Justin and I just got back from a week long road trip through Utah with our friends Iwona and Craig – no better time to write this blog than now, while everything is still fresh in my head ツ.
We started our trip with two nights in Las Vegas (I had never been before), followed by visits to each of the five National Parks in Utah: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands. In this blog, I will focus on the first two parks, and then cover the other three in Part 2.
Las Vegas
I think we can all agree that my first time in Las Vegas was well overdue – many people go for their 21st birthday, but that was a “few” years ago for me ツ. While we were flying over Las Vegas, Justin pointed out the Strip from the plane, and it appeared small and underwhelming, but I guess everything looks small when you are that high up – the Strip is actually huge!
After making a quick stop at Trader Joe’s and checking into our Airbnb, we got changed and were ready to hit the Strip. The first hotel we checked out was Caesar’s Palace, and I could not believe how big this single hotel was – within the first 30 seconds, I knew that I had made the wrong shoe choice for the evening (but thankfully, I brought backup sneakers). Over the next two days, we also walked through the Bellagio, the Venetian, New York-New York, Excalibur and the Luxor.
In terms of activities, our crew kept it pretty light on gambling – a bit of Blackjack and Buffalo Gold slots. Justin and I had no luck on slots, but fortunately, Craig had better luck at the Black Jack table.
While we did not see any shows, we did check out a Vegas Golden Knights hockey game which was a lot of fun – awesome pre-game introduction, high-energy atmosphere, and a Knights win to top it off!
After the hockey game, we made our way over to New York-New York to ride the Big Apple Coaster – I usually love roller coasters, but this one was not my cup of tea! It took absolutely forever to climb the first hill – building a bit too much suspense – and after that, we were upside for what felt like half the ride… my apologies to anyone who suffered hearing damage due to my constant screaming. Everyone else had fun, but it was a bit too wild for me ツ.
Overall, I had a great first experience in Las Vegas. When they say “Vegas doesn’t sleep” – I get it now, because even I got barely any sleep!
Getting to Zion National Park
The drive from Las Vegas to our accommodation in Hurricane (which is about 30-minutes outside of Zion) was supposed to be two hours, but we somehow managed to stretch this into 12-hours, as we made a couple of stops along the way.
Our first stop was the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. As the name suggests, this landscape was filled with red rock formations, and it was incredibly warm! We stopped at the Beehive Rock Formations and Elephant Rock, and also saw some petroglyphs.
After leaving Valley of Fire, we got back on the freeway, only to encounter a one-and-a-half hour delay due to a vehicle collision that resulted in two vehicles catching on fire. We hope everyone in the incident is doing okay and recovering well.
We continued on our way, crossing the state line into Utah, and wanted to make a quick stop in St. George to see the Temple before continuing to Hurricane. However, our quick stop turned into several hours as we ended up watching the most incredible sunset, had dinner and craft beer at Hive 435 Tap House (the Utog Son of a Peach was really good) and stopped for dessert at Pinkbox doughnuts. We made it to Hurricane, eventually ツ.
Zion National Park
Prior to our trip, each of us took on the task of researching one park to ensure we were using our limited time wisely and fitting in top recommend hikes and sights. I was responsible for learning about Zion, and there were three hikes that I had listed on my “must-see” list: The Zion Narrows Riverside Walk, Scout’s Lookout and Emerald Pools Trail.
However, the most popular hike in Zion is called Angel’s Landing. This is considered to be a very difficult trail, as there is a narrow stretch that requires you to pull yourself up using chains. Access to this trail is through a lottery permit system, and unfortunately for us, Angel’s Landing was closed for maintenance during the days we were at the Park.
Before I get into the details of the actual hikes, I want to discuss the “setup” and logistics of Zion. There is one main road that runs between the canyon walls – it is 24kms long and includes nine stops. Between March and November (peak visitor season), shuttle buses starting at the Visitor Centre will take you to each of the stops, as vehicles are not allowed to drive through the Park. I believe during the off season, visitors will rent bikes to get around. Fortunately, the shuttles come by every few minutes, so you are never waiting very long for a ride, and many of the drivers will narrate interesting facts about the Park as they drive ツ.
One other quick tip for anyone who is reading this post – unless you get to the Park very early, you are likely going to be waiting in a slow, long lineup to get to the parking at the Visitor’s Centre. The parking here is free, but depending on what time you arrive, you could be waiting a while. There are other lots you can park in leading up to the Visitor’s centre, as well as street parking, but it will cost around $20-30 USD.
Moving onto the hikes! The Zion Narrows Riverside Walk was the first trail we completed. This is an easy, paved trail that takes you to the start of the Narrows, which is another famous part of Zion. The Narrows is a slot canyon that you can hike through, but it requires walking through the Virgin River. Unfortunately (again), the river was too high during our visit and the hike through the Narrows was closed, but at least we were able to see the beginning of the narrowest part of the Park.
Following the Riverside Walk, we quickly stopped for lunch at the Zion Lodge before heading to our next hike – Scout’s Lookout. In order to get to this viewpoint, you actually walk along the West Rim Trail, which is also mostly paved (similar to Riverside Walk); however, it is a series of uphill switchbacks to get to the top. Our first day in Zion was particularly windy, and when the wind blew, so did the sand. There were a handful of times where we had to stop walking, cover our faces to prevent sand from getting into our eyes and mouths, before we could keep going.
When we made it to the end of Scout’s Lookout, we were pleasantly surprised to see a family of deer grazing amongst the shrub! It is at this point, as well, where the West Rim Trail splits – you can either hike to Angel’s Landing (you can actually see the top of Angel’s Landing from Scout’s Lookout), or you can continue walking along the West Rim Trail. Since Angel’s Landing was closed, we decided to keep going along the West Rim Trail, and it was completely worth it – the views from here were extraordinary. If you ever find yourself at Zion National Park hiking towards Scout’s Lookout, make sure to keep going!
On our way down, the weather started to take a turn, and by the time we reached the bottom it started snowing – our timing could not have been better. At this point, we decided to head back to Hurricane to rest up and get the sand out of our hair!
We checked out of our Airbnb the next day, but wanted to fit in one more hike (Emerald Pools) in Zion before heading to Bryce Canyon. We were surprised to see that a decent amount of snow had covered the Park, but also felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to experience Zion as a winter wonderland.
The Emerald Pools Trail is a series of beautiful waterfalls, and is split into three sections – the lower, middle and upper pools. We stopped to visit each of the waterfalls, but then instead of going back the same way we came, we opted to take the Kayenta Trail to the next shuttle stop to give us the opportunity to see some different views of the park. While the views were worth it, the snow from the previous night turned this trail into a mud pit! Our way back required some careful steps as I was not super keen on getting my new hiking shoes dirty!
I am realizing now that this blog post has gotten quite long – I guess I had more to say about Las Vegas and Zion than I thought! In that case, I will leave my write up about Bryce Canyon for the next post ツ.
Always grateful,
Michelle
Exploring With Gratitude 