Day 2I had hoped we’d hit the road early on Monday morning, but we realized that we hadn’t bought enough tuna and had to get back to Albertson’s, which is in the opposite direction. We made another stop at Target for a selfie stick and finally were on our way.
We reached Springdale after noon. As we got close to the park, we saw a sign out on the road saying that the parking lot inside was full. This meant we’d have to park in Springdale and take the shuttle to the park. In the end, that wasn’t necessary, since we found parking on the street, right across Cable Mountain Lodge, which is next door to the Springdale Shuttle stop #1 is. Stop #1 is in front of Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theater, and a path behind the building leads to a footbridge and the park’s walk-in entrance booth and the Visitor Center. (We paid the regular entrance fee at the booth because we didn’t think we needed an America the Beautiful pass, but with all the places we visited, we probably should just have purchased the pass.)
Now let me just say that while I like to hike, my husband is more of a reluctant hiking companion, so we were looking for the shortest hikes with the best views. We took the in-park shuttle in front of the Visitor Center and our first stop was at the Zion Museum. There’s a beautiful view behind the building, no hiking required! Next, we stopped at Zion Lodge, which has the trailhead for the Emerald Pools Trail. This was a really nice hike, partially uphill, with gorgeous views that led to beautiful falls. The trail continues to the Middle and Upper Pools. The path turns into a series of steps, which is very exhausting but makes for some incredible photo ops. We turned back at the Middle Pools. The way back is much easier as it’s mostly downhill. All in all, a doable, beautiful hike of 1.5-2 hours that I would highly recommend.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/146653327@N06/shares/d383Q0https://www.flickr.com/photos/146653327@N06/shares/TkhLhKhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/146653327@N06/shares/xQV342Next we took the Weeping Rock hike, which is quite steep but short, less than half hour round trip. The trail ends at a rock that forms an overhang of sorts that keeps dripping water. This is water that has seeped in centuries ago at the very top of the huge red rocks and slowly made its way down over many years. According to a ranger on site, the water dripping out of the overhang is some two thousand years old.
As we headed back with the shuttle to the Visitor Center, we made one more stop at the Court of the Patriarchs. A short, steep path leads to an excellent view of three prominent peaks, which have been aptly named Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so we got some photos with them!
It was probably around five or six when we headed back to our car. We had reservations at Page, Arizona, so we still needed to drive another two hours that day, for a total of four hours of driving – the most of any day of our road trip. To get to Page, we actually had to continue on the 9, which goes directly through the park. We showed our tickets at the park toll booth so that we wouldn’t have to pay the entrance fee again. As the 9 continues through the park, it goes in the opposite direction of the park shuttle bus route, towards the other entrance/exit. The views towards that exit are absolutely breathtaking. We stopped several times to take pictures. Then, as we exited the park, we went through the famous Zion tunnel, which was blasted through the rocks. The views for the next few miles, through the canyons outside the park, are just mind-blowing and totally worth it even if someone is planning to turn around and head back towards Springdale or Vegas.
Eventually, the magnificent canyon views gave way to endless open desert, making it less of a wow drive for the remainder of the trip to Page.
I want to mention that I know I know I know that we should’ve stopped at Bryce first. Yeah, I know the rock formations are incredible and completely different from the huge impressive rocks at Zion. However, it’s an hour in the opposite direction, making it a two-hour detour, without calculating time to look around inside the park itself. We had only five days, and as much as we tried to shuffle the schedule we just couldn’t make it work. Besides, our road trip already included some 11 hours of driving, so we had to be realistic… Maybe one day we can get there through a flight to Salt Lake City.
Bottom line, our next pit stop was Page, Arizona. (We had some fun figuring out the time, because from Vegas to Zion the clock had to be moved an hour, and then from Zion to Page we had to move it back, so we had some weird estimated arrival times on Google Maps…)
We arrived after dark to Courtyard by Marriot Page. The lobby décor is rather rustic and different, but the rooms were nice and clean. Microwaves are available upon request, so we were able to reheat our store-bought, double-wrapped suppers.
