Zion National Park

From Salt Lake City we continued our winter tour of the Southwest with a couple of days in Zion National Park. I’ve always wanted to see the majestic canyons of Zion and it was a small detour from our route the the Bakkers’ for Skillmaster 2019. The high plains of Utah’s desert quickly gave way to sandstone mesas as we drove closer to Zion, eventually transitioning into breathtaking red rock cliff faces as we made it to Springdale at the park’s southern entrance. In winter you can usually drive your own car through the main canyon of Zion, but given we were there during the week between Christmas and New Year the National Parks Service decided to run the summer buses to reduce overcrowding. I want to send a shout out to Big Donald for shutting down the federal government for our stay, as it enabled us to park in locations that would have been otherwise out of bounds and also enter the park for free, as most of the NPS employees were on furlough. Making America great again! Fortunately the Utah state government agreed to pay the wages of the staff necessary to keep Zion open during the shutdown, so the park didn’t completely close for our visit.

It was bitterly cold in the shade of the canyon walls during the day, for our walk through the Temple of Sinawava to the opening of the famous Narrows it was 25F/-4C. There were a few spots along the trail where water trickled underneath walls of ice plastering the canyon walls, I think Lisa could have stood there and watched it for hours if it wasn’t so cold. We crossed paths with quite a few hikers coming out of the Narrows wearing chest-high waders, their feet squelching as they walked back to the bus out of the canyon. With the Virgin River at 28F/3C when we were there, hours hiking partially submersed in the water definitely didn’t sound too enticing, I don’t care how beautiful the Narrows are. We’ll go back for that one during summer…

Max walking to the bus stop at Canyon Junction

Riding the canyon bus

Temple of Sinawava

We quickly checked out the Court of the Patriarchs and then drove through the famous Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel on our way to the Canyon Overlook hike to finish the day. The tunnel is an amazing feat of engineering, a wormhole cut through a mile of solid rock connecting the Zion canyon floor with the rim. The Canyon Overlook hike was a favorite with the kids, just long enough to get the blood flowing but not too long to tire them out. All the steps and the one suspended walkway floated Max’s boat: “this is real hiking” according to Wild Man.

Court of the Patriarchs

Fun hike to the Canyon Overlook

Springdale is a town that absolutely and completely revolves around tourism from Zion. It’s only a mile from the national park’s south entrance, every building is either a store, restaurant, hotel or outfitter. We enjoyed an exceptional dinner at the Bit and Spur Saloon before heading back to the hotel for a well-earned soak in the hot tub. Running in bathing suits in bare feet from our rooms in the dark with the temperature outside at around 20F/-7C made the skin tingle as we all submersed ourselves in the tub, but boy it felt good! The adjacent pool was not heated in winter, I hate to imagine the temperature of the water, but it didn’t stop the kids from jumping between its icy water and the hot tub. They eventually cajoled the big kid in the Valtenbergs family to take a dip as well. Brass monkeys.

We rounded out our visit with a short and cold morning walk to the Lower Emerald Pools. As their name suggests, the pools have an emerald appearance due to the algae that grows in the water, but their color is only evident during summer as they freeze during the colder months. When we visited, the waterfall flowing into the pools was a sheet of ice, quite a beautiful sight. The Middle and Upper Emerald Pools were closed due to ice covering the trail, but a fun walk to the Lower Pools nonetheless.