Zion Lodge Springdale

Zion National Park Today we drove to the Sinai National Park. This is a serious park, and it don't get any better. Its got welcome centers, book stores, museums, tour shuttles with 11 stops for photo shoots and walking trails, and a hotel and eatery. The shuttle service is mandatory, and at first this was annoying. But with the amount of people traveling up the canyon, there is no way the Park could sustain that many automobiles; and the shuttle service was really well run. Pat and I took a l...

Yesterday we drove to Zion N.P. and stopped at Sunset Crater and Wupatki Pueblo on the way. It was a long drive but we caught Zion just in time to get the lay of the land and take some sunset pictures. Today we hiked the Narrows at Zion Canyon and we can barely move. 5.5 hours total hiking (yes - Brenda and Dennis - I did it!) We rented gear which was necessary as the air temp was 50 degrees and the water 38 degrees. A few helpful hints for future visitors. Get breakfast at Zion lodge. They h...

Today we left the hotel here in Cedar City and proceded with our plan to go to Zion National Park. We went first to the visitor's center and from there we caught a shuttle into the canyon. Private cars are not allowed into the main part of the canyon during the height of the summer season; only the 'environmentally friendly' propane-powered busses which are free to ride. They run about every six minutes so it's easy to jump off and on at the various points of interest and not have to worry ab...

Headed to Zion Canyon. Arrive @ 3ish. Checked in & then took part of the scenic drive. Saw "weeping rock" & then went on to end. "Gateways to the Narrows" trail. Nice, sidewalked. Had dinner @ Snack bar & then back to cabin for hanging & fireplace. 5/14 - Got up early - breakfast - hike to "Emerald Pools" - upper & lower. Beautiful warm sunny day. Later got in car, headed to canyon overlook hike - nice views.

Left Hurricane, UT this morning and made it to Zion @10am. Private vehicles are not allowed in the park unless you're staying at the lodge, and then you can only park there and then ride one of the shuttles that travel up and down the canyon every few minutes. We did 10.4 miles and are beat! At one point, the temp on Anne's hiking gizmo(thanks, David!) read over 100 deg.. Don't think it was that hot but plenty warm and even with sunscreen, we probably got a bit of burn. Checked into a rustic,...

Stayed in a cabin at Zion Lodge last night. Rustic and very overpriced but comfy and with WiFi. Up fairly early, got breakfast, packed up the car, checked out, and caught the shuttle to our trailhead for the day. Hiked to Observation Point today - an 8 mile roundtrip hike with about a 2,500 foot elevation gain - from 4,000 feet on the valley floor to 6,500 feet at the end of the trail. Check out the comments posted with the pictures for more info on the hike. Finished the hike around 3:00 PM ...

We started our morning with breakfast at Bumbleberry's on Main Street in Springdale near Zion. I'm still not sure if there really is such a berry, but we had bumbleberry syrup on our french toast. They are two different kinds of berries that grow on giggle bush not near any other bush...so it goes. They're purple and taste much like grape jelly. Keegan and Collin wanted to stop by and see the elk and buffalo one more time before heading on to Zion National Park for a day of hiking and explori...