Zion National Park

After beautiful Bryce Canyon, we headed to the last of the ‘mighty five’ National Parks in Utah, Zion National Park. This park is a little different from many of the ones that we have been to so far. Most of the parks have a scenic route with various pullouts and parking areas showcasing the beauty of the park. At these stops, there are trails of various lengths taking you closer to the sights. These scenic routes allow personal cars and you are able to travel them at your own pace. This allows us to bring Cole along and often, there are some trails that he is allowed to enjoy. At a minimum, he can enjoy some new smells as he walks around the parking areas.

Zion, unfortunately, does not have this feature. Because it is an actual canyon, the roads are narrow and the parking at the stops is minimal. Instead, there is a shuttle bus that takes you to the end of the canyon and back with multiple stops in between. There is also a shuttle that goes through the adjacent town of Springdale to bring visitors to Zion.

For this park, I went early in the morning and took the first shuttle (6:00 AM) to the end of the canyon road, then worked my way back to the entrance. I saw some beautiful sights along the way.

At my second stop, the Big Bend stop, I was the only person there with one of the rangers (it was early!). I got to talking to her and she said that this was the area of the park that the condors liked to hang out. This area is literally a bend in the road with towering rock on all sides. The ranger indicated that because of the rocks, the winds at the high levels made it easy for the condor to teach their offspring how to fly. I was taking some pictures, when I noticed that she took an antenna looking item out of her car. I thought perhaps she was trying to get a cell signal! When I asked her what it was, she explained that all of the condors have bands on them that have radio frequency signal senders. She was using the antenna as an extension to the receiver to see if any of the condors were in the area. How cool is that!!

The Weeping Rock stop has unfortunately been closed for several years because of a rock slide. It appears that it may never open again. The next available stop was the Grotto. This is a picnic grove area, that used to be the end of the canyon road. From here I hiked down to the Zion Lodge. The lodge looks like a really cool place to stay and right in the middle of the action! These guys thought that maybe they would jump on the shuttle bus and head down the canyon.

There were plenty of other beautiful spots. Below is the Court of the Patriarchs. Watching the sun come up on these guys was amazing.

Next, I headed to the museum stop and from there, I hiked down to the visitors’ center. This was a great little hike.

If you like to hike, this is a park for you. I suggest that you get there early and bring a jacket. When I got there around 6:00, there was already a lot of people in line for the shuttle. I was really surprised that I was able to get on the first bus. When I got back to the visitors’ center several hours later, the line for the shuttle was all the way back to the parking lot. There must have been several hundred people waiting for the shuttle. So go early!