Zion National Park (Utah)

The east entrance to Zion National Park is just 2 hours west of Bryce Canyon. We entered the park in the early afternoon and drove to the Canyon Overlook Trailhead. A relatively short hike leads to the amazing Pine Creek Overlook above the Great Arch, where you can get an impressive view of the National Park from above.
The Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel is one of the oldest and longest tunnels in the USA. We drove through it to reach the main canyon of the national park. Most of the park is only accessible by public transport. A bus operated by the National Park Service goes up and down the canyon, stopping at all the trailheads and overlooks. It was late in the afternoon and we decided not to go further into the canyon that day. Instead we tried to get lucky and find a campsite in a national park that is usually booked up three months in advance. Well... we were lucky! The ranger at the campsite had two spaces left by people who had just cancelled their reservations. We asked if it would be OK if we took one of them and parked close together. I half expected him to say no, but he was actually happy because it meant he could give someone else a pitch. We paid $20 for the night for all of us. Great success.
The next day we headed into the main canyon. First we walked to one of the lower bus stops. The area was full of plants, a refreshing sight after weeks in the desert.
Arriving at the bus stop we found out that not all bus stops are served in both directions... We had to take a bus back to the entrance, get off, wait in line and get back on the same bus. But it didn't take too long and the walk was worth it as we even saw our first tarantula on the way! 🕷️
The bus took us to the end of the road, the start of the famous Narrows walk. Unfortunately we couldn't do the whole walk as we didn't have the equipment. Most of the walk is in the river! So everyone has proper shoes and trousers. In the evening we found out that we could have rented them outside the park at the south entrance... However, we walked as far as we could without waterproof clothing and got a glimpse of the adventurous trail that followed the easy hike.
On the way out we walked to the three emerald pools. The trail went up and down the west side of the Virgin River valley. It was beautiful, but it would have been more interesting if there had been some rain in the weeks or months before we visited.
In the evening we left the park, had burgers at the local brewery and found a free campsite not far from our next destination: Red Rocks, Nevada.Leggi altro