Day trip - Zion National Park

 

We visited the Zion National Park as a day trip. The best hikes in the park are as below.

The Narrows, via river sidewalk, 10 miles:  World famous hike inside the canyon which is 20 - 30 feet wide and through which flows the river Virgin. The path is slippery and offers challenge even to the most experienced hikers. When we visited the park, hike permits were suspended due to the rise in the water level. We somehow got unlucky. However, if you wish to read hikers experience at the Narrows, visit the link here

Angels Landing, 5.4 miles: The second most famous day hike in the park and the one we attempted and were successful in finishing it.

Both Narrows and Angels Landing are part of the strenuous hikes.

Weeping Rock trail, 4 miles, Riverwalk trail to the temple of Sinawana, 2.5 miles forms part of the easy hikes and Upper Emerald pool, 1-mile forms part of the moderate trails in the park. Apart from the mentioned trails, there are other trails, but these will cover the highlights of the park and help you plan a day trip. For Map and more hiking trails visit here.

Last but the best drive of the park is Canyon scenic drive.

A weekly entrance to the park is $30 and is good up to 7 days.

Tips:

You need to start your day early for multiple reasons. Wait time for the shuttle bus can get really annoying after 9.00 AM, it can range easily above 45 minutes on weekends and 35 minutes on a week day. We reached the park at 8.30 AM and we had a wait time of 20 minutes on a weekday. Schedule your day wisely.

Inside the park, Zion lodge is the only point where you can find restaurants. So carrying light snacks is advised.

We headed our return journey from the temple of  Sinawana at 3.00 PM (last point in the scenic drive). The bus was full in a couple of stops. By the time the bus reached the Zion lodge, there was no time for people to get on into the bus. Visitors who had got back to the Zion lodge for lunch were stuck up with no space in the return bus back to the visitor center and wait time around two hours.

The bus frequency is really good. One ever 5 - 10 minutes, but the number of people visiting the park is also super high. So keeping these factors in mind plan your trip accordingly.

Carry your cap and binoculars.

View from the bus, you will drive through huge canyons

Our day trip to the park:

Driving our private vehicle inside the park is not allowed between March to Cover only way to access the drive is through the Zion Park free shuttle bus. After gathering day's details at the visitor center we arrived at the shuttle station and were set on our journey to the scenic drive.

We had a 20 min wait time around 8.30 AM in the morning. On the scenic drive, we decided to do the Angle sLanding and for down at "The Grotto". The Angles landing trail shares its trail with the West rim trail for the most part of the hike.

Reaching Angles Lading

About the Trail - Angels Landing:   

Complete hike is around 5.4 miles and total ascend of 1488 feet and took around two and half hours for the round trip.
Your time taken will depend on how many people are up at the landing because only one person can comfortably move at a given point of time
Most of the trail is paved other than the final stretch of .5 miles where the path narrow and leads up to the lookout point.
In the final stretch of the trail young children are not allowed, but however, we saw kids go 5 years and above attempting the final stretch and being successful.
In the final stretch, a little of crawling is required, they have laid chains which you can hold on to for support.
I hiked with my running shoe that I am comfortable with.
We both consumed around two and a half liters of water in the round trip.

Trail (west rim trail and Angles landing)

Here, Angles landing separates from West rim trail

    

Trail leading up to the angels landing

               

                  From the top of the Angles landing

View from the top of the Angels Landing will make your efforts worth the hike. The view is very promising and gives a complete view of the national park with the Virgin river

Spot the little white bus in the center, this is how small the bus looks

After hiking, we headed to the river sidewalk, to the temple of Sinawava, also the starting point of the narrows hike. Next, we visited the Weeping rock, one of the beautiful sites. Do not miss to stand behind the weeping rock and capture the view of the park.

Behind the weeping rock

Pictures make no justice to how nice this looks. Thus we ended our day trip to Zion National Park and headed back home.