very very long concrete tunnel that passes under a whole mountain! There were lots of of tourists stopped alongside the troad excitedly taking pictures of everything. You drive right past the much-photographed Ccheckboard Mesa, and the road often abuts directly on giant rock formations. The road itself is this neat reddish color that blends beautifully with the landscape as it winds like a snake through the park. Park entrance is $20 , and lasts 7 days. What a deal.

Where to Stay

We stayed at the Zion lodge, which is in the middle of the park, at the base of a towering rock mountain and bordering a rushing river. There are other places to stay besides the Zion Lodge, but none are in the park like that. There were deers in the lawn and we had the most incredible view. No TV. The Zion/Springdale area was also the first place I was able to find a real salad, a cup of real coffee, and several juice bars!! Until then, I was dealing with lots of iceberg, swill coffee and stodgy meat products. Bleck. Compared to the restaurants we were dependent on in the GC and Bryce, the Zion Lodge offered real cuisine -- good wines, excellent salads and incredibly fresh breads, fish, etc. Elegant white tablecloths, candles, and two forks were a sight for sore eyes. We also saw some interesting looking places to stay in Springdale, especially a new-looking place called "The Desert Pearl."

The Trails

We hiked these trails:

Weeping Rock -- hardly a trail it was so easy; takes you to a massive cavity in a cliff face that "weeps" a rain of water that has seeped through hundreds of feet of rock, making small deposits on the rock face and lots of hanging gardens.
Emerald Pools (all of them) -- involved some climbing but done in an hour and very rewarding -- a series of pools and waterfalls you just can't believe. Of course, the upper pool is the best.

Mountain Lion-smell was everywhere, and we saw a few tracks and a lone, gnawed-off deer leg just off the trail!

Temple of Sinawava -- hardly a trail -- it is one-way, paved and so short. It takes you alongside the Virgin river and is the starting point for most Narrows hikes. We looked longingly up the river frome the end of the Sinawava sidewalk, knowing that the famous Narrows were just a mile or so from us, but the current was fast, the water was high, and the river would have probably frozen us. We needed to buy some aquatic hiking shoes anyhow; we'll be back.
Hidden Canyon -- strenous but short ... a couple miles straight up one of those rock mountains to an amazing overlook. I hear that a waterfall cascades down one wall in parts of the year, but there was no waterfall when we went. We got caught in a snow squall up there that vanished as soon as we ran pell-mell back down the trail. We were soaked and felt rather silly for climbing so far and running back down like that. We didn't know how short the squall would be.

As we explored the park, we saw a few rock climbers, rode giant mules (three hours!) past the 3 Patriachs (2 appear below) to Sand Bench; not a good trail for hiking -- 'too thrashed from mules and horses), and hiked to waterfalls, viewpoints, and towering rock grottos.

If we had had two days and my hamstring wasn't so thrashed from the GC, we would have hiked to Angel's Landing (super-high elevation), hiked the Narrows to Orderville, and tried some rapelling. It was really cool too to see the geological layers of rock at Zion with the understanding of the Grand Staircase I got from the Grand Canyon ... you see some rock similar to the GC's upper layers at Zion -- same colors, behavior, shapes, etc.

Weather

Try to go off-season, because the Zion employees warned me that late spring through summer is really really crowded (they told me this with groans of dread). Fall is gorgeous, by the way -- the colors are truly spectacular. We went in the last week of March, and I could tell flowers will be blooming like crazy there in about two weeks ... they told me that many of the cliffs turn into "hanging gardens"

at that time --- totally green and choked with new life. Lots of the foliage we saw was still brown and grey from winter temperatures. The spring growth lives only a few weeks though. By summer, the flowers are gone and many of the meltwater waterfalls dry up. Be prepared for very unpredictable weather though, especially in Spring ... some of the riding guides told us that weather forecasts are invariably inaccurate and that it could be sunny and warm one minute and snowing the next. Our guide, Darrell, told us that, "one time, me and the boss were sitting outside the trailer in April and we had our summer duds on -- short-sleeves and all, and it was hot -- and all of a sudden, this cloud came over us and it was snowing ... in April!"

If you're planning to head to Zion, check out Snap.com's nifty weather planner -- it will tell you anticipated weather months in advance, but don't count on it!

Links for More Information

What's "The Narrows"? What's "Orderville"? Orderville is both a nearby town and a section of the Narrows. For info on the section ofthe Narrows called Orderville, read these pro-rappeller's trail log: http://www.cpsc.suu.edu/users/christen/orderville/orderville.htm

What's "Rapelling"? Check out these Utah rapeller's wonderful site! http://www.cpsc.suu.edu/users/christen/oldindex.htm

Area Park's guide to Zion: http://areaparks.com/zion