Mount Zion National Park

[PorscheGuy 127]

Considering family road trip west to Mount Zion. We typically do not do the outdoorsy hiking trips but I feel it might be worth a shot.

 

I don’t know shit how this works in terms of national parks, hiking, gear, etc. The wife and I are in shape and our only medical concern is our type 1 son (recently diagnosed in last 14 months). Can a trip like this be enjoyed without extreme or general isolation or remote locations far from aid?

 

Tips appreciated

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[miguelito 11266]

I'm heading to Mount Zion in August for a brief trip, so I've been doing some research.  The main theme I've been seeing is that it is crowded as shit there.  It's close to Vegas and to Salt Lake, so lots of people are heading there (and Bryce, and other parks nearby).  If you're not staying at the Lodge, you have to take the shuttle to get into the park.  The most popular hikes (Angel's Landing and the Narrows) get jam packed with people.  There are other hikes you can do, but those 2 are the most popular for a reason.

 

Start with the NPS page for info:

https://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm

 

The tripadvisor forums can be pretty helpful as well:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g143057-i1449-Zion_National_Park_Utah.html

 

I'm sure plenty of folks here have been and have good tips.  If I don't die there in August I'll post some notes.

[TommyGufano 6021]

FWIW, I think the view from Observation Point > Angel's Landing, but when I was there the only trail with access to it was outside of the park (and a bit tricky to arrive at); falling rocks closed down the trail that the shuttle would drop you off at inside the park. That said, Angel's Landing is a more fun (ie dangerous) hike.

You never have to be isolated to enjoy it -- ppl are everywhere, though that Observation Point trail that I pointed out was very isolated when I was there. Don't think I saw more than 10 ppl.

You'd probably require gear rental for Narrows. Everything else you can get by with a half decent pair of hiking shoes and a backpack.

[lemonlime 5503]

Agreed on Observation Point.  It has views at least as good as Angels Landing, but without the danger.  Angel's Landing is spectacular, and I did it off season without many crowds and on a beautiful day, and didn't find it particularly tough, but I'm sure it's much worse in crowds or when it's windy. 

Coalpits Wash trail was easy and less crowded/popular than some of the others, but beautiful with lots of wild flowers.

I don't remember ever feeling particularly isolated and there were always a lot of people around. But cell service was spotty at best, although maybe it's improved since I was there 5 years ago.

[Gil Bang 25980]

I did Zion and Bryce in May.  I'm busy now, but can offer some intel in later this week. 

[bluto 4933]

I’m a pussy

Just watching vids of angel landing hike is enough to make me nope the f out of it.

[mchookem 16338]

FWIW i follow a National Parks group and the general experience/consensus on the crowds is that morning is the worst. apparently people keep hearing 'omg it's so crowded!' so folks keep showing up earlier and earlier, so you get 2-3 hour wait times at 5 and 6am!

a number of people have suggested to just wait and go later in the day. of course it's hotter then, so that's a consideration, and depends on how long you hike...but quite a few folks have waited until 4-5 pm, with the days being longer you still get many hours of daylight.

caveat: i have not been there myself so don't blame me if you die lol 😋

[mininghorn88 2294]

5 hours ago, PorscheGuy said:

 

Considering family road trip west to Mount Zion. We typically do not do the outdoorsy hiking trips but I feel it might be worth a shot.

 

I don’t know shit how this works in terms of national parks, hiking, gear, etc. The wife and I are in shape and our only medical concern is our type 1 son (recently diagnosed in last 14 months). Can a trip like this be enjoyed without extreme or general isolation or remote locations far from aid?

 

Tips appreciated

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

If hiking is new to you then I advise against Angel’s Landing. There are plenty of other hikes to do that aren’t as tough. You can also go to the western part of the park which is much less visited. Just be careful on the Kolob Terrace Road as it is open range for a cattle ranch. There are Black Angus all over the place which are very hard to see at night. I came across an accident of a sporty SUV from California that was totaled after hitting a bull at night.

[Wally Fairway 5569]

@Anton Chigurh is the surly guy with Zion area knowledge.

I took the family there 2 years ago, and you need to follow the parks on Twitter (or other social media) to see what trails/areas are closed. When we went, early May, most of Zion wasn't open (Virgin river was to fast, a rock slide closed one area, they were cleaning winter debris from all the Emerald trails) only Angels Landing was open of note. But the park is beautiful, but can be very crowded if most of it is closed.

We also did Bryce Canyon, it was great, only a couple of closed trails; and we could get lodging in the in park hotels (near the cabins) about 50 yards from the rim. But Springdale has much better restaurants than Bryce. 

I plan on going back but it will, hopefully be a Sept/Oct timeframe when we can go on the Virgin River hike and it will also not have the summertime crowds.

[Chewbacca 7780]

11 hours ago, mininghorn88 said:

If hiking is new to you then I advise against Angel’s Landing. There are plenty of other hikes to do that aren’t as tough. You can also go to the western part of the park which is much less visited. Just be careful on the Kolob Terrace Road as it is open range for a cattle ranch. There are Black Angus all over the place which are very hard to see at night. I came across an accident of a sporty SUV from California that was totaled after hitting a bull at night.

And stay the fuck off any of those dirt roads like Kolob Terrace if it's been raining unless you're driving a serious offroad rig (and even then it's iffy).  The mud becomes impassable and you'll end up on Matt's Offroad Recovery channel on Youtube.

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

Tbh, Zion is a mess right now. It’s overflowing with people and they just had a flash flood a week or so ago. Getting into the main canyon is a cluster because you have to obtain a ticket for the shuttle and they can be kind of hard to get.

The main canyon access trail to hidden canyon and observation point trail is still closed, but as someone else mentioned, you can still access observation point from a longer hike starting just inside the east entrance.

You can park anywhere on the eastern part of SR9 and pretty much go explore any of those side canyons.

Or, you can go west on SR9 (out the south entrance) and north on I-15 and visit the Kolob Canyons section. There’s several hikes in that area and it is incredibly less crowded. It’s a bit of a different look, since you’re outside the main canyon, but it’s still great.

Here’s a few general photos.

Angel’s Landing



Hidden Canyon (still closed, which sucks because this hike is great)










Narrows



Virgin River near end of the Riverside Walk trail (which leads to the narrows)



The Watchman



The Subway. Permit is required. I took one photo with the nice camera because there was so much goddamn water when I did this hike in April. So, pro tip, do not do this hike in spring when the runoff makes it insane.

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

Few more

Walter’s Wiggles



Great White Throne from Observation Point (I think)







Canyon Overlook is the upper right of the ridge in this photo. Great sunrise hike. Not a great sunset hike.



Checkerboard Mesa (you can hike on the west side of this up to a saddle that continues into a canyon erring route; hiking up to the saddle is nice)





This is from the Kolob Canyons area



Off of SR-9 in the eastern part of the park













Canyon Overlook trail







Scout Lookout at the base of the climb up Angel’s Landing











Looking into the start of the narrows



The trail to observation point and hidden canyon (this is the trail that’s still closed due to rockfall)



Watchman at sunset

[miguelito 11266]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

For the milky way shot, what exposure time did you use (and other photo info I won't understand)?  What was lighting up the Watchman in that shot?

 

FYI, supposedly they are not issuing tickets for the shuttles anymore, and it is just first-come, first-serve.  I've also heard what mchookem said above about just waiting a few hours for the crowds to die down/spread out.

 

[Anton Chigurh 3319]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.
For the milky way shot, what exposure time did you use (and other photo info I won't understand)?  What was lighting up the Watchman in that shot?
 
FYI, supposedly they are not issuing tickets for the shuttles anymore, and it is just first-come, first-serve.  I've also heard what mchookem said above about just waiting a few hours for the crowds to die down/spread out.
 

That one uses several shots for the sky at I think 30 seconds each (I think like 6-8, I forget since it has been several years), which are then stacked on top of each other to reduce the noise in the image and make it look as best as possible. Then that the foreground is a separate shorter exposure that I don’t remember the exposure time for, but probably also 15-30 seconds.

So, it’s a composite image, but the camera didn’t move for any of the shots and the view is the same for all of them, it’s just taking several of them and stacking them together.

There is not any artificial light on the Watchman or anything, it’s just a longer exposure.

[Gil Bang 25980]

so, we stayed at Zion Ponderosa Resort.  It's easy to get to Bryce from there, but it pretty much sucks as far as civilization goes.  The Springdale side has a ton more shit to do, restaurants, galleries, etc. 

From the "resort", it was a 30 minute drive to a shitty grocery store, an hour drive to buy a bottle of wine, etc. 

The resort itself is fine, but the restaurant is expensive and kinda shitty, and they don't sell much of anything onsite.  

Bryce is very bike-friendly, so if you can take a bike, do so. 

[Gil Bang 25980]

[mininghorn88 2294]

2 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

Few more

Walter’s Wiggles



Great White Throne from Observation Point (I think)







Canyon Overlook is the upper right of the ridge in this photo. Great sunrise hike. Not a great sunset hike.



Checkerboard Mesa (you can hike on the west side of this up to a saddle that continues into a canyon erring route; hiking up to the saddle is nice)





This is from the Kolob Canyons area



Off of SR-9 in the eastern part of the park













Canyon Overlook trail







Scout Lookout at the base of the climb up Angel’s Landing











Looking into the start of the narrows



The trail to observation point and hidden canyon (this is the trail that’s still closed due to rockfall)



Watchman at sunset

I basically took these same photos from my trip to the area back in late November 2020.  The crowds were not too bad then.  Would not go now because of the crowds.

[luke duke 6413]

I came across an accident of a sporty SUV from California that was totaled after hitting a bull at night.

[4th and 5 4914]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:58 PM, Anton Chigurh said:

Few more

Walter’s Wiggles



Great White Throne from Observation Point (I think)







Canyon Overlook is the upper right of the ridge in this photo. Great sunrise hike. Not a great sunset hike.



Checkerboard Mesa (you can hike on the west side of this up to a saddle that continues into a canyon erring route; hiking up to the saddle is nice)





This is from the Kolob Canyons area



Off of SR-9 in the eastern part of the park













Canyon Overlook trail







Scout Lookout at the base of the climb up Angel’s Landing











Looking into the start of the narrows



The trail to observation point and hidden canyon (this is the trail that’s still closed due to rockfall)



Watchman at sunset

 

Great pics. We did some of these trails earlier this year. Definitely need to go back for a few more days.

[Biff Tannen 45692]

@immamac Please fix the thread title.  It's giving me anxiety.