Today we visited Zion National Park, by far the busiest (and hottest) day of our trip. Once again we got an early start and entered the park from the east side.
Entering from the east is unusual and is made possible by the Mt. Zion and Mt. Carmel Highway and tunnel, a mile long 2 lane highway drilled through the rock with no lights but your headlights to guide you through.
When you exit the tunnel you are plunged into the other worldly rock scape that is the east side of Zion with rock in seemingly unending rivers and waves of stone.
The park is a canyon surrounded by escarpments and cliff faces hundreds and even thousands of feet high. It is an amazing site. All transportation inside the park is via motor coach as more than 4 million visitors make the trip each year.
We did several of the easier hikes in the park including the climb up to Weeping Rock…
The views were incredible. We made our way to the end of the park shuttle run and down the Riverside path to the starting point of the famous “Narrows” trail which all takes place walking through the water of the Virgin River through a slot canyon. Hundreds of people were continuing the water hike but we called it quits there.
One could hike for days on the dozens of trails in the park but we opted to head back to the Visitors Center in the 103 degree heat for a late lunch and the trip back to our cabin.
Gallery from Zion National Park
