Our visit to Zion National Park

Zion National Park - October 2014

(from Benson, AZ, March 14, 2015 For a fullsize image, just click on the picture)

Our blog post from last October was not completed as we ran into a large snag - Palm Creek RV Park, where we spent the winter.  With minimal internet coverage we just couldn't get enough band width to up load a few pictures.  Needless to say, I'm not happy with Palm Creek but it is hard to back out of a 2 for 1 deal without serious financial impact.  We are back on the road (yeah!) and we have internet again so it is time to catch up.

We stayed in Hurricane, UT for our visit to Zion National Park.  Very nice little town and not nearly as congested as the area around the main entrance to ZNP.  We also had easy access to the Kolob Canyon portion of ZNP as well.

Zion is unique in that it is really a long, narrow valley, carved by a rather small river, that results in some pretty impressive mountains.  Because vehicle emissions and traffic were creating problems in the valley, the NPS banned vehicular traffic but offered free shuttle buses to tour the valley and service the back country trails.  Works great but you have to get to the visiter center early to find a parking spot.

You can thank the formation of the Rocky Mountains for ZNP.  The uplift of an ancient sea bed ends at I-15 in Utah.  On the west side of I-15 you have the Great Basin, on the east side you have all of the national parks.  Zion sits on the southwest corner of this uplift.

Across the bridge and to the left and you are in the part of the canyon closed to regular traffic.  This is looking towards the east and where the tunnels are located when you exit the park.  We didn't take this road - yet.

View from behind the museum.

View as you enter the canyon.  You are greeted with large vertical surfaces that soar to the sky.

 

This shallow river carved this entire valley and is still carving it today.

We decided to stay on the road until the last stop and then work our way back down the canyon.  At the very end of the road is a trail that takes you to slot canyons, however, you actually have to hike through a stream to reach them.  

The end of the "dry" trail and the beginning of the "wet" one.

As we walked back towards the bus stop, we spotted a small herd of mule deer along the far bank of the river.  

Looking back down the canyon.

Kolob Canyon

On the western edge of the park is a section known as Kolob Canyon.  This section is only accessible from I-15.  Given the low number of cars in the parking lot, I'd say that most people miss one of the better sections of ZNP.

The road to the canyons.

Like most of Zion, if you can hike, you are in for incredible views.

 

Because of the large number of photos from this trip, I will be creating a Dropbox album as soon as I get time.  I will post a link when everything is ready.