Our stay at Zion Lodge

 

Date: 4/18/15 – 4/21/15

Location: Zion National Park

On Tuesday, after a little over two days at Zion, it was time to move on. For the first two nights that we stayed in the park, we were able to score reservations at the Zion Lodge Cabins. The rooms in the cabins were rustic, but very comfortable with two twin beds, fireplace and private bath. The third night we moved into one of the hotel rooms right next to the main lodge. These rooms were a little more modern and very comfortable. We were lucky and got a room with a great view of the surrounding mountains. We had happy hour on the balcony, taking in the view and sunset. All was great until our neighbor was chased out of her room by an invading bat. The maintenance crew were finally able to evict it from her room, but it then dive bombed us as we sat on our balcony. So, me made a quick retreat into our room.

Here’s the cabin we stayed in for the first two nights at Zion National Park

 

Both of the places we stayed at in the park were a very short walk from the main lodge with its’ amazing surrounding scenery.

The main lodge at Zion National Park

 

Looking back down Zion Canyon where the lodge and cabins are located

 

Another view of the cabins at Zion NP

 

The main lodge had a nice outdoor beer garden. A relaxing place after a long day of hiking.

 

This is the hotel section of Zion Lodge. Our room was overlooking the grassy area.

 

Allison and Julie heading back to our room.

 

Such an amazing location for a park lodge.

A day of hiking at Zion National Park

 

Date: 4/20/2015

Location: Zion National Park

 

Monday was our second full day at Zion National Park and we wanted to do one of their longer and more challenging hikes. The three  of us were intrigued to view the famous Angels Landing section of the West Rim Trail hike, but we all knew that with its’ exposed sections of trail, with thousand foot drop offs, it just wasn’t for us. But we’d go as far as we could and without taking any risks. Also, we really wanted to hike Walter’s Wiggles which winds it’s way up to the west rim high above the Zion valley floor. 

 

Starting our on the West Rim Trail. Lots of elevation gain ahead.

 

We started the hike somewhat early in the morning when it was still cool. We had several layers of clothes on, but soon warmed up as we climbed the very steep trail. Luckily the trail was not too busy with other hikers. We did leap frog a few groups as we’d hike ahead and then have to rest to catch our breath. Then others would pass us, but then rest, so we’d pass them again. This is how it went most of the way up to the section before Angels Landing.

A view from the lower section of the West Rim Trail looking back down Zion Valley towards the lodge

 

A little hard to see, but there is a series of switchbacks leading up the wall just ahead of us.

 

After a little over a mile and a half in we finally got to Walters Wiggles. This is a series of 21 steep switchbacks built by the first park superintendent, Walter Ruesh, back in the 1920’s.  Before Walter designed and  built these switchbacks, the west rim and Angel’s Landing was not accessible.

Allison making her way up Walter’s Wiggles

 

At the 2 mile mark we hit the saddle right before the accent up Angels Landing. The is where some people, who didn’t want to continue the hike, waited for others who were continuing on to the top. It was also a great place to rest, have a snack and take in the view.

Mother and Daughter high above the valley below.

 

To climb Angel’s Landing, you must hold onto chains secured to the side of the trail.

 

Some crazy hikers climbing their way up the beginning section of Angels Landing

 

This is as far as Julie got on Angels Landing. About 30 feet!!

 

Allison thinking about heading up, but didn’t get far.

There have been several death of hikers falling from the Angels Landing Trail over the past several years. But that doesn’t stop hordes of people from attempting this climb. At times it gets very busy on this hike and traffic jams develop during peak times. This isn’t the type of hiking we are into, so we’re glad we passed.

After resting for about 30 minutes we decided we still had enough energy to continue on the West Rim trail. It continues to climb away from Angels Landing and onto some more open areas with amazing views.

 

 

 

 

We are now high above Angels Landing and even higher above the floor of Zion Canyon

 

There was some amazing scenery high up on the West Rim Trail

 

 

Snack time on the West Rim Trail of Zion NP

 

Allison hugging the “safe” side of the trail as there were long drop off on the outside.

 

Yet another mother / daughter shot.

 

We hiked for a half mile past the Angels Landing turn off and found this part of the West Rim trail to be the best. Except for a few other hikers, we had this section of the trail almost to ourselves. It was also the most picturesque part of the trail with many different rock formations and one amazing view after another.

It was at this section of the trail that we decided we had gone far enough. We still had a long hike back down, so we decided to take a few pictures then turn around and head back to the lodge.

 

A trail marker high on the West Rim Trail. Just don’t go too far to the right as there’s as 1200 foot sheer cliff.

 

Heading back the way we came.

 

Flowers clinging to the red rock walls.

 

Back down Walters Wiggles

 

Still a ways to go as the trail weaves it way down towards the Virgin River.

 

Not Walters Wiggles, but still wiggly!

 

We finally made it back down to the bottom and the starting point of the West Rim Trail. We had tired tootsies, so took our hiking boots off and rested out feet in the cold water.

 

Up to this point our favorite hike was Grinnell Glacier Hike at Glacier National Park. But Julie and I both agree this hike is now our new favorite. It was challenging and the views and scenery were outstanding. We’d gladly do this hike again and maybe continue on a little further on the West Rim Trail. Just another reason to make a return visit to Zion.

Zion National Park - West Rim Hike at EveryTrail

Our first full day exploring Zion National Park

 

Date: 4/20/2015

Location: Zion National Park

 

We arrived at Zion National Park at about 8:30pm after a looong day of airline travel and car driving. We got there a half an hour before the only restaurant available in the park closed. So, Allison and I headed up to grab a table (before it closed) while Julie got us checked into the cabin we had rented for two of the three nights.

I had done a lot of research and blog reading about hiking in Zion and had a few picked out for Sunday, which would be our first full day in the park. The first one that I wanted to do was not an “official” Zion NP hike, but one I found at this web site and also this site.

One of the reasons I picked the hike at Separation Canyon was because it was not well known and it would get us away from the crowds that are guaranteed to be at the other better known hikes. I loaded several of the waypoints from the hike into my gps so we’d have a better chance of finding this unmarked trail.

The start of the trail was just west of the Checkerboard Mesa (pictured below).

Julie and Allison in front of the Checkerboard Mesa at Zion National Park

 

We were able to find the first two or three waypoints I had stored in my gps, which followed a wash just off the main park road. Unfortunately, after that we could not figure out how to get out of the wash and make our way up onto the slick rock and up through the canyon. We hiked for about 30 minutes with no luck, we couldn’t find a good (safe) way out of the wash.

Julie and Allison taking a break and beginning to wonder where the heck I was taking them.

 

It was soon after this that we decided to abandon our first planned hike at Zion. All my planning and gps tracks were for not, we could not find our way up into Separation Canyon. Maybe not the best way to start our time at Zion, but at least now Julie and Allison has something to tease me about!!

The peak to the right center is where we were trying to head, just couldn't get there. Maybe next time.

The GPS track of our shortened first hike at Zion.

Zion National Park - Seperation Canyon Hike at EveryTrail

 

So, next up was another hike on the east side of the park, but this one was a know and well marked Zion hike. The Canyon Overlooks Hike was a relatively short 1 mile round trip, but encountered some elevation gain and interesting vistas.

One short section of the hike was on an elevated boardwalk next to a deep canyon. Allison was questioning the engineering of the platform and hoping that it was built well enough to handle the load!

Allison testing out the beginning section of the elevated boardwalk.

 

A cave section of the trail. A picture of all three of us by another hiker.

 

Getting close to the end of the trail and the overlook into Zion Valley

 

We hung around the overlook for about a half an hour, just taking in the view and trying to get some pictures that actually captured the beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, no pictures even come close to how amazing this place looks.

The three of us in front of the 900 foot (or so) drop into the canyon below.

 

Julie just taking it all in.

 

This is as close to the edge as I would let Allison get, but also as close as she wanted to be!

 

You can see the road weaving it’s way up the valley to the higher sections of the east side of the park.

 

Zion National Park - Canyon Overlook Hike at EveryTrail

After our day of hiking (one good one and one not so good), we ventured into the town just south of Zion for dinner Springdale is a somewhat typical tourist town outside of a national park, with the chain hotels, etc. But it also has a nice selection of restaurants, art studios and stores. We decided upon the Bit and Spur Saloon for dinner which was about a mile south of the parks entrance. We sat outside on their porch, right next to their gardens and humming bird feeders. All through our dinner humming birds would fly in, drink some from the feeder and then race off.

Some of us sampled their home made sangria and also their tasty margaritas. The food and drink were awesome and was just what we needed after a long, tiring day.

Actually, we liked this place so much, that we returned on Monday evening for another meal We really wanted to try some other place in town, but we were drawn back to this place since we had such a great experience the night before. So much for trying different places.

 

That evening, after we returned back to the park, we decided to do one more hike for the day. The Emerald Pools trail starts right across the street from the Zion Lodge. There are several sections to this trail leading up from the Virgin River into one of the side canyons.

Looking down on the Virgin River. This is the river that carved Zion Canyon over the years.

 

This is one of the pools looking back towards the Zion Lodge

Emerald Pools Trail

 

 

We were hoping for a nice quiet hike to end our day. But instead found the trail to be packed with people. In some places we had to wait for groups to pass as we made our way up the trail. It really wasn’t one of our favorite hikes.

It’s amazing that I got this picture below, of the upper pool, without anyone in the frame. There must have been 50 – 75 people at this point in the trail and many of them yelling and being loud. We didn’t stay long!

Upper pool of the Emerald Pools Trail

 

A view from the upper section of the trail

 

 

Here is our GPS track from this hike.

Zion National Park - Emerald Pool Hike at EveryTrail