ZION
From : Salt Lake City, UTAH, Temperature: 101 F
Destination : Zion National Park, Springdale, UT 84767 Contact : (435) 772-3256
It took us around 4 and 1/2 hrs to drive to Zion National Park from downtown SLC. Even though we had confirmed booking of car with Enterprise car rentals, they couldn't arrange the car on time and it delayed our trip by 2 hrs straight.
Anyways the trip started by 10:45 AM in morning and we reached ZION by 3:15.
There are shuttles to tour the main scenic byway of ZION which had 9 stops including ZION visitor center.The last shuttles from last point to visitor center is by 9:00 PM. Frequecy of shuttles is 10 min. We had decided to trail "The Narrows" but since we were late we did only the paved trail not the actual one.
Entering ZION
Zion scenic by-way
On the trail to narrows.You will see lots of squirrel and we encountered one having good time with doritos... :)
"The narrows" hike through virgin river starts from here. Its 1 mile paved trail from "temple of sinawava" to the virgin river. You would need plenty of water, hiking sticks, hiking shoes and lots of determination if you are going for full 16 mile hike.Hiking in narrows means walking ,wading and sometimes swimming.Please check on Flash flood warnings before going for hike, also consider the hypothermia seriously which could be very dangerous sometimes.
After narrows we took the shuttle from "temple of sinwava" for weeping rock and since sun was setting (going behind the rock mountains) we decided to go for a shorter trail of .5 miles to upper view point . At weeping rock water seeps out of the stone and helps the vegetation to grow and create a hanging garden.
After this whole day rush we decided to call it a day and moved towards our campsite @ watchman. Its near to Zion visitor center.This campground have different campsite eg. with electricity connection, primitive campsite i.e. without electricity, riverside campsite.Watchman campground have only toilet facility and no showers. It's surrounded by rocks from both the sides.
Night Sky from Watchman Campground @ ZION
Overall Zion is a very beautiful park which gives you lots of opportunity to spend some quality time.There are many trails that you can enjoy.Since the dry heat in ZION kills you quickly the word of advice from my personal experience is that always have some water with yourself while you are on trail are just hiking to an overlook point.
Happy Traveling
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