Zion National Park

Last July when we embarked on this journey and made a mad dash to Las Vegas to meet Max, Paul, Stacey, and some other friends at a pool tournament there, we wanted to go to Zion National Park while we were “in the area.” It was still kind of in the Covid RV boom, so prices for parks there were outrageous. And there were really no vacancies anyway, so we had to skip it. Prices are back to normal now and parks are not as full, so we finally made it!

We stayed in Glendale, which is about half way between Zion and Bryce Canyon. This allowed us to visit both in the same week. I took the week off so that we could explore multiple days. Monday, we drove to Zion NP. It was about a 20 minute drive to the east entrance. We had read in multiple places that one thing we absolutely had to do was go through the tunnel. We had even talked to a couple the week before that had just been there and they said the same thing. So once we got into the park and were driving along ogling the scenery, we rounded a bend and saw a sign that said, “Tunnel Ahead.”

The tunnel was quite tall and wide and was only about 40 yards long… We were confused. That wasn’t very exciting. LOL! Turns out that was not the tunnel everyone was talking about. That one came a bit further along the drive. This one is narrow, long, and dark. They have a guard at each end and if you have an oversized vehicle, they have to stop traffic and let you through because 2 normal sized vehicles can barely pass each other, much less an oversized vehicle.

We tried to get pictures in the tunnel, but it was so dark none of them came out very well at all. The tunnel is over a mile long and has no lights. There are a few openings along the way where you can see out but they do not allow stopping in the tunnel so when we tried to take a pic while driving by the difference in pitch black in the tunnel and bright sunlight outside made them turn out terribly. That sure is a lot of talk about a tunnel I can’t even show you a picture of. So, here are some pictures from down below of the openings in the tunnel walls. Suffice to say, it’s a must see if you ever go. If you look closely you can see the openings in the tunnel wall up on the face of the cliff. It gives you an idea of what the tunnel is traveling through.

The first day we went, once we got into the park it started pouring down rain. There were flash flood warnings and they were warning people not to go hiking or they could get swept away in the floods. So we just drove around and looked at the scenery and went to the visitor center.

The second day we went was Tuesday and the weather was beautiful. Most of the hiking is in an area of the park that you cannot drive to. You can only get there by shuttle. We parked at the visitor center to catch the shuttle. Which is no easy feat because there are always signs everywhere saying parking is full. They’re not lying. Parking is full. You just have to drive around and catch someone leaving. You can go into town and park for $40 then catch the free shuttle back. But we’re cheap.

The first hike we took on was kind of 3 hikes in one. The emerald pools lower, middle, and upper. To be honest, the actual pools were not all that impressive. But the views getting there sure did make up for it. Once we reached the upper pool, we sat and had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while we enjoyed the view. Then we backtracked a bit and took another trail a little over a mile back to the road. Then we took another trail back to where we got off the shuttle. I think it was about 6 miles total and part of it was pretty steep.

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We were going to go back on Wednesday, but after 6 miles of hiking the day before and a lot of it uphill, we decided to rest a day. Thursday we went back. We started out with an easy 2.2 mile hike. Riverside walk that ends at the narrows. We didn’t hike the narrows because it was mostly in the river and we didn’t bring or rent waterproof boots. It was really a beautiful hike.

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Once we completed that hike we decided to finish the day hiking the west rim trail. As far on the easy scale as riverside walk was, this one was almost as far on the strenuous scale. 4.2 miles round trip and it felt like straight up just about the whole way. We kept trying to get a picture that showed just how steep it was. Not sure if any of them really did. It was also very apparent why the description said long drop offs, not for small children or anyone afraid of heights. At one point we stopped to rest and have a sandwich and a chipmunk came and begged us to share. Sorry buddy. No feeding the critters.

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Total hiked that day was a touch over 7 miles. And according to my Apple Watch, the equivalent to almost 100 flights of stairs climbed. We were pretty sure we would be tired and sore the next day but surprisingly we were not. Friday we went to Bryce Canyon. But I’ll save that for another post. I’ve probably rambled on long enough for this one.

The rest of the pictures can be found in a gallery on our main gallery page, if you’re interested.

If you’ve made it this far, tell us what you think!