Utah Hiking - The beauty of Zion, Bryce & Kodachrome National Parks Part 1 of 2

With my regular travel partner CS, I traveled to Utah in April for some amazing hiking in some of our incredible state parks!

Our first stop was to be Zion.  To get to Zion from San Diego I flew to Las Vegas, then rented a car to drive to St. George, Utah where I was going to meet up with CS.  She flew direct from Phoenix to St. George on American.  From Vegas to St. George is about a 2 hour drive.  There is also a shuttle you can take from the Las Vegas Airport, called the St George Express.  I chose to rent a car instead because we would need a car to get to each of the parks once we were in Utah, so it seemed easier to rent the car in Vegas.

After picking up Cathy at the St George regional airport, we made our way to Zion. Its approximately 1 hour drive.  For this stop on our grand hiking adventure we decided to stay a Zion National Park Lodge for the convenance of staying on park land rather than in Springdale the nearest town.

Our little cabin was absolutely charming!

Since we arrived in late afternoon, we dropped our bags and headed out to get a little hike in before dark.  The Emerald Pools were the closest trail to our cabin so we headed that direction.  This is an easy hike,  1.2 mile paved trail leads to the lower emerald pool & waterfall.  The Upper Emerald Pools were closed off due to a rockslide that had just occurred a few days before our arrival.













Zion, Day 2 - Angels Landing.  Woke up early to head to Angels Landing - here is what our info guide said about this hike:  "Strenuous, 4 hours, 5.4 miles, 1488 elevation gain,  long drop-offs, not for young children or anyone fearful of heights.  Last section is a route along a steep , narrow ridge to the summit."  Not sure what possessed me to do that last half-mile, which required the use of chains drilled in to the cliff side!  But I did it!

Spoiler Alert - this first picture is my at the top after completing the last grueling 1/2 mile! I was very proud of myself as you can probably tell, lol.

First sign I saw as we approached 

Warning sign right before you start the last 1/2 mile 

This is the 1.2 mile trail that leads to Walters Wiggles

First things First!  To begin the journey to Angels Landing you have to go up Walter's Wiggles!  See these three photo's - you get the idea.  The wiggles get their name from Walter Ruesch, Zion National Parks first superintendent, who in 1926 began the construction of this trail that now leads to Angles Landing.  When you complete the wiggles you will be 1,070 feet above the trail head  This is a great spot to turn around and look at your progress !

side view of the Wiggles 

Walter's Wiggles 

These next few photos are my attempt to show you what the last 1/2 mile of the Angles Landing Hike looked like.  Yep it was scary!  But oh the beauty!  Well worth the climb.

Chains along the last half mile, you pull yourself up as you put your feet in to rock creases 

Look carefully - you can see people walking the trail to the top

This was my view when I reached the top

Snap taken from the other side at the top

several of these little guys hanging out at the top

I didn't realize my camera was on Black & White, but I like the pic

Can you see the trail behind me? 

wow!  that was one hell of a hike!

Day 3 - The Narrow's & Other Hikes


























We so wanted to do The Narrows!  But Utah had 'snowmageddon' this winter and the waters were too hike.  We hiked to the beginning of The Narrows at the Temple of Sinawava, just to take a look-see.  Absolutely beautiful !  We will have to come back some day and do this!

After the Narrows, we checked out some of the other trails - Weeping Rock, which is a trail that is short but steep.  The trail is paved and end at a rock alcove with dripping springs.  We tried the Sand Beach trail, which is part of a horse trail but it was near the Court of Patriarchs, so we did a little walk in that area.  We saw so much beauty!  Here are a few pics of some of our other Zion Hikes

Love these gloves - made for me by my niece!

Helpful Notes on Zion:  cars are not allowed in the park.  There is a shuttle that will take you through the canyon and has 9 different drop-off points at the trail heads.  If you stay in the Lodge, you can drive in - plenty of parking for Lodge guests.  Free Shuttles run 7:00 am to 8:30 pm through May 11, then from May 12 - Sept 29 they start at 6:00 am and end at 9:30 pm.  Highly recommend an early start if you are doing Angels Landing - it gets packed by mid-day and the park rangers have to control the foot traffic of hikers trying to do that last half-mile!  Be aware that the internet in the National Park is not very consistent or reliable.  So just enjoy the peace and forget social media & email.  Get your hike on durning the day and go in to Springdale when you need to get online.  There is only one restaurant at the Lodge, so if you are planning to eat there for dinner - make a reservation. Food is basic but tasty & reasonably priced.  Lodge rooms have refrigerators so we stopped at WalMart in St. George to pick up breakfast & lunch supplies.  We made our lunch each day to take on the trail, which worked out great.

Another trail that we really wanted to do was the Observation Point via East Rim.  This is a 8 mile hike, rated as 'strenuous', but unfortunately it was closed due to rock slides & snow :-(
Also closed during our stay: Keyenta Trail, Hidden Canyon trail, Upper Emerald Pools & The Narrows.  This is the chance you take when traveling on a shoulder season, but for us - missing the crowds of summer was worth it.

If you do not want to stay at the Zion Lodge, you can stay in Springdale.  There is a free shuttle that runs through town that will take you to the first park shuttle stop - very convenient.  And Springdale is a cute town.  We would go into town in the late afternoon to find internet & eat.

Rainbow in Springdale on our last day in Zion - such a nice send off!

Come back and catch Part 2 of this adventure which will cover Bryce Canyon & Kodachrome!

Until then... safe travels!