Zion

Sunday, October 16th, 2022

The campground host at Bryce Canyon notified me that I would be the last camper there, as the day after, they were closing so the National Park Service could start trimming and cutting trees. So, on the 11th, I hitched up before sunrise for a move towards Zion National Park.

I was heading for some possible dispersed sites on the west side of Zion NP. Highway 9 bisects the park on an east-west axis. However, there is a 1.1 mile tunnel on the east side that is a problem for large or taller camper trailers and RVs. Since the roof is curved, the vehicle may need to pass through on the yellow center-line. So a fee is charged and you get escorted through the tunnel as they hold traffic. In addition, the road is very steep with a number of switch-backs getting down to the park Visitor Center and the main canyon. This can be rough on tow vehicles and trailer brakes. It does not take much longer to go around to the west as a large portion of that drive is on Interstate 15. The scenery is good either way, as you pass through Red Canyon. The drive takes about 2.5 hours.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has designated the dispersed sites near Zion as “designated”. This is to stay, they install a post and put a number on it. Your are expected to only camp where such a post and number exists. I turned off on a side road west of the town of Virgin (not sure whether it was named first, or the river that runs by it was the first) and set up at site number 55.

My site placed me about 15 miles from the Zion National Park Visitor Center. The crowds at the park can be large. I was originally going to skip Zion and head to Grand Canyon because of this. Vehicles can not drive into the park, other than to make the east-west traverse on Highway 9. Instead you must ride a shuttle bus from the Visitor Center into one of the stops along the route. I also had heard that finding parking at the Visitor Center or the gateway town of Springdale was difficult. That was an obstacle to even getting on a shuttle bus. Each morning I wished to hike in the park, required me to get up at 5 a.m., drive the 15 miles in the dark, park, and be waiting in the line for the first shuttle at 7 a.m.

The first trail I hiked started across the river from Zion Lodge. It passed Lower, Middle, and Upper Emerald Pools. The pools were formed at the base of cliffs where the creek fell vertically. The best of these is Lower, as the trail hugs the undercut cliff as you pass inside the fall. The Upper Pool is as far as you can go due to the cliff face. On the return, I veered off onto the Kayenta Trail with the intention of making a loop using the Grotto Trail to end up back where I started.

As I hiked upwards on the Kayenta Trail, I met a lady coming down. She asked if I had made it to the top. Since I had made it to the Upper Pool, I replied “yes”. But when I mention a pool, she looked at me in bewilderment. I realized she was referring the top of Angel’s Landing, notoriously one of the most dangerous trails in the U.S. At the start of her route, she had made a left turn instead of a right, ending up meeting me instead of Angel’s Landing. She was not happy finding out she had to retrace 2 miles of her steps, before another 4 miles on the correct trail. Eventually I came to the point where she made her mistake, where there was plainly a sign with titles and arrows pointing the way. Perhaps it was still a little dark when she was there the first time.

The next day, up at 5 a.m. I followed the same procedure, but to hike the River Walk towards The Narrows, the upper end of the canyon. There the Virgin River takes up all the room on the canyon floor, so to hike further requires wet feet, knees, and sometimes hips. I watched a large number of people start into the water. I stayed dry and turned back down the trail.

I stayed 6 nights at my campsite, hiking and sightseeing each day, and then was ready to go south through Saint George, into Arizona, with the next destination of Grand Canyon National Park.