Zion National Park

Zion… where to start? We spent 8 nights here, warming up from the cool weather at the preceding parks, goggling at the other visitors (some of which were experiencing their first time outside), and fervently refreshing the recreation.gov page to secure tickets to the shuttle into Zion Canyon. We also continued our bedtime routine of listening to the Snow Crash audiobook (even though I had just finished re-reading it the same week).

We arrived at the Watchmen Campground on April 2nd. Although on a map the campsites all looked very close to each other, it turns out between the loops was a change in elevation – so being on the edge of one loop and adjacent to the other wasn’t bad at all. We had a campsite close to us on one side and one opposite (where of the 8 nights, maybe 2 nights someone was there), and a campsite on the other side, but further away. We set up our tent so we couldn’t see the adjacent site and it worked out great. Although we did have a string of noteworthy neighbors...

The first was a group of seven or eight college students, who stayed up past quiet hours cavorting loudly (who also broke various other campground rules). Vitali angrily told them around midnight that they could play trivia tomorrow (insert angry Grandpa Simpson meme here). Then we had an anti-vaxxer family. Their kids would start yelling so we would put on music at a pretty subdued volume and then THEY would put on music LOUDLY. Then there were the Eastern Europeans who were fine neighbors but we overhead them fail at booking the shuttle and we felt bad. Then there was the date and third wheel -- two guys and a girl. They pulled in and were already fighting. It sounded like the girl wanted to end the relationship because the guy did something to piss her off but he didn’t know what… they packed up and left (I thought for good) and then showed up again a few hours later. The couple went on a walk somewhere and left the third wheel all alone with camp not set up. Vitali felt bad and gave the guy a beer. Later that evening the two came back and set up their tent (incorrectly) and then sat around the campfire in silence, frequently pouring lighter fluid (?) on the fire. Fun! Conclusion: Site C5 is cursed.

To speak more broadly about the park – we entered from the East through a historic tunnel – if you were oversize AT ALL, you had to pay a fee for traffic control and a ranger would shut the tunnel down for one way traffic only. Approaching from the east looks somewhat similar to Capitol Reef in terms of colors and geometry, although there was a lot more texture in the rock here – layer upon layer of sandstone, like thousand layer cake. At the mouth of the canyon lies the town of Springdale, which was well planned as it pertains to public transportation and very cute. There was a shuttle from down the strip to the entrance of the park, as well as a bike lane. Lots of restaurants, outfitters, and one lone grocery store where prices were 2-3x more expensive than normal. We spent $90 on two bags of groceries…

Rewind a few days -- On the summit of Navajo Knobs we talked with some folks and the topic of Zion came up – apparently there was a shuttle that required reservations beforehand. Hmmm, good thing we found that out.

Zion itself encompasses a large wilderness area, the Kolob Canyons and Terrace, and the Zion Canyon. Passenger vehicles aren’t allowed in the canyon during peak season (except to get to the lodge if you’re staying there), so there is a shuttle system – and because of covid, the shuttles required reservations and run at 50% capacity. There is also very limited parking inside of the park – whenever we’d go into Springdale and come back the lines to get into the park were always long – even with the highway sign saying ‘parking in Zion full, turn around’. We were lucky to have the parking inside the park.

On our first full day we went back to the other side of the tunnel to do the Canyon Overlook trail – which overlooks the lower canyon. Lots of people, even at 7AM. We saw some mountain goats too! Then we came back to camp and did the trail near the campground – the Watchmen Trail – which ascends a few hundred feet to an overlook, which was also beautiful, and also full of people trampling off trail. It was rocky and steep and we ran back down, which was a ton of fun. People move out of the way when you come running!

We planned on spending the weekend doing non-canyon things so the crowds would hopefully die down and be less competitive – but we were curious how difficult it was to get the shuttle tickets so we attempted and ended up getting a pass for the next day. The NPS releases maybe half the tickets a few months out and the other half the day before at 5pm. Springdale and the Watchmen Campground had strong cellular service but I suspect because of the amount of people all using the network it ended up being unreliable. HOWEVER, I did have one spot of reliable coverage, inside the tent on top of my bed, facing east. So we were fortunate to be able to refresh at 17:00:01 and grab tickets for 7AM the three times we tried (although I suspect that 7AM was one of the less popular times) with all tickets being sold out in a minute or two every day. I saw posts on alltrails of people asking if anyone had shuttle tickets available… The other options were to rent a bike ($50/day), rent an e-bike ($90/day), pay for a private shuttle, or to walk (8 miles to Temple of Sinawava). We would have liked to rent bikes but it seemed overly expensive.

On Sunday we did Angel’s Landing, just in case securing the tickets was a fluke. Very fortunately we got an early start – 7:15 -- and was ahead of the crowds to get up there.

It was about 1,500’ of elevation gain over 2.5 miles, with two sets of multiple switchbacks. One at the start with maybe 10 switchbacks to get up to Refrigerator Canyon, thusly named because the orientation of the canyon keeps the area mostly in shade and thus cool; and then ‘Walter’s Wiggles’, named after the park's first superintendent, 21 short switchbacks up to Scout’s Lookout (where everyone and their mother was congregating).

It’s a class 3 climb from there to the summit but the NPS has attached poles and chains to 75% of the route so it was a very easy scramble. Vitali and I agreed we were expecting something a little more strenuous, or longer, or more exposed. Not to say that it wasn’t strenuous or there wasn’t exposure – but the way it’s hyped up, we were expecting more.

I later went down a rabbit hole on the internet about men whose wives fell off cliffs under suspicious circumstances at various national parks. More than one!

The view from the top was awesome, but coming back down when the way up was starting to get clogged – less so. The trail is frequently one person wide – so people stack up waiting for one direction to clear. People will sometimes try to go around which I could see creating dangerous situations. One girl was in tears at the summit, and another was clutching the chains like it was going out of style. Back at Scout’s Lookout maybe 100 people were milling about.

On Monday we thought we’d go up to Cedar Breaks National Monument and visit the Kolob Canyon area of Zion. I realized en route that Cedar Breaks was still closed for winter being at 10,000’. Oops. We were only a few miles past Kolob when I realized though. The hikes to the forks of Taylor Creek were closed due to a rockfall so we just did the scenic drive and a short hike to an overlook.

It was somewhere around this time that Vitali invented the $2 camp shower – a 2 liter bottle of water with holes cut in the lid. There are no showers in the park but it was also hot enough to shower outside! I think we got close to 90 for a few days and then it cooled down a bit to the 80s. One other weather oddity was every night just before dawn (I conjecture) the cold air settles down into the valley and gets funneled out – creating very impressive winds. Once the sun greets the valley the wind stops.

On Tuesday we took the shuttle again and did the Kayenta Trail to the Emerald Pools, which was short and sweet – beautiful waterfalls at the lower pools and the spring at the upper. We saw a few turkey vultures too.

On Wednesday we drove into St. George where I got my filling adjusted (it had started bothering me more and more since I got it in March), and we picked up a dry bag for our sojourn into the Narrows the next day.

When we got here I knew about the toxic algae bloom (cyanobacteria) and that the NPS was recommending against all skin contact. Apparently a puppy was playing in the water last July and then 30 minutes later it got very sick and died. This alerted the park to the presence of the bacteria. I had done a little research about going on the hike with this happening-- and it seemed like getting your feet wet wouldn’t cause any harm to adults. With the temperature of the water (high 40s), and the algae bloom, it seemed like a good idea to protect as much as possible. We ended up renting a full dry bib and canyoneering shoes, and a (broom) stick for $54 each. These guys are making a killing... Very fortuitously I accidentally reserved the bib that is 100% waterproof versus just from your ankles up, so our feet didn’t even get wet.

It was very obvious who was going to do the Narrows – you could spot the waddling fishermen carrying broomsticks, and everyone was wearing the same shoes. We were the only folks on our bus that morning with the outfit but when we got to the trailhead it was already pretty busy. We stopped by the restroom and witnessed a mother/daughter meltdown where the little girl was having a hard time with the bib and the mother was getting more and more frustrated until a full on wrestling match started to shake the toilet partitions… Vitali nearly had a meltdown too.

The Narrows -- as famous as it is – was not fun! Type II for the first 30 minutes and then no fun for the next 3 hours. We did it at 49 CFS which is apparently “fun” (as opposed to “moderate” between 60 and 90 and “athletic” at 90-120. Pfff. If I didn’t have the stick the current would have swept me off my feet several times. The stick was a tremendous help. For hiking purposes, we were fortunate that it was so low, as it’s fed by snow melt but there was not much snow this year.

So imagine trying to walk in flowing water, ranging from ankle deep to mid thigh, although mostly up to your knee. The bottom of the river is round boulders, ranging from the size of a loaf of bread to the size of a beach ball. The boulders are slippery and you cannot see the boulders. This was maybe 60% of the hike, the other 40% being in the same conditions, but on dry land instead of underwater. Following the centerline of the Virgin River, the trail is 4.7 miles to Big Spring where dayhikers must turn around. Reality however is a little different, crossing back and forth to find the path of least resistance. We clocked around 10 miles roundtrip, maybe .5 miles short of Big Spring.

The canyon itself was spectacular – but a little hard to stop and admire when you have to be fully focused on where your feet are going. We pretty quickly got to the head of the pack and were very lucky to experience maybe a mile or two with only a few people just around the corner of the canyon before and behind us. We got through “Wall Street” and as far as the Sipping Turtle and a little bit past but the water got deeper than our bibs and we had to turn around.

The hike back was no fun at all. Once we got within a mile of the trailhead, things got crazy. Scenes from the walking dead – hordes of staggering zombies coming upriver towards us, flailing, tripping, and cooking in the sun.

On Friday we went out to the Pipe Spring National Monument, which centered around a historic fort built by Mormon pioneers (on top of the only year-round water source in the area…) attendant outbuildings, and orchards. The family lived inside the fort and as far as I can tell a large amount of time was dedicated to the production of butter and cheese. Cowboys lived on site too, taking care of the herds which would go on to permanently alter the landscape. A cowboy might make $25 a week, which would buy a good saddle, and the “hired girl” who mostly made pies for travelers (at no charge!) made $2 a week.

On Saturday we packed up early and drove out to the East Mesa Trailhead and hiked to Observation Point, which had a spectacular view of Zion Canyon, Angel’s Landing included. Angel’s Landing closed on the 7th and 8th for repairs but apparently the repairs went long. You could see people queued up on the flat portion of the final ascent, waiting for it to open that afternoon!

Overall, it was great to have all that time in the park. It gave us an opportunity to be a little more chill about getting to see things. We did miss quite a bit though -- some areas of the park were being repaired after a rockfall two years ago. I think two weeks in Zion with everything open would be a good amount of time, a little bit more if you wanted to do the Zion Traverse (permits required).