Arizona/Utah Trip – ZION NATIONAL PARK
We visited Zion National Park in 2015 with our boys, but we were only there for 2 days and it definitely needed more. With our boys we hiked the Narrows and it is still one of the top experiences of my life. With this trip though we wanted to see all the other stuff we missed the first time. First off the drive into Zion from the East was gorgeous. The Mt. Carmel Scenic highway is nothing short of grand. Everything is big and beautiful.
We stopped first to hike the Petroglyph Pools. There is no signage, but there were cars along the side of the road and a pull out. When we got out of our car we met a gentleman who also told us about some slot canyons in the other direction. I am not one to miss a slot canyon, so we found the petroglyphs and then headed out in search of slot canyons. We found two, but not the third narrow one he spoke of. We lost our water jumping over a stream, got a little lost and grouchy by the end of this hike. We re-grouped, ate, hydrated, made apologies back in the car and were ready to set out again.
Next stop was Lower Pine Creek Waterfall hike. Again not marked or even officially listed, but it’s at the pullout at the bottom of the switchbacks after driving through the very cool tunnel. This was more of an obstacle course than a hike and very fun!
Our second day in Zion we spent the morning in the Kolob Canyon area of the park, then we picked up our E bike rental from Ebikes Zion and hit the trail. The Zion Canyon Scenic drive is only serviced by the shuttle buses, but you can rent bikes and ride it. What a great way to see the park! We stopped at the Court of the Patriarchs, lots of rock formations along the way and then on the way back at the Emerald Pools hike. We were too gassed to do Angel’s Landing, but felt like we had a full day!.
We flew home out of Vegas which was a 3 hour drive. We got there early so we drove out to the desert to see the Seven Magic Mountains art installation. To cap our trip off, turns out our pilot was a friend who I haven’t seen for 30 years – it was amazing to see him and catch up in the jetway!
