Located in southwestern Utah, Zion National Park encompasses some of the
most scenic canyon country in the United States. Within its 232 square miles are
high plateaus, a maze of narrow, deep, sandstone canyons, and the Virgin River
and its tributaries. Zion also has 2,000-foot Navajo Sandstone cliffs, pine- and
juniper-clad slopes, and seeps, springs, and waterfalls supporting lush and
colorful hanging gardens. The rock layers have been uplifted,
tilted, and eroded, forming a feature called the Grand Staircase, a series of
colorful cliffs stretching between Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. The bottom
layer of rock at Bryce Canyon is the top layer at Zion, and the bottom layer at
Zion is the top layer at the Grand Canyon.
Getting there ...
We had an early morning flight to Las Vegas and it's an easy 3-hour drive to Zion.
As the 3rd most visited national park in US, Zion is a popular destination
year-round (4.69 million visitors in 2022). From March to November, the
park implements the
Zion Canyon shuttle bus system, and the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to
private cars, unless you are staying at the
Zion Lodge. We booked 4 nights at the Zion Lodge, and we were given a
code to open the gate when we need to enter to Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.
Although we can only drive up to the lodge, we did feel privileged to drive
along the scenic route to enjoy the canyon by our own pace.
The First Day ...
- After checked in the Zion Lodge, we went back to the Canyon Junction and
walked a little bit on the Pa'rus Trail in the warm late afternoon light.
Day 2 (5/2) ...
- Zion - Mount Carmel Highway
- Canyon Overlook
Canyon Overlook Trail is one of the most popular
trails in Zion, but has very limited parking spaces. We drove from the
lodge at 7:30AM (so we also got good early morning lighting on the Zion -
Mount Carmel Highway) and we were extremely lucky to get the last park space
when we got to the trailhead. Canyon Overlook Trail is an "easy"
1-mile (round-trip) hike with several rocky sections and some steep
drop-offs. It ends at an amazing viewpoint overlooking Zion Canyon
with view of the West Temple and Towers of the Virgin.
- East Mesa Trail to Observation Point
We drove to the east of the park
to Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort
to have a hearty breakfast before we boarded a shuttle to the East Mesa
Trailhead to hike to the Observation Point. There are 2 hiking routes
to the Observation Point: 1) East Rim Trail from the Weep Rocking in Zion
Canyon (8-mile round-trip, 2150 ft. elevation change), or 2) East Mesa Trail
from outside of the park (7-mile round-trip, 700 ft. elevation change).
In fact, the East Rim Trail (#1) is not accessible from the canyon anymore
due to a major rockfall in 2019. The hike from the East Mesa Trail is
much easier and is much less crowded than anywhere else in Zion. From
the Observation Point (2300 ft above the canyon floor), you can look down on
the Angels Landing and the Virgin River winding through the valley, and the
entire Zion Canyon is stretched out in front of you.
- Checkerboard Mesa
On the way back to the Zion Canyon, we stopped by a
famous rock formation: Checkerboard Mesa, and we were lucky (again) to have
a parking spot just right next to the mesa (on the south side of the road,
not the main viewpoint parking lot) so we can actually go climb the
Checkerboard Mesa a little bit. The unusual crack pattern in the
sandstone hills resemble a grid much like you would see on a checkerboard.
The horizontal lines are caused by cross-bedding, a remnant of ancient sand
dunes. The vertical and sub-vertical lines formed by the contraction and
expansion of the sandstone caused by temperature changes, freezing and
thawing cycles.
- Zion - Mount Carmel Highway
Day 3 (5/3) ...
- Sunrise and early morning
The scenery behind the Zion Human History
Museum is incredible with the views of the West Temple and Towers of
the Virgin.
- Watchman Trail
We got to the visitor center at about 9:30AM and the
parking lot was already very full. We were lucky again to find a space
without circling too many times (while we saw many cars were still trying to
find parking spaces). Watchman Trail is a moderate hike (3.3 mile
round-trip, 368 ft. elevation change), and it provides panoramic views of
the Temples and Towers, lower Zion Canyon, Watchman Peak, and Springdale.
After the hike, we walked out of the park to Springdale to have a nice lunch at
Zion Canyon Brew Pub (with cool beers!).
- Emerald Pools
After some break in our room at Zion Lodge, we went
across the road to hike to the Emerald Pools. It's a popular and
crowded trail. When we got to the lower Emerald Pool, the weather
started to change and we could hear occasional thunders echoing in the
canyon. We decided not to continue to the upper Emerald Pool, but
turned around via the middle Emerald Pool Trail, which parallels the lower
trail but at a higher level.
Day 4 (5/4) ...
- Biking in Zion
We went to the visitor center before 8AM and it was so
easy to find a parking space at the best location. After a simple
breakfast (bagel + coffee), we rented our e-bikes at the
Zion Outfitter and we were ready to
go biking at around 8:30AM.
The bike route from the visitor center
to the end of the canyon is about 8 miles (one-way) and consists of two
parts: 1) Pa'rus Trail from the visitor center to the Canyon Junction
and 2) Zion Canyon Scenic Drive from the Canyon Junction to the Temple of
Sinawava. The whole route was easy and safe (as we assumed...).
Unfortunately, after about 10 minutes of riding, Woanyu fell from her bike
and injured her ankle. After a photo stop, she lost her balance when
she tried to start her bike and the heavy e-bike fell on her ankle.
After sit down for a while to take a break, she could continue to ride but
still could not walk too much :-(
We decided to ride to the Zion Lodge and went back to our
room to put some ice on Woanyu's ankle.
- After about half an hour of icing her ankle, Woanyu felt much better and
was OK to continue our bike journey to the end of the Canyon Scenic Drive.
This part of Canyon Drive is particularly scenic and riding bikes was truly
the best way to enjoy the towering cliffs around you. At the end of
the road (Temple of Sinawava), I hiked a little bit into the Riverside Walk
(very crowded) to take some pictures while Woanyu stayed at the bus stop to
continue icing her ankle.
Riverside Walk is the starting point for the famous Narrows hike into the
canyon. However, early May is not a good time for the Narrows hiking
because the water flow is usually too strong due to snowmelt. For
safety, the Narrows can be closed when the river flow is over 150 CFS
(cubic feet per sec). For the week when we were in Zion, the water
flow were exceeding 3000 CFS!
After the leisured pace of bike riding, we headed back to
the Zion Lodge and had a nice lunch (taco buffet), and took the afternoon off in
our room (and it coincided with a windy thunderstorm well in the afternoon :-)).
After the much needed rest for Woanyu, we started our bike riding toward the
visitor center after 4:30PM to return our bikes, and had a dinner in Springdale
(Brew Pub again!).
Day 5 (5/5) and Next ...
We had a relaxed morning and started driving out of Zion at about 9AM.
When we exit the park, the line waiting for entering the park extended probably
more than a mile crossing the most of the town Springdale. Although our
Zion journey was going to end, but our trip was not over yet. We were
heading back to Las Vegas for Woanyu's high school reunion event (35+1) over the
weekend. We had a few more activities in the next couple of days:
Hiking at Valley of Fire (5/5),
David Copperfield Magic Show at MGM Grand (5/5), group hiking at
Red Rock Canyon (5/6), Pool
Party at Mandalay Bay Beach (5/6, girls only), dinner part at a suite at Delano
(5/6, girls only), walk around Las Vegas (5/7),
FlyOver Las Vegas (5/7), and
finally fly back home with more than 2 hours of plane delay (got home after 11PM
on 5/7)....
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