Zion Canyon

Exploring the canyons. Everybody heard of the Grand Canyon before, but we decided to work our way up to it.

First stop was Zion Canyon. Again, I have to applaud the well organized American way, they just know how… As we approach the park, we could hear all the latest updates on the local radio station, informing us on where to park in Springdale, as there was no more parking available in the park. We stopped at Sol Foods to stock up on supplies for a late picnic lunch and a nice cup of coffee.

Springdale is a lovely small little town, with Zion bus stops every mile or so. There’s a free shuttle to the park but parking in town ($10) is clearly what keeps them afloat.

Don’t think that the shuttle will wait for you when they see you running towards them. If you were not waiting when they stopped, then you’ll have to just wait for the next shuttle. (It takes about 10 minutes)

We purchased the America the beautiful park card ($80), which allows 1 car & 4 people into most National parks. We were still planning to drive through Zion the next day and visit the Grand Canyon, so it worked out cheaper to get this card.

As we did not have a whole day to hike through Zion (it is advisable to plan for at least one full day) we started at the end of the route, Temple of Sinawa.

We hiked for 3km and then walked a small distance into the water towards The Narrows. It is really something else to see people cross a river carefree and trying to find their feet. Hubby dared barefoot, but I opted for my NewBalance offroad tekkies. If you go unprepared, you can rent walking gear, like sticks and fancy boots, at the entrance gate.

We counted about 20 squirrel beggers just at this point. You are not allowed to feed them and the fine is quite steep, if you get caught, but you always get those “bright sparks” that “know better”

We skipped Big Bend and stopped at the Weeping rock. This was a short hike. I think about 500m straight up. We didnt have time to rush to the observation point, aswell.

We skipped the Grotto and jumped off at Zion Lodge on our way to the Upper Emerald pools. We saw an elk grazing close on the trail and made friends with fellow admirers of nature. (They actually recognized my South African accent) Unfortunately there was an unexpected rainstorm the previous week, that caused a big rock to fall over the trail, so we could not explore much further. Angels landing was also closed off due to the rock.

So we loitered back to the shuttle and jumped off at the Museum. Their is a short movie, small museum, curio shop and a water refill station. We then went down to look for a perfect sunset spot next to the river. People were swimming in the river and loafed around, you just need a picnic basket to make this the perfect setting.

I think this was a good start to our canyon hiking trails.