Zion National Park

We stayed at Bauers Canyon Ranch Ave Park situated about 25 minutes from Zion and about 45 minutes from Bryce Canyon. Because we chose to be in the middle of those two parks we came in through the east entrance of Zion. The east entrance offers amazing views of the Checkerboard Mesa. This unique rock formation looks like it could have been hand carved. We wanted to hike the Canyon Overlook Trail but it was closed in early May, 2022 for maintenance.

Once you get the the main part of the park, you have to park your vehicle near the Visitors Center or in Springdale and catch the shuttle up into the canyon. There are 9 shuttle stops offering a variety of trails. When we visited, 3 of the stops were closed. The Pa’rus Trail, the museum and stop 7, the weeping rock trail.

On our first day in Zion went to stop number 5, the Zion lodge and hiked to the Lower and Middle Emerald Pools. This loop trail was easy to moderate in difficulty and was less than 2 miles round trip.

We also stopped at number 8, Big Bend which gives you a bottom's up view of Angels Landing and allows you to wander down by the river.

On our second day, we took the bus to stop #9, The Temple of Sinawava, which is where we started the Riverside Walk up into The Narrows. The Riverwalk is a 2 mile round trip paved and wheelchair accessible journey next to the Virgin River. At the end of Riverwalk is a short set of stairs leading down into the water. From there we hiked in and out of the water up into The Narrows.

The water was cold however the excitement of the adventure and the opportunity to frequently walk on the bank of the river kept us warm enough to continue. The hike is considered strenuous and technical as we had to maneuver with the fast moving current, up to waist high water and slippery rocks. If you hike to Wallstreet, which we did not do, it can be almost 9.5 miles round trip and take up to 8 hours.

We wore regular water shoes or tennis shoes and fared just fine. The park does offer equipment rental that can keep you warm and dry and even provides a walking stick, which would make the hike a bit easier. My water shoe broke half way in and so Jonathan gave up one of his socks and I wore that over my water shoe to hold it together for the rest of our hike in and out of The Narrows.

We didn't make reservations ahead of time to hike Angel's Landing, but my son registered for the last minute lottery and won the opportunity to hike. The boys decided to make a man's day of it and spent the day on this once in a lifetime difficult hike. The winding switchbacks up to the Scout Lookout are a test of your lung capicity and don't require reservations or a permit. The chains section up to Angels Landing is the part that will test your fear of heights as the path is nearly vertical at points with difficult footing and there are other sections aproximately 3 feet wide with 1000 foot drop off's on both sides. Many sections have no chains or fall protection earning this trail it's ranking amongst the most dangerous hikes in the world.