Utah National Parks - Zion

We had a leisurely drive to Zion and shortly after entering the park, we stopped to do the Canyon Overlook Walk.  It was a short but steep and rocky walk up to a dramatic lookout above Pine Creek Canyon, which is perpendicular to, and runs into, Zion Canyon.

 

We loved the large and bushy campground.  It was also very close to the all-important Visitors Centre as well as a retail precinct just outside the park.  It was sheer luxury to be able to access a glass of wine, a decent coffee and groceries all within a 5-minute walk.

 

 

 

In the evening, we had a lovely chat with a couple from Melbourne, who had hired an RV and were following our itinerary in reverse.

At Zion you can only travel through the main canyon using the shuttle bus service.  Zion is an extremely well known and popular National Park, so the National Park Service banned cars about 20 years ago because the traffic jams were getting so bad. 

We were up early to begin a big day of hiking and started by taking the shuttle to end of the canyon road.  We did a beautiful, short and easy walk called the Riverside Walk that runs alongside the North Fork Virgin River.  The morning light was captivating.

The walk ends where one point of departure for a famous walk called The Narrows, begins. The Narrows was closed because the river was running too strongly. This walk follows the river and requires that you do a lot of walking in the river (in a wet suit).  It is normally done as a two-day, one overnight walk.

We got back on the shuttle and took it a little way back to The Grotto Stop, to commence a combination walk to Scout’s Lookout and then The Emerald Pools Loop. 

Scouts Lookout is the jumping off point for another well-known walk called Angels Landing.  There was no way I was going to tackle Angels Landing because it involves climbing steeply to a narrow ridge, which you need to walk along and is only 1 metre wide with sheer 300 metre drops on either side.  Since 1926 (when the walk opened), 20 people have apparently fallen to their death.  Dale kindly agreed that we would only go as far as Scout’s Lookout. 

Scout’s Lookout is also very high and requires a long, steep climb.  The trail starts by rising very quickly from the valley and has many curving switchbacks.  You reach and walk through Refrigerator Canyon, which you are supposed to do in silence because it’s a nesting area for Mexican Spotted Owls.

 

After that we reached a series of 21 incredibly steep and sharp switchbacks, called Walters Wiggles, that take you up to Scout’s Lookout.  From here you could see people climbing the first chained ascent up to the (death) ridge that goes on to Angels Landing.

The route up to Angels Landing

Looking back down over the sheer cliff to the river below

 

We loved the views of the valley and surrounding rock faces as we ascended and descended to and from Scout’s Landing. 

Having descended, we started out on the Emerald Pools Loop, but soon discovered that we couldn’t do the full loop because a bridge, near the end, had been blocked off.  So, instead we walked out and back to the Upper Emerald Pools.

This is the point to note that the major downside of Zion is its popularity.  There were a lot of people on the Scout’s Lookout/Angel’s Landing Trail and the walk to the Emeral Pools was heaving.  The walk itself was quite interesting but it would have been much nicer to have had some solitude.  It was like walking in a traffic jam. 

The Upper Emerald Pools are beautiful but they were diminished by the sheer number of people who were there.  

How we wished it looked

What it was actually like

We could not stop ourselves getting impatient with the number of inexperienced walkers taking on a moderate trail, that was somewhat harder than they were evidently used to.  We finished by traipsing along the Grotto Trail to snazzy Zion Lodge, where we thought we might sit down and have a coffee.  Unfortunately, it was way too busy, like the rest of Zion.

On Saturday we decided to drive out the southern exit of Zion and go an hour northwest to Kolob Canyons, which is part of Zion National Park but much less busy.  We walked the Taylor Creek Trail, which was just delightful.

It was incredibly tranquil and we often found ourselves walking alone.  Such a difference from the day before.  As a result, it was a very soothing walk.  It was only 8kms out and back and follows a shallow creek (that we had to cross about 50 times), surrounded both by forest and canyon walls. 

At the end of the walk, we arrived at Double Arch Alcove and its moss-covered grotto.

There were other people doing the walk and it was the only time that we encountered fundamentalist Mormons while in Utah.   The women and girls were wearing their heavy full-length pastel-coloured dresses, buttoned up to the neck even while hiking.  The men also seemed to have a uniform of white t-shirt under a plain single coloured long sleeved shirt and long trousers with a belt.  We were a little shocked to see them and didn’t want to ogle.  We made sure to say hello and smile and we did get one lovely smile and acknowledgment from one of the women.  The others ignored us.

We also drove to the end of Kolob Canyons and walked the steepish Timber Creek Overlook Trail.  It ended with views of Timber Creek, Kolob Terrace and the Pine Valley Mountains.

 

We drove back to the main part of Zion National Park and walked around Springdale, which abuts the southern entrance where we were camping.  There were some very nice galleries but we contented ourselves with window shopping and ice-cream shakes.

On the last day of our epic and unforgettable journey around the big 5 Utah National Parks, we did one moderate and one easy walk.

The moderate walk was the Watchman’s Trail and involved a steep but relatively short ascent above the campground.  It was an interesting walk alongside characterful rock faces and looked down on the valley below.  At the top we had views, north and south, along the North Fork Virgin River. 

 

The Watchman, after which the campground is named

Unfortunately, I tripped on a rock on the way down and we had to divert via the campsite to clean up the cuts and grazes.  Once my wounds had been cleaned, sanitised and bandaged we did the very easy Pa’rus Walk that followed the river upstream to the Zion Human History Museum.  The museum was uninspiring but we enjoyed the walk.

 

 

 

Possibly a Mexican Jay

We spent the afternoon packing down our tent and preparing for a quick getaway the next morning.  We slept in the car again that night.  

For our last camping meal we ate the emergency tinned food

We had a long drive back to Flagstaff on the Monday but made it back to Sandra and Gary’s in time to unpack the car, have lunch and return the car by 3pm.

We even managed to stop along the way to have a quick look at the impressive Glen Canyon Dam.