Zion: Travel Day & Day 1

Travel Day 0: We left Seattle at 2:00 and got to Vegas at 4:30. We rode a slow, hot bus to the rental center. But we got a great rental - a brand new 2025 Durango with only 500 miles on it. I-15 was closed for a fuel spill and we were looking at a detour that would make it more than a 5 hour drive instead of the 2:15 drive it usually is. Luckily by the time we had our rental car sorted the road had opened again and traffic was able to go on I-15. We ate a yummy dinner at Chipotle in St. George. We admired the desert sky and stars as we drove. We made it to Zion by 10:00 and had a good night’s sleep.

Zion Day 1: We are here in Zion with Jess and Faye and their girls. It is fun to be here with friends! We made a plan to meet Faye and Jess for a late breakfast and give everyone a chance to get rested up. We discovered our room has a lovely view of the pool and the rocks beyond it are lit up bright with the golden hour of the morning sun. The kids give top reviews to the hotel breakfast. We took the shuttle up to the National Park entrance and then transferred to the park shuttle and rode it to its end at the “Temple of Sinawava” and the trailhead for the Virgin River Walk. We strolled the river walk and enjoyed the bright greens of the spring leaves contrasted with the blue sky and red canyon walls. The walk ends after 1.2 miles and the only way to continue is to enter the river and walk. I thought it would be closed off this time of year due to high water levels from snow melt, but there were many tourists decked out with drysuits and wooden sticks ready to give it a try. I’m not sure they had much fun this time of year fighting upstream in the cold, deep water. 

We had hoped to do the Weeping Rock hike, but it was closed (and has been for awhile) due to a rockslide. So we got off at the Grotto stop next and did the Emerald Pools hike. The name implies refreshing and it is supposed to be a loop hike with one of the legs along the water. But the bridge for that stretch is out of service and so it turned into a hot 5 mile in/out hike with a mass of people going each way and passing on the trail was not fun. I liked the Lower Emerald Pool the best - not for the pool itself, but for the way the water cascades over a curved lip creating many miny waterfalls. The trail proceeds under the overhang and so the water is falling over you and depending on the breeze, blowing over you which is refreshing. The Upper Emerald Pool is at the bottom of an impressive (2000’) red rock wall that is curved in a semi-circle. The kids scampered up a large boulder and we ate our lunches from this spot.

The boys and I were hoping to get some ice cream or cold sodas at the Zion Lodge after the hike. But it is a very small lodge and didn’t have much in the way of services open. So we decided to head back to the hotel for a swim and rest.

Charlotte chose to stay with the ladies and they explored more of the area around the lodge. They ate an early dinner and did a hike up to the Watchman Lookout for sunset. The boys and I chose to do the Pa’arus hike in the Zion Valley to watch the sun light up the rock faces in the valley while it followed the Virgin River’s path. It was an absolutely gorgeous stroll and the temperature was perfect that evening. We finished up the night doing a few errands and I went up to pick up the gals who’d missed the last shuttle while watching the sunset. The kids and I watched the Wedding Singer to cap off a fun day.