Tag: Zion National Park

Riverside Walk at Zion National Park

by TravelPlanMom, posted in Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions” — Peter Hoeg

Hey again!  Let’s talk about an absolutely easy and delightful hike in Zion – the Riverside Walk.  When we visited Zion, we, of course, didn’t get to explore every hike in the park.  There is a very strenuous, thrilling and nausea-inducing (if you are afraid of heights) hike with magnificent views that we intentionally skipped, known as Angel’s Landing.

Another one, known as the Narrows, which is about 8 miles round-trip through the Virgin River, is supposed to be stunning, although somewhat challenging.  We couldn’t do that one because the river was running too high and the park service had it closed.  However, we were able to do the Riverside Walk, which is the very beginning of the Narrows hike.

The trail begins at the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop, is 2 miles round-trip, and takes about 1.5 hours, give or take.  The trail is a very easy walk and is paved and wide, so just about anybody, including those in wheelchairs, can enjoy it.  It’s so pleasant because it is alongside the Virgin River, and shady, so it’s a rather cool, refreshing walk.

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Along the way, you can enjoy hanging gardens, a peaceful river, and some of God’s creatures.

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While you are walking along the river, there’s such a feeling of peace and tranquility.  I wish I could bottle that up, along with the sounds of the river, and the feel of the small breeze from the running water.  So delightful.

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I’ve had to break out the thesaurus to figure out a bunch of different ways to say the word beautiful.  Because I want to keep saying beautiful.  Because it is so beautiful.

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It has been fun re-living my hike from a couple weeks ago with you!  I hope I’ve been able to share how alluring, appealing, charming, dazzling, gorgeous, grand, marvelous, and superb this experience can be, and that you get a chance to see it for yourself.

Until next time – happy traveling!

Zealous for Zion

by TravelPlanMom, posted in Planning, Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before” – Anonymous

Hey y’all! Can you tell that I had to break out the dictionary for that title? I needed something that started with Z that would adequately convey my emotion for Zion National Park. Oh, there are plenty of adjectives to describe the appeal of that bewitching, resplendent locale, but how many start with Z?

Anyhow, on our recent jaunt to southern Utah, Zion National Park was at the top of my list. As I mentioned in a previous post, even though I didn’t really know exactly what to expect, I knew by reputation that it is supposed to be beautiful. As I prepared for our trip, I started searching Google images for some ideas of what we would be seeing and I was amazed. I called my husband over to the computer while he was watching a basketball game or something, and I was actually able to grab his attention away from the tube while we oohed and ahhed at all of the lovely pictures.

But, let me tell you, pictures never do a place as majestic as Zion any justice. And, even though I just said that, I am compelled to share pictures with you. Below are a few pictures from the Canyon Overlook Trail.

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By the way, there are hanging gardens in quite a few places in the park. They are formed when water drips down through the rock and creates a wet environment for plants to grow.  You can see some of that in the picture above, left.

My favorite views in Zion National Park were seen as we departed the long tunnel and entered the canyon in the eastern part of the park. The cliffs were massive and soared above our heads in beautiful hues of red and cream with the contrasting green of the vegetation.

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I found it interesting that the views east of the long tunnel were somewhat different from the main canyon.

And, part of those views were big horn sheep!  We were all so excited to see them, although they only showed themselves to us once.  Tip – look around the east side of the long tunnel close to dusk.

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And while I will be sharing more pictures of individual hikes inside Zion in future posts, the last thing I would like to highlight today is the amazing petroglyphs that we found inside Zion National Park. It’s actually really amazing that we found these ancient creations at all. There’s no sign on the road letting you know that they exist (that I could see, anyway), and no parking area for them. The tour guide from Mild to Wild Rhino Tours is the one who told us about them and how to see them. Even with his directions, we were pretty unsure as we picked our way through a wash and under a road.

Seeing the petroglyphs was one of the items on my own personal “bucket list” for our vacation, and even though we were at the end of a long day that had been full of activity, and even though it was starting to get a little dark, my family humored me and went along for the journey. I am so thankful!

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While I am talking about Zion, I would like to point out that May is a fabulous month to visit the park. Unless, that is, you want to hike the Narrows. Usually, during the month of May, the Virgin River runs too high due to snow melt, and the park closes the Narrows hike. But the temperatures are really nice for hiking most of the month – not too cold, not too hot, and you don’t have to worry much about flash flooding in the slot canyons because it is not the rainy season. Of course, you always have to watch the weather, because with mother nature, anything can happen, but the odds are in your favor in May. We were there May 20th – 27th and had absolutely gorgeous weather, although it was getting pretty warm at the end of our trip. Also, the kids aren’t out of school yet, so it’s less crowded than the summer months. If you can get there in May, it’s a great time to go!

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So, if Zion National Park isn’t on your list, then get your pencil out right now and write it down! Make plans to visit. You won’t regret it!

Until next time – happy traveling!

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Utah

by TravelPlanMom, posted in Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

Today I would like to share a little overview of our trip “out west.”  My oldest son had been saying for a while that our next big family trip should be to Utah.  We had both heard amazing things about the beauty and majesty of southern Utah and the national parks there.  But I didn’t really know.  Since I’m from the southeast part of the states, anything west of say, Missouri, is just a jumbled mess in my mind – location wise.  I mean, I know where California and Washington are located, and I have vacationed in Arizona, but other than that . . . . hmmmm.  Oh, yeah, Texas – I know where Texas is.  It’s in the middle, at the bottom, right above Mexico.

Anyway, I don’t know what comes to your mind when you hear the word Utah, but it didn’t really conjure up anything geographically special or spectacular to me.  What do you think of when you hear Utah?  First of all, without looking at a map I thought it was like, up near Oregon or something.  Secondly, it made me think of Salt Lake City, and a really big salt lake, and the Mormon Tabernacle, and their amazing choir, oh, and the really cool, huge library in Salt Lake City that has all the genealogy records that I really want to visit someday.

So, despite all my lack of knowledge (or my ignorance, which is not as nice to say about yourself) – other than the great things we had heard about the parks there – we set our sites for Utah.  After booking our flights and setting up our lodging for the week, I finally got around to doing some visual research on the places we would see by using Google images.  Wow.  Wow.  I really had no idea.  I’ll share some of my own with you.

The picture at the top of the page is a shot of lower Zion Canyon in Zion National Park.  Below is a picture from our journey along the Canyon Overlook Trail in ZNP:

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Here’s another one from Zion – it’s from the Riverside Walk (spectacularly beautiful, by the way):

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Simply amazing, right?  Now I have to show you one from Bryce Canyon.  Bryce was also beautiful with lots of red rock, but also a lot different from Zion.  Here it is:

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The keyword for Bryce is hoodoos.  Yep, that’s right – hoodoos.  I personally think that word is a lot of fun to say.  Hoodoos!  Hoodoos are those happy rock formations that look like lots of little (or big?) statues all over the place.  Even though Bryce is called a canyon, it’s really not, but I will get to all of that in another post.

And, since this post is supposed to be an overview of Utah stuff, there’s one more picture I will share.  This one is from the hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument:

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I have a confession to make.  We didn’t make it to Lower Calf Creek Falls.  We didn’t have enough time to make the whole hike, but that’s okay because look at the eye candy here!  It was such a beautiful hike even without the falls.  Well, they are like the number one thing to see in the national monument.  And they are beautiful (from what I hear) ~sigh~  oh well, next time.

So, to wrap things up, we spent a week in Utah (mostly), and didn’t get to see that much of it!  But what we did see was incredible.  I really wanted to focus on Zion, and immerse ourselves in it, because there is just so much to do and see in Zion National Park.  We visited Zion for a few days, Bryce Canyon for part of a day, the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument for basically a day or two, and then popped down to Arizona for a day.  We only got to two of the national parks in Utah.  There are several more to visit, but we just didn’t have the time.

Seriously, one week in Utah is not enough!  It is so beautiful, it is like a feast for your eyes.  I told my hubby while we were there that it’s almost like beauty overload.  You are overwhelmed with spectacular scenery and your mind just can’t comprehend it.  I’m not exaggerating, here!  Okay, so I will stop raving about the beauty of Utah.  But you really need to see it for yourself – you won’t regret it!

I hope that my overview has been a bit informative and has whet your appetite for your own trip to this beautiful state.  I have more to share, so I hope you visit again!

Until next time – happy traveling!