{{ Travel Day | Zion Planning }} Highlights
*Today we took the long journey from the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, through the Painted Desert…
*Picnicked for lunch in Page, Arizona, and then we continued onward to Zion National Park in Utah. We decided to go ahead and enter Zion NP to get a Jr Ranger book and to get the maps and information needed to plan our big day in Zion.
{{ Although this wasn’t a big day adventure-wise, it was amazing to see the MANY different landscapes, even just minutes from one another…deserts, lakes, mountains, plateaus, flatlands, red rocks, white rocks, sand…a little bit of it all! It is vast, colorful, and simply amazing to see. }}
Day 4: {{ Zion National Park }} Highlights
*Petroglyph Pools & Slot Canyon Hike – This was our first hike of the day and the highlight of the day! There were no people for as far as the eyes could see. And, while it was challenging, it was cool and breezy, so you didn’t even realize it. The views were incredible…I was especially excited to see the petroglyphs! The kids were thrilled to get to climb like mountain goats (and they did!).
* Jr. Ranger badge #2…and extra stamps for our travel notebook!
* Riverside Walk – this is a nice, paved walk…very peaceful and relatively flat.
* Middle Emerald Pools (plus the Upper Emerald Pools) – This hike was opposite of our morning hike. It was very crowded with people, more challenging for me at the heat of the day, and much less awe-inspiring. But I think the bar was just set way too high from our perfect morning adventure. It was neat to see, but I had to push myself harder than ever to finish. This trail is not paved and it climbs about 150ft. There are moderate dop-offs and cliff edges, which made me a little more nervous with my youngest child (age 9). The middle pools have a nice area to rest in the shade before deciding to continue to the upper or return to the trailhead. I would say it took us a good hour to get to the middle pools, and another hour past that to get to the upper and back. If I had it to do again, I would find another less “populated” trail to explore.
* Our group split up at this point…half went on other hikes and lookouts that the bus dropped you at…but it was shopping, ice cream and rest for the youngest kiddo and me. It is good to note that Zion NP has the absolute BEST souvenirs (especially t shirts) – if you like one, GET IT! Don’t pull a me and think you’ll find one you like more since you have soooo many more NPs to visit on the trip…NONE compare! And no…you can’t buy them online (there are a few options, but nothing like they have there!)
A few details to note…
Since we started our day early at the Petroglyph Pools & Slot Canyon (and beyond, since we explored past the slot canyon), we parked at the trailhead, which was perfect for us. The trail is not marked, but if you download the AllTrails map ahead of time, you won’t have any issue finding the Petroglyphs. There are lots of places that you scramble and hike uneven terrain, but it wasn’t difficult. I think that’s part of what we liked so much about this area. We saw NO ONE… just evidence of the mountain goats… and miles of breath-taking views.
HOWEVER, since we started early and parked at the trailhead, once we finished that and wanted to park at the visitor center to explore Zion with the shuttles, there was no parking spaces left. We ended up parking in the local connecting town and riding the shuttle back into Zion. That took a little extra time, but Zion is HUGE. You can’t just walk from one area to another. The shuttles are non-negotiable if you want to see multiple locations. Thankfully, they stop you at main areas, then you can hike and explore all around before hopping on another shuttle.
Contrary to most blog post recommendations, we did NOT choose to get permits for Angel’s Landing. With the varying ages of our group, and knowing what I knew about the difficulties with that hike, we opted to try others instead. Maybe next time…
We also did not hike the Narrows – although it was in our plans… it was closed due to flooding. We instead chose multiple random hikes around Zion by using the shuttle drops. You could spend DAYS at Zion…we only had one full day (and a few hours the day before), since we wanted to see more National Parks on our trip. But, I definitely wouldn’t mind returning for more adventures in Zion one day soon. It’s hard to compare the Grand Canyon with Zion, since they are so different, but I loved how “uncommercialized” Zion was in comparison to the Grand Canyon. It had conveniences, but it had much less of a tourist feeling to it. For our family, that was a win!
You can continue our journey with us here… next stop… Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.
Here are some of my favorite National Park items (for souvenirs and for hiking/travel), if you want to check it out – https://www.amazon.com/shop/marsha0727/list/338Y20NRBHI1H?ref_=aipsflist ((as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small percentage of commission from your purchases using my link – at no cost to you! Thanks for supporting our family 🤍)
Straight Outta My Mind 