 |
| Zion National Park |
Today, we headed into Utah. After an early lunch at Dairy
Queen, we continued on towards Zion Nation Park. There is a shuttle bus that
takes you around the park (April through October) and since the parking lot
area is small there is also a shuttle bus that picks you up at different places
in Springdale. We parked along the side of the road and did not have to wait
long for a shuttle to pick us up. The shuttle then dropped us off at the
pedestrian entrance to Zion NP. Our first stop was the visitor center to get my
passport book stamped. We when loaded onto the shuttle bus and took it to the
last stop of the park “Temple of Sinawava”. Along the way the bus gave
descriptions of each stop – names of rock formations, trails, etc.
 |
| Riverside Walk - entrance to The Narrows Trail |
We hiked the Riverside Walk at the Temple of
Sinawava site. It was by far the busiest of all the hikes that we took. The
Riverside Walk trail leads you to the start of The Narrows Trail. We did not
hike The Narrows Trail – mostly because we did not have water shoes with us (the
trail is in the river part of the way). The Narrows Trail is a highly recommended
trail, per my research. Our next stop was the “Weeping Rock”. It was a short
but steep hike up to the Weeping Rock. The rock itself was not that impressive,
but it did offer a nice view of the park. Hopping back onto the bus, we headed
to the “Zion Lodge” drop point. From
there we hiked the “Lower Emerald Pool” trail. The trail was not too difficult
but in my opinion, I would not recommend the hike, there really was not a lot
to see. Continuing back towards the visitor center, the buses were getting more
and more crowded – the park probably had a few more visitors than normal since
it was a “fee free weekend” at all NP sites. Normally the cost is $25/vehicle
or $12/pedestrian.
 |
| Lower Emerald Pool |
The next shuttle stop, we decided to visit was the “Court of
the Patriarchs”. Again the trail was very short, but steep. From the end of the
trail one was rewarded with a very nice view of the patriarchs – Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. We hopped on the bus one last time and since it was so packed
we got off at the next stop “Canyon Junction” and hiked the “Pa’rus” trail to
the Zion Human History Museum. The museum had a nice video. We then continued
the on the trail back to the Zion Canyon Visitor Center. The trail was okay –
there were nice views, but in general it was not very shaded. All in all I
think we got to see pretty much everything that we had planned to see.
 |
| Pa'rus Trail |
After leaving the park we headed to our next accommodation –
Cedar Breaks Lodge in Brian Head, Utah. The Lodge was nice. We had dinner there
since there was not really anywhere else to eat in the area. The prices were a
little high, but the food was good. Brian Head is mostly a ski town, with a lot
of different ski slopes. A local said that it never gets too busy – so if you
are interested in skiing you might want to check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment