Zion National Park was epic.
I stayed at the Quality Inn RV and Campsite, right outside the park. The first night I did about a 2 hour round trip hike walking from the campsite to the Watchman Trail for a nice sunset view. The sun was blocked by the Watchmen but the sky was still beautiful.
The second day I woke up early and caught the 6:15 bus inside the park to stop #7, observation point. This was the best time to hike Observation Point as it was cool and well shaded for the entire hike up. All in all I think I started the hike around 6:45, and finished around 10:30, the hardest part is about halfway to 3/4 of the way, and the last mile is relatively flat and easy. I highly recommend this hike as it had a very interesting path up to the top, unique and awesome.
At around 10:45 I caught the shuttle over to stop #9, and hiked 1 mile to the start of "Narrows". I hiked 11 miles in the water, "canyoning" or whatever they call it, to the little waterfalls. There was no grand view at the end of my hike, but the entire hike was so enjoyable I just kept walking until the turn around point. A lot of people said I would need a permit at some point, but I never saw where that was, and I hiked 11 miles... It took about 3.5 hours to hike up the river, and only about 2.25 hours to hike back down the river. An interesting tidbit, the river is called "Virgin River", and is mostly known for how much sediment it moves out of the canyons each year (some huge number of pounds of sediment).
I felt I got a lot out of my time in Zion as Angel's Landing was closed due to a landslide (Stevie Nicks comes to mind). I had homework I needed to do and I was so happy to return to hotels after staying in a tent in 100 degree weather. It was nice to have an open screen tent under the stars, but it was miserably hot.
I stayed at the Quality Inn RV and Campsite, right outside the park. The first night I did about a 2 hour round trip hike walking from the campsite to the Watchman Trail for a nice sunset view. The sun was blocked by the Watchmen but the sky was still beautiful.
The second day I woke up early and caught the 6:15 bus inside the park to stop #7, observation point. This was the best time to hike Observation Point as it was cool and well shaded for the entire hike up. All in all I think I started the hike around 6:45, and finished around 10:30, the hardest part is about halfway to 3/4 of the way, and the last mile is relatively flat and easy. I highly recommend this hike as it had a very interesting path up to the top, unique and awesome.
At around 10:45 I caught the shuttle over to stop #9, and hiked 1 mile to the start of "Narrows". I hiked 11 miles in the water, "canyoning" or whatever they call it, to the little waterfalls. There was no grand view at the end of my hike, but the entire hike was so enjoyable I just kept walking until the turn around point. A lot of people said I would need a permit at some point, but I never saw where that was, and I hiked 11 miles... It took about 3.5 hours to hike up the river, and only about 2.25 hours to hike back down the river. An interesting tidbit, the river is called "Virgin River", and is mostly known for how much sediment it moves out of the canyons each year (some huge number of pounds of sediment).
I felt I got a lot out of my time in Zion as Angel's Landing was closed due to a landslide (Stevie Nicks comes to mind). I had homework I needed to do and I was so happy to return to hotels after staying in a tent in 100 degree weather. It was nice to have an open screen tent under the stars, but it was miserably hot.
