Zion National Park

Daniella and I took the opportunity presented by the President’s Day long weekend to head to Zion National Park in Utah.  I hadn’t been to Zion since my first trip there a decade ago while I was at business school, and I was keen to go back and explore more of the park.

We flew to Las Vegas on Friday evening, and after some stuffing around with the rental car (and tracking down an REI to buy fuel for the camp stove) we hit the road around 9pm and drove north up I-15 through Nevada, through the north-west corner of Arizona and into Utah.  It was after midnight when we drove into the park, and as everything was closed we went to the Watchman campground to hopefully find a place to camp for the night.  All the signs said the campground was full, but we drove around until we found what looked like a vacant spot and set up the tent in the gusty, cold wind.

At dawn we woke up to learn that we had set up the tent in someone else’s site, but we were pointed towards a vacant campsite nearby which had just been vacated (it was first come first served); lucky we did so as the campsite was very full, and we would otherwise have been out of luck.  The first thing we did was get to the wilderness desk at 8am to try and secure a permit for the following night, and we were lucky enough to score a great campsite up on the West Rim for the night we needed.

Zion Canyon

With all the admin out of the way, we drove north into Zion Canyon to do some sightseeing on what turned out to be a spectacular, sunny and cool day.  We walked to the entrance to the Narrows (the famous canyon hike up the river) and were surprised to see so many brave souls wading in to what must have been some pretty icy cold water.  We finished the day hiking up into Hidden Canyon, and after a nice 45 minute hike up to the mouth of the canyon we found an exposed rock overlooking the main canyon to have lunch on.  After lunch we scrambled our way a distance into the canyon before turning around and heading back down to the car.  On the way out of the canyon we stopped off at the park Lodge for a refreshing drink out on the deck looking up at the towers and cliffs. By the time we made it back to the campsite it was nearing sunset, so we grabbed some wine and scrambled up a nearby hill to watch the colours change.

West Rim Wilderness Hike

The next morning we packed up camp and drove to the Grotto trailhead, arriving there around 9am.  We saddled up with our boots and packs and started the hike uphill.  We had secured a wilderness permit for one of the West Rim campsites, but rather than hike down into Zion Canyon from the north we were going to do West Rim the “hard way” all the way up from the canyon floor.

The early start meant we avoided the morning sun on much of the ascent.  The trail was full with ill-equipped day hikers heading up Angel’s Landing, but by around 10:30am we had reached the point at which the West Rim trail peeled away from the crowds.  We had already done about half of the total ascent for the day so we took our foot off the gas a little and enjoyed the steady climb north on the trail along the edge of the canyon walls.

By early afternoon we crested the rim of the canyon and came across our campsite.  Campsite #2 turned out to be a real winner, with space for just two people (ourselves) in a location with views back east over the canyon and a hint of Bryce Canyon cliffs in the distance.  We dumped our gear and walked down to the West Rim spring, an iffy water source which was fortunately still flowing (just), and found a nearby rock on the cliff edge for a tasty picnic lunch.

After lunch we set up the campsite and left our gear there while we continue the hike to see some of the views out to the western side of the park.  After a couple of hours of soaking in the views we returned back to our campsite and set to making dinner as the sun set and the temperatures dropped to around freezing.

Angel’s Landing Side-Trip

As we were headed back the way we came up, we emerged back on the main Angel’s Landing trail by mid-morning the next day.  After stashing our packs away from the crowds we joined the conga line heading up the chains.  It’s an awesome, exposed hike and scramble along a knife-edge ridge with tremendous views, but I was frustrated and annoyed at the ridiculous number of people on the hike – with a fairly high number freaking out at the exposure and perceived “risk”.  What should have taken about 15-20 minutes took double that time waiting in the “traffic jams” of people going up and down.  The views at the top did however make the hike up worthwhile – it’s a world class outlook north and south along Zion Canyon.

We were back at the car around 2pm, and basking in the glow of our hiking success we started the long drive back to Vegas.

On the way out of Zion we swung by the old ghost town of Grafton, which has been abandoned since the late 1800s.  There wasn’t a lot there apart from a couple of old buildings and the Mormon church that had been restored, but it was a pleasant enough place for a picnic lunch.  We drove back south through the desert and were back in Vegas by late afternoon.  As our flight the next morning was at 6am, our plan was to grab a nice dinner, have a few drinks and stroll around the strip before getting a few hours of much-needed sleep before the early morning wake-up.  We went to the Aria casino and were fortunate enough to get into Michael Mina’s new French restaurant there AND take advantage of the happy hour specials