Zion National Park......one of Utah's "Mighty Five"
It was an easy 162-mile drive from Las Vegas to Springdale, Utah, the gateway to Zion National Park. Although the drive was mostly along I-15, the scenery was really nice, especially as we passed briefly through Arizona and the Virgin River Gorge.
We stopped at Riggatti's Wood Fired Pizza in Washington, Utah. After being in Hawaii, California and Las Vegas we had been programed to put on our mask when entering any building. Utah doesn't have a mask mandate. When we walked in with ours on, we quickly realized that we were the only masked people in the restaurant (including workers). We quickly took ours off and laughed that we were glad that they didn't think we were robbers!
A few scenes from the road..........
Utah is a spectacularly scenic state and it's also the home of what is known as "The Mighty Five". The Mighty Five are Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capital Reef and Zion National Parks. In 2018 we checked all of The Mighty Five off the list. For this visit, we zeroed in on Zion National Park, in the southwest corner of the state nicknamed the Beehive State.
Happy to be back inside one of Utah's "Mighty Five"!
Which of the "Mighty Five" is the mightiest?
That's up for debate..........
......but Zion National Park......
can hold its own against any of the other four!
The origin of the nickname Beehive State dates back to July of 1847 when Brigham Young and the Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Legend has it that he chose the Beehive as the emblem to symbolize the kind of cooperative work that would be required to make the desert bloom. Although the percentage is declining, approximately 68% of Utah's population identifies as Mormon. The decline is mainly due to the influx of non-Mormons relocating to Utah, evidence that as the state continues to become more diverse it continues to bloom.
Zion became a national park on November 19, 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill into law making it a national park. Although just a swipe of the pen made it a national park, the amazing sheer cliffs that reach close to 9,000 feet didn't happen as quickly. They're the result of millions of years of geologic forces, along with wind, snow, ice, rain and changing temperatures.
Snow.......
Ice.......
and the Virgin River are a few of the elements that combined with a lot of time to create the masterpiece known as Zion National Park!
Zion National Park
Currently Zion National Park hosts about 4 million visitors per year. Thankfully, January/early February are "off season". Many of the local restaurants and shops are closed, but there are still plenty of options available for food and shopping. More importantly, the hotel rates are deeply discounted. We'll gladly trade a few less options, and chilly but comfortable temperatures (lows in the 30's and highs that ranged from the 40's to the low 60's), for basically having the park to ourselves.
During the summer The Silver Bullet would have had a lot of company on the roads,
and we would have had a lot of company on the trails!
During our stay we explored Zion daily. Some of it in the Silver Bullet, but most of the time by foot on some of the numerous trails scattered throughout the 229 square mile park. The days would end with long soaks in the hot tub followed by sitting around the outdoor firepit swapping stories with fellow travelers. All the while taking in the incredible effects of the changing light at the end of the day playing off the cliffs in front of us. Picture perfect endings to a national park that is about as close to picture perfect as you can get.
The Watchman Trailhead is located near the Visitors Center.
It's 3.3 miles round trip with close to 400 feet elevation gain along the way.
The trail is well maintained and listed as moderate. We agreed that it was an easy/moderate trail.
There are numerous trailheads along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. Parking at the trailheads is limited and the drive closes when the lots fill. Go early!
Along the Angels Landing Trail. The first mile or so of the trail is moderate. It then becomes a strenuous trail.
This is where we turned around on the Angels Landing Trail. We turned around because of the "ice age". It was reported that ice was on the trail above this point and we're a little "aged".
Crossing the Virgin River along the lower portion of the Angels Landing Trail.
There is a 1.1 mile tunnel (Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel) that connects the south entrance to the east entrance of the park. It's the longest tunnel in a national park. The "window" at the bottom/center of the picture is one of four along the tunnel. The windows were cut to allow air and light into the tunnel. The windows were also used to move debris during construction.
Just after passing through the tunnel (going east) is the Canyon Overlook Trailhead.
The Canyon Trail is a little over a mile long. At certain places along the trail, you really wish you had something to hold onto. At times the trail was narrow. Sometimes there were handrails, sometimes there were no handrails and a very, very long drop to the bottom!
Enjoying sunset with a few of my best friends. We really were joined by fellow travelers every night!
Taken at 5:40 PM
Taken at 5:46 PM. A nice example of watching the sunset light change the colors on the mountains
Goodbye from Zion!
