DID YOU KNOW? Zion National Park is 229 square miles of red rock landscapes and receives 4.3 million visitors a year. It is home to 79 mammals, 8 species of fish, 32 species of reptiles/amphibians, and 289 species of birds.
Our trip to Zion National Park was beautiful, fun, and way too short! We awoke early to make our way out of Hurricane, UT. Wowzah was that a deep valley town with steep drop-offs for Mom to have to contend with from behind the wheel of Kram-a-lot Inn! She pulled it off, but it was white knuckle-driving for her both going in and coming out. Springdale is the town outside of Zion that provides shuttle service to Zion National Park Visitor Center. We arrived early and still had to stuff ourselves into an already crowded bus for the quick trip to the Visitor Center where we stood in line for a lengthy period of time before catching another crowded shuttle that takes tourists through a scenic drive in the park, allowing them to hop off at various stops to hike, take pictures, etc...
I was astonished at the number of people visiting Zion, particularly when considering that the school year had been underway for awhile. Eventually, we remembered that October 9th is Columbus Day, which meant that kids were out of school and many people had the day off work. Every shuttle we rode over the course of the day was crowded, with people standing sometimes when there were no straps to hold onto. We ended up as part of the standing crowd a couple of times, and even when we were fortunate enough to find seats, there was still no personal space because of the number of folks crowding in. Apparently Zion is a well-traveled national park!
Zion is stunningly beautiful! The scenic drive was filled with magnificent red-rock mountains and delightful greenery. Our first activity was hiking to (but not through) the Narrows...the narrowest section of Zion Canyon and one of the most popular places to hike. The actual Narrows hike is through the Virgin River and we weren't prepared for that part of the hike, so we took some pictures and found a nice place on the river to sit for lunch.
My ultimate favorite part of our time at Zion was the three-hour trail ride that some of us went on up into the mountains. Our wonderful guide, Lance, was very knowledgeable, and being out in the mountains on horseback was incredibly relaxing. We rode over 7 1/2 miles and climbed over 600 feet in altitude. This ride was unlike any other trail ride we've been on; we crossed both a river and a creek, rode up mountains, followed the trail along the edge of cliffs through fields of sage (AKA, the Cowboy's Perfume) and past a number of hikers. I won't lie. The trail was pretty rough in areas, and I couldn't help but be glad that Mom, Dad, and the littles had opted out of the ride. They wouldn't have enjoyed it as we young adults did! It was quite an adventure, and well-worth the achy muscles that followed the next day.
All in all, Zion National Park was a lovely place to spend the day, and definitely made it onto my list of places I would love to return to someday.
Until next time, God bless!
We loved our time at Zion this summer along with a bazillion other people😂😂 It’s super gorgeous, yet super crowded. I have a friend who goes in the winter months when it’s not as crowded.
That looks like it came straight from a black-and-white Western!