Utah Mighty Five refers to the five national parks in the state of Utah. They are Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonland, Capitol Reef and Zion. I was fortunate to visit four out of the five during my recent America mid west trip, and posted about Bryce Canyon National Park here. Today I'll be taking you to Zion National Parks.
Zion National Park
Zion National Park is Utah oldest national park and is famous for it's thousand feet deep canyons. I have a feeling it didn't get the best and full experience from Zion as I didn't do any hikes here. I hear that's where you see the best scenery. That said, what I did see was still pretty amazing.
From the moment we passed the park entrance sign, we were zig zagging along the road down to the bottom of the canyon. This part of the drive was an experience in itself.
It took us over an hour to reach the visitor car park where we would catch the shuttle bus to do the scenic drive in the park to Zion Canyon. In the summer, vehicles aren't allowed to drive along the main scenic drive road, and visitors have to catch the shuttle bus which runs frequently. This makes sense as the road isn't very wide and there are many cyclists who cycle the 7.5 miles scenic drive.
The scenic drive on the shuttle bus passes through various stops and visitors can get off to do hikes. These hikes seems to be the highlight of the park and apparently offers some amazing views of the canyon. Unfortunately, I didn't do any hikes this time, and just had to be content with what's available along the scenic drive that runs alongside the Virgin River. To be honest, it wasn't half bad.
Court of the Patriachs
My first stop off the bus is the Court of the Patriachs. Three big peaks welcome visitors as they arrive, they're called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and were named after the biblical figures by a minister in 1916. I strolled over and caught my first look of the Virgin River. It was so beautiful and calm here.
Lunch at Zion Lodge
We had lunch at one of the main stops on the scenic drive called Zion Lodge. Apart from camping and RV, this is the only place you can stay inside the canyon. Being a Sunday, and mother's day, it was quite busy. I grabbed a hotdog and sat on the grass facing the canyon. What a relaxing view and a great place for a picnic.
Temple of Sinawava
After lunch I continued with the scenic drive bus ride to the end stop Temple of Sinawava. It's a short walk to the Virgin River, and had time and energy permitted, I would have love to do the 2 mile return hike into the canyon to a point called the Narrows. I heard the trail gets to a point where there's no bank to walk on. And from here, hikers have to walk in the Virgin River to get to the Narrows. When I first got on the bus in the morning, the bus driver announced that it wasn't possible to do that today due to the recent flash floods. Just as well for me and my group because the sun was incredibly hot and we didn't particularly fancy walking.
Like many other visitors, we loitered by the river bank. Had it not been forbidden, I would have loved to take off my boots and wade in the river. I know Snowpea would have loved that. Instead, I crouched down carefully by the bank and immersed both my hands in the river, it was sooooo nice. The icy cold water was running through my fingers, and within a couple of minutes, my hands were icy cold and I was starting to cool down.
Finally, it was time to leave Zion Park. We caught the shuttle bus back down towards the visitor centre and car park. I read online that the Zion Human History Musuem which was the stop just before the visitor centre, was worth visiting. I decided to get off here to take a look. Bad decision. First, it was ok, I wouldn't miss much if I didn't come here. Second, we were all a bit tired and hot and wasn't really in the mood for it. And third, when we tried to get back on the shuttle bus, they were all full. We waited for 3 buses and still couldn't get on. In the end we decided to walk the one mile back to the visitor centre. A mile isn't long and normally it wouldn't be a problem, but it was still scorching hot and the walk was fully exposed under the sun. I was almost melting when I got back to the visitor centre.
Next time, I'll be sharing my travels to the other two of Utah Mighty 5 national park. Hope you'll be joining me then
