Confession: Zion Is My Least Favorite National Park
I have been to Zion twice, and I don’t think there’s much that will make me want to ever go back. I am sure there are plenty of people out there clutching their pearls right now aghast that I would say such a thing.
Let me explain.
My first time in Zion wasn’t bad- hence why I went a second time. We visited on our way home from a Spring Break trip in 2019 just a short time before we started homeschooling. I believe it was late March. On that visit we didn’t go into the canyon. We stayed on the highway and drove through the park from Springfield to the east entrance on our way to Bryce Canyon NP.
It was beautiful. We greatly enjoyed the drive and marveled over the marbling in the rocks and the breathtaking colors. We made very few stops.
This is what we did right.
Our second visit was part of our 9 week southwest parks roadtrip. It was the first stop of our “Mighty 5” week. This time we were in the park in late April.
It was a total mess.
Part of our bad experience is our fault, but most of it falls on the park itself and the sheer volume of people that clamor to visit it.
The Visit that Ruined it All
Our second visit was on a Saturday (which probably explains some things). This day was one of those that goes in the “this will be funny someday” files. It also proves that travel planning can be easily messed up.
The day started fine with my husband and I working together to get everything gathered for our day at Zion. Luckily, we were running slightly behind getting lunch together and the car loaded. Because, I got the AirBnB checkout instructions email moments before we left.
Except… We weren’t planning on leaving that day. We were supposed to have 1 more night…
A little research later and my mistake was clear.
Well, that’s just dandy!
This was one of those moments when I was ever so thankful that I am NOT a last minute packer, and I had spent most of the prior evening packing up all of our clothes and school stuff.
So… My husband and I proceeded to set a world record as we finished the packing and loaded up our car as fast as we could. At the same time I was frantically hitting Google Maps and looking for a place for us to sleep that night.
With a hotel booked in Cedar City, and not St. George, we headed off to Zion.
Zion is only about 30 minutes from St. George, but by this time we were much later than we wanted to be (we arrived close to 11:00)... this is a problem.
The place was PACKED. Cars parked up and down the road for miles before we even got into the park.
We headed to the visitor center to get our Jr. Ranger books, but the lot was full. We parked in a 10 minute spot, and I went to find a ranger.
Turns out Zion receives over 5 million visitors a year. The ranger told me it was the second most visited park (Google now says it’s #1) after Smokey Mountains, but it’s a fraction of the size. You feel the crowds here.
Quick Background on Zion
Zion is composed of four areas:
Kolob Terraces
Kolob Canyon
Zion Canyon (main area)
East Zion (Highway 9- always open to drive through)
The Kolob areas are more remote and less visited (we did not go there).
Spring-Fall there is a shuttle service that takes you to the Zion Canyon section of the park. When the shuttle is operating, all other traffic is prohibited in the canyon.
The main draw for most to this area is The Narrows. Hiking the Narrows requires you hike the Riverside Walk Trailalong the Virgin River to a point where the river flows through a narrow canyon (hence The Narrows). At this point people have to hike through water and up the river through the canyon.
It’s a huge deal to many- obviously not the best idea if you have kids in tow.
East Zion is always open to drive through. It is full of gorgeous slickrock and checkered sandstone. You also drive through the historic Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. There are lots of amazing views… and very few places to pull off to enjoy them.
The Part Where Everything Went a Little Wrong
The same ranger told me about an overflow parking lot about half a mile up the road with an easy trail to bring us back to the shuttle pick up.
Armed with Jr Ranger books and knowledge of the parking lot, I went in search of my husband.
We arrived at the lot to find a single parking space left. Of course, it was available because the two cars around it had parked horribly.
The kids and I piled out of the car with me trying to grab everything I thought we’d need. Then my husband parked the car.
It's a good thing we had an SUV because he had to climb out the back… Which was incredibly challenging considering it had all of our belongings for a 9 week trip! (remember the earlier Airbnb reservation snafu)?
In the excitement of the parking troubles we did our best to gather the backpack, hats, water, etc. that we would need for our day in the canyon.
Off to the shuttle (a half mile walk).
Thankfully, we decided to get off at the first stop to check out the Human History Museum. Usually, I like to go to the farthest point and then work our way back. I’m glad I deviated. You’ll see why.
After that we headed to Zion Canyon and stop #9(the last one), which is Riverside Walk Trail and The Narrows.
There are a LOT of people. We managed to avoid feeling too cramped for a bit by walking the shore for a while before being forced to join the trail. It was shoulder to shoulder in some places.
The thing that made it worse was the people who were planning to hike The Narrows. In order to do that hike many rent waders, boots, and poles. I don’t know if there’s a time limit or what, but those people are in a HURRY.
So many of them were shoving past and jostling people as they rushed to the end of the trail. It’s really hard to take your time and truly appreciate the beauty when you’re being pushed and shoved.
We did it. We made it to the end of the Riverside Walk (1 mile each way) and the start of the slot canyon. Admired it. And turned around to walk back to the shuttle station (to be jostled around some more).
Riverside Walk Trail at the start of The Narrows
Most of the hiking in Zion is far more difficult than our kids (9 and 5 at the time) could handle, so the only other hike I had planned was Lower Emerald Pools.
Since the day was still young, we decided to get off at each of the shuttle stops just to admire the different views and take photos. At most of these stops we were the only people around, so it provided some nice people breaks.
Lower Emerald Pools is stop #5 and is across from Zion Lodge.
It is well into the afternoon at this point and the 5 year old is hangry. On the shuttle we had the lovely misfortune to realize in all the hubbub with parking, we forgot the snacks!!!
No biggie, there’s a lodge right here. The problem is hundreds of other people had the same thought, and the area was packed to the brim. The only grill had a line out the door at least 40 people long, that we could see.
The kid is now melting down…
The adults must admit defeat and call it a day.
Making Lemonade Out of Lemons
I had chosen Cedar City instead of going back to St. George because I really wanted to visit Cedar Breaks National Monument. I was hopeful it would be open now that it was almost May. BUT, my research during dinner confirmed that it was in fact still closed for winter. Plowing of the roads would start May 5th (it was April 24th). Of course…
We decided we would drive Highway 14 past Cedar Breaks, along the north of Zion, and enter Zion from the east driving Highway 9 back to the visitor center and try again to hike Lower Emerald Pools.
We went to bed tired, but with a plan.
The next day we woke up and managed to get on the road by our regular desired departure time of 9:00 and headed off to highway 14. It was new territory for us, so that’s always nice.
Four years later and I am still sad we did not get to see Cedar Breaks. In many ways the photos remind me of Bryce Canyon (one of my favorites). It’s at an elevation of over 10,000 feet though. Hence why it’s closed so late into the year.
The drive on 14 was nice, and we did have snow on the road in one spot.
View along Highway 14 near Cedar Breaks NM
We entered Zion today from the east, which is at the top of the rim. East Zion is breathtaking. The main activity in this section is driving the road and taking in the views. There are no real trails, and sadly, few pullouts… which means few pictures.
Here we activated our Guide Along GPS guide and learned all about the park as we drove.
We wound our way down into the canyon and back to the visitor center to start the parking search. Once again, it was mid-day, so we knew it was going to be a battle.
The kids protested about the overflow lot and its accompanying walk, so we braved the big lot.
After numerous laps around we found a spot, granted there was a group of young 20-somethings standing in it talking on a phone trying to direct someone who was driving around somewhere to the spot.
My husband wasn’t having it and pulled into the spot slowly forcing them to move out of the way. They yelled at us in another language, but left. It’s a dog eat dog world at Zion.
(We paid it forward on the way out though by flagging down a circling car and having them follow us to our spot).
Today, we remembered the snacks! Off to the shuttle and stop #5 we went.
Lower Emerald Pools trailis a little over a mileround trip, and you can continue farther (and uphill) to Upper Emerald Pools.
It’s a fairly easy trail with minor elevation gains, but my kids whined plenty, and my husband and I had to take turns carrying the 5 year old off and on.
The best part was even though there were other people, it was much betterthan the Riverside Walk, no one was shoving by us to get there faster.
Lower Emerald Pools
Now that we had accomplished all we had set out to do, we got the heck out of there. Probably for good.
Overall, Zion is one of those places that if you’re in the area, it’s worth a drive through.
Unless you have some undying urge to climb Angel’s Landing or won’t be able to live fully until you’ve walked the Narrows, in my opinion, Zion is best seen from your car as you pass through on to better places.
Utah is full of canyons and cliffs. Just about everything you can see in Zion can be seen somewhere else with 20,000 less people shoving you around.
