Zion – Part 2

Today was our travel day from Death Valley to our first National Park in Springdale, Utah. .. Zion National Park. It’s one of the most visited parks in the state, but has also been experiencing unprecedented numbers of visitors in recent years especially since the pandemic. 

The route was pretty much head down through both dry and depressing desert flat lands and the cultural shock of having to pass through Las Vegas with it’s casinos, ostentatiousness as seen by this paint job on a Tesla at our charging station at the Flamingo hotel!

ONLY in Las Vegas would one see this. 🙄

Joe being productive during our Supercharging. 

We were very glad that the speed limits were 75 in Nevada to get to the better scenery! But that also meant less efficient energy consumption. Glad we have the Y with longer range than our old S.

Whoa, talk about contrasts in a couple of hours and a couple hundred miles! We really had no idea what to expect but as we made our way on Highway 9 from St. George towards Springdale we were welcomed by the most incredibly brilliant mountain views on either side of Zion Canyon. 

We checked in to our hotel – Best Western Plus Zion Canyon Inn & Suites. What a perfect location that we didn’t appreciate fully enough until we were actually there. There were 2 Electric Charging stations for their guests and one can see the kinds of views we had. But the 2 highlights of our choice was that each room had pretty much a little kitchen nook with a counter, coffee maker, fridge with freezer, and microwave AND we were 1/2 mile from the park entrance (about a 15 minute walk). 

One can’t appreciate this proximity to the park is until you’ve been here. No vehicles are permitted inside the park 10 months of the year. There just isn’t enough parking within the park. Hence they require everyone to ride their extremely efficient shuttle busses. For a period of 2021, due to COVID restrictions, they had to limit the number of passengers on the shuttle busses so they created an online reservation system of seats on the shuttle busses. Thankfully that was discontinued at the beginning of September, 2021. Imagine traveling all these miles and then not being able to get a space on the shuttle bus to get in to the park. 

The distance from the visitors center to the first shuttle bus stop within the park is about 5 miles… something that no one would want to walk after having hiked all day. There is very limited visitor parking at the entrance where the shuttle busses depart from and it fills up early in the day causing further challenges for people who stay at hotels further away from the park entrance in Springdale. The town of Springdale operates a complimentary shuttle bus to take people from hotels along the main road in Springdale to the park entrance but it doesn’t hold that many passengers and doesn’t operate frequently enough to serve the numbers of visitors staying in local hotels that are not walking distance from the park entrance like we were. 

The weather forecast for Utah had changed radically forecasting much colder temperatures, rain (and snow), and flash flooding. Because of this forecast our ambitious hiking plans were at risk. 

So, after a rapid check-in at the hotel, we dashed out to 2 “must photo at sunset” spots. Both were on/off Route 9 outside of the official park area that is served only via the parks shuttle bus system. 

First was the bridge at Mt. Carmel Junction on Zion-Mount Carmel (route 9). As you can see, we totally ignored the sign until after we’d taken our photos. ☺️ Actually I didn’t see it until Joe pointed it out to me in this photo. So I plead innocent. The fall colors were at their peak for us that afternoon looking in both directions down the Virgin River from the bridge on Route 9 at Canyon junction. 

We continued on Highway 9 and through the famous Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Construction of the 1.1 mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel began in the late 1920’s and was completed in 1930. At the time that the tunnel was dedicated, on July 4, 1930, it was the longest tunnel of its type in the United States. Oversized vehicles (RVs, trailers, vehicles with racks on their roofs and some high vehicles) are required to pay an additional toll as the park rangers organize one-way traffic through the tunnel during the daytime hours. Look closely at the photo to the right and you’ll see a car entering the 1-mile tunnel. 

We managed to find a parking space just past the tunnel along the road close to the Zion Canyon Overlook Trail. This trail was written up as an excellent star gazing point — although after you see these photos of the trail I think you’d agree with us that even with a headlamp it might not be something many people would be interested venturing out on after sunset. Some parts of the trail had railings as the trail bordered the edge of the ravine which were very much appreciated… but the railings weren’t everywhere. 

We had spectacular views the entire length of the hike with multiple turns, twists, wooden walkways, views of arches carved in the cliff-sides and narrow cave passes. 

We hurried to get out to the overlook to benefit from the setting sun’s color effects on the cliff sides looking down in to the valley and the zig-zag of the highway far below. We’ve seen nighttime time lapses shot from the viewpoint with the cars headlights coming out of the blackness below. But they won’t be taken by us! 

We finally made it to the Outlook point (major toe tingler for Lisa). What a reward. The sun was just setting as we arrived and treated us to the most spectacular effects on the surrounding mountain tops and the valley below. 

There was a couple having their wedding photos taken at the edge of the viewpoint. What a great spot for a wedding photo shoot. I’m sure it’s been done quite frequently. Their hiking gear was stowed behind a rock but can you imagine her having hiked up in her wedding dress?  🤣

Hiking back down the trail we were fortunate to see a Desert Big Horn Sheep peer down at us. We were so pleased we’d made the effort to find a parking space near the trailhead, hike our way out to the viewpoint and back at what might have been the only sunset we’d have during our visit to Zion (more on that later). 

Another perfect ending to our day was this sunset at the Overlook Trailhead just before the tunnel.

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We woke on Friday to rain and flash flood warnings that would be in effect until 6pm. Flash flood warnings are not to be ignored in Zion. The month prior in about 45 minutes time of a torrential downpour mud flowed down from the cliffs pushed boulders in to the road and swept cars away in the Visitors Center parking lot. Thank heavens the park rangers evacuated all the campground in advance or it could have been much worse.

The rain started to taper off from downpour status to steady rain by about 4pm and so we ventured out to the park with the intention of just riding the park shuttle round trip as a reconnoiter and not get off. 

When we got to the end of the Scenic Canyon drive at Temple of Sinawava we decided to give the Riverwalk a go to the Narrows (which was closed). It’s an easy 2 mile walk to the start of the Narrows canyon section. The colors of the rocks were completely different (deep reds and blacks vs grey) and the waterfalls were flowing that normally would have been dry. To see so many waterfalls made the rainy hike worth it. It pretty much rained the entire time and was muddy but we had our rain jackets and hiking shoes but could have greatly benefited from warm hats which obviously, we didn’t think we’d needed so we left them behind instead of putting them in our backpacks. 🙄 Once again, it’s really hard to capture the magnitude of the cliffs that surround the canyon in photos. 

One benefit of the rain was that there were far less people out on the trail. 

We made it to the end of Riverwalk “trail” and the beginning of the famous “Narrows”. When the water flow is greater than 150 cu. ft/ sec they close the Narrows as it’s just too dangerous. When we were there the water flow was 330 cu. ft/sec and increased to 550 cu. ft/sec in the evening. 

It’s a challenging and exhausting adventure for only the fit when the Narrows is open. In some parts it’s quite narrow and you look straight up to the small crack of blue which is the sky.

We had planned to hike (more like river wade) the Narrows. One rents waterproof overalls, 5’ hiking sticks, waterproof (sort of) socks and water shoes and heads up the river canyon for wonderful views. But when the water is flowing like this it’s muddy and so you can’t see the rocks in the bottom (not great for Joe’s foot either). Plus currently the water was up to one’s waist so it would have been hard going. We decided to give it a pass.

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The park was mobbed today and so were the trails. The shuttles were super moving the masses in to the park as no vehicles are permitted because the roads are really too narrow and there are very few parking spaces at each trailhead. 

The two big draws in Zion are the Narrows (which I spoke of yesterday) and Angels Landing. 

Angels Landing is a strenuous 5-6 mile uphill hike to a saddle (narrow ridge of rocks) across to the most famous vantage point in the park (@4,000 feet). The saddle is extremely dangerous and the trail just has a chain running along the side of the wall (not the open edge  😳 of the cliff). It’s kind of/self-managed one way traffic and they have to station rangers at the beginning of the crossing to control the crowds as people get anxious and don’t want to wait for those coming down to climb up. We spoke with a couple of people that waited 2 hours to make the crossing to the Landing! That’s nuts in our book. And being a Saturday, not only was it a weekend with normal Saturday crowds but the crowds from Friday that were rained out came too! 

Saturday was a glorious day and with the Narrows and Angels Landing being out we decided to hike the Emerald Pools — lower, middle and Upper (@3+ miles). The waterfalls were feeding the pools from the previous days heavy rains. We’re not saying that it wasn’t crowded but it was do-able. 

Again we tried to capture the magnitude of the cliffs of the canyon in our photos. One starts at the Zion Lodge and makes your way up where the trail goes under a cliff overhang and waterfall from above at Middle pool. Because of the recent rains the trail was muddy and sprayed with moisture from the fall above. I would imagine there’s not much water on days when it hasn’t rained. One continues up a set of steps on the trail that leads to Middle pool. It’s here where most people turn back as the portion from Middle to Upper pool is mostly working your way around boulders and rocks. It’s not too challenging for a moderate hiker but the crowds were double what we’d assume would be on a normal day since it was a weekend and it had rained heavily the previous day. 

After about 45 minutes we reached Upper Pools. It was more like a large pool with rocks around and large trees around it. Lots of families were having lunch up there. 

We opted to continue back down the Kayenta Trail to the Grotto for a picnic lunch. The views in to the valley left us breathless on our decent. The benefit of taking the Kayenta trail down is that we were walking in to the views as opposed to having them at our back as we did heading up from the Zion Lodge. 

After our picnic we took the shuttle further in to the park to Big Bend. This cliff area is known for 2 things. 1) rock climbers and 2) nesting California Condors. Alas, we had no luck seeing either but it was a beautiful area. 

Our last stop for the day was at the Court of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac & Jacob) viewpoint. It truly is just a “viewpoint” as you get off the shuttle, cross the street and walk about 20 feet up a paved walk to a very nice viewing area across to the 3 patriarchs. 

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After the crowds we encountered on Saturday in the park, we decided to spend Sunday on the trails and scenery along the Zion- Mount Carmel Highway. 

Our first stop was the short Lower Pine Creek Waterfall trail. It was a super short trail in a canyon that lead to a waterfall. The formations on the canyon walls along the way were super cool. 

Our second hike was the Many Pools hike that not only started going through this tunnel under the road but had us picking our way on and over the rock to figure out where the trail actually was. 

Again, thank heavens for AllTrails and that it was good practice for our time in Arches as the trails aren’t on paths like we’re accustomed to but rather on slick rock where the only markers were cairns (small stacks of rocks) that indicate the trails.

Even with AllTrails map downloaded it was tricky to find the trail. We needed to head down the embankment at the end of the parking lot to a spot where we would find a tunnel under the road to the slick rock trail. You’ll get a better idea of this from the photos below. 

It was a treat as we only saw 2 other people on the trail. They gave us the helpful tip to stay as close to the line of pools as possible to lead us in further where we would have views of the Grand Arch. The striations in the rocks were so beautiful. This hike got us huffing and puffing. And she who doesn’t have the best balance (read: Lisa) found it more challenging than Joe. I couldn’t have done it without my poles. If it was hotter we would have quit much earlier, but it was such a treat to see no one and enjoy the silence in the nature. 

After 2 hours on the trail we returned through the tunnel where we started. The weather was absolutely perfect. Clear blue skies, and cool temperatures in the high 60s to low 70s.

Our next stop was to see the ancient Petroglyphs. Again not really a marked trail but someone coming out gave us really good directions. “Follow the creek bed until there’s a huge pine tree in the middle, keep going until you come to a dead pine and look to your left and you’ll see a unmaintained trail up to the petroglyphs”… and sure enough there they were. 

Sure enough. They are in the process of attempting to date them. But amazing they’re still visible. The cliffs above the petroglyphs with their formations in them were absolutely beautiful. 

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On our last day in Zion (Monday) we decided to attempt Angels Landing but only to Scouts Landing which is the start of the chain climb to the very peak in the top right of this photo. The hike to Scouts Landing is a 2.5 mile very strenuous climb (each way).

After about an hour of climbing up a pretty steep well paved path of switchbacks we came to a lookout that gave us spectacular views over the valley. Foolishly, we thought we were almost to Scouts Lookout and we had completed what is supposed to be the most difficult part of the hike called Walters Wiggles. Ha, hah for us… not even close. 

The trail then turned in to a short path through a ravine with even more spectacular colors in the cliffside to the other side where the real Walters Wiggles would commence leading us to the top at Scouts Lookout. 

We had arrived at the really REALLY hard part called Walter’s Wiggles. Short, super steep zig zags up the side of the cliff top. Study the photos below and you can see the people along the switchbacks making their way up and down as well as to get the perspective of how incredibly steep these switchbacks cut in to the cliff were. Also note the size of the drainage tubes along the cliff-side. It gives you a good idea of how much rain they need to redirect in this segment. The switchbacks are so steep in places that they would turn in to funnels for the rainwater in the torrential rain storms. 

 

 

We lucked out as there really wasn’t the crowds that have been reported in the previous days.

Zoom in and you can pick out the fools that decided to continue up the chain portion to the peak and risk falling to their deaths 4,000 feet below.

We continued up the West Rim Trail and got, what we considered, just as good a view of the valley below as well as a view of the people in the final portion of the Angels Landing climb. This view was spectacular and Lisa wasn’t passing out from fear. Well, maybe only sort of … 😬

As you can well imagine, on busy days this final bit not only can be hazardous because of the climb itself, but the single route must accommodate the hikers (fools) climbing up AND down over the rocky chain portion. There’s no traffic control and so at times one ends up waiting and waiting for a break in the flow to continue either up or down. In 2022 the park will be instating a lottery reservation system for this final portion and there will be park rangers controlling the hiker traffic. I think it’s a really good idea as the crowds have really gotten out of control to the point of dangerous on this segment. 

Tomorrow we’re off to Bryce Canyon. 🤞🏼 as there’s a winter weather warning of snow (2”-4”) and winds gusting to @ 35 mph.