Springdale, UT

Summary of Zion National Park

photo by jn1234

Zion National Park

Springdale, UT 84767
(435) 772-3256

www.nps.gov

Located in southwestern Utah, Zion National Park is the state’s oldest wilderness sanctuary. Named for the Mormon homeland of Zion in 1863, it is perhaps Utah’s most striking region.

It is a landscape marked by dramatic shadows that swirl over gigantic rock formations and deep crevices carved by the Virgin River. Zion National Park is also characterized by colorful vegetation, which provides canopies over sandstone walls and traces the Virgin River’s embankment. The 6-mile drive through the park also embraces distant views of the valley’s desert floor and the formations of the Great White Throne, the Court of the Patriarchs, and Angel’s Landing.

From Zion Lodge, a trailhead leads through Hidden Canyon, where torrents of water tumble off the rock face after a sudden cloudburst.

There are two main entrances to Zion National Park, with the Zion Canyon Visitor Center based at its southern gate near Springdale. The northern entrance takes in Kolob Canyons, incorporated as part of the park in 1956.

Open year-round, Zion National Park is very popular with tourists, especially during high summer. The best trail for camping and backpacking is at the Narrows, where compressed walls close in around hikers. The park has limited lodging facilities and reservations are required for Zion Lodge.

Springdale offers budget lodgings.

Reviews

Zion NP

Reviewed by shawnm94 on June 25, 2008

shawnm94's rating:

"Although a great park, it feel below my expectation. Ever since we started our goal of seeing every National Park, this one has been one "I gotta see." It was very nice, but it's been hyped so much that I was sorta of let down. Skip the Riverside Walk (unless you're going to the narrows) and Emerald Pools hikes. There's a reason why they're so popular. They're easy (made for fat americans). If you want a great hike here, Angel's Landing is AWESOME and we loved Hidden Canyon."

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Higher Than a Lion in Zion

Reviewed by darrenhitz on November 29, 2007

darrenhitz's rating:

"Up at 4am to be at the airport for 6am flight...it does not get much better than that my friends.I arrived safely in the City of Sin (Vegas) and picked up the super sport wagon for the trip cross-country. She is a butte Clark. It took about 4 hours to get to Zion and get going. The parks have really cut back as you can see by the picture I took of the new recruits at the entrance gate.I picked up a pass for all the national parks that last a year. Seems like a good deal as I will be hitting 6 this week and at $20/Park, even I can figure out that the $80 card is worth the expense. I grabbed a campsite and headed for the trail head. It was about 2:30 when I got started, leaving 3 hours of light, so I picked a short tough trial. The description said that it contained a bunch of switchbacks and not for those who are scared of heights....I don't like heights...so I took it. It was called Angel's Landing and started easy enough. I decided to take a self portrait about this time.Well, shortly after this, it became a little steeper, as you can see by installment 2 in the self portrait library. Along the way I saw this guy free climbing the face of the mountain. Here is a picture. If you click on it and enlarge you might be able to make him out in the bottom right...crazy stuff.Once I got near the top, I took a few nice shots to add to the collection This is when it became a bit crazy. Once reaching the summit, or what I thought was the summit, I started seeing people way up above me on a ridge. I could not understand how they got up there, and then I saw it, this steep winding staircase going up the side of the mountain. In some parts there was a guardrail, but the path was 3 feet across with 1,000 foot drops on either side. I thought it was crazy, they actually have this as part of the trail? Tons of people must fall off here every year (I later learned 1 every other year). It was at this point that a 10 year old girl with flip-flops bounded past me up the incline. The gauntlet was thrown down. I climbed along the ridge, focused intently on the chain and my footing and a small 3 foot field of vision in front of me. Once I got to the top I took these pictures looking down. On this first one, if you enlarge you can barely see a couple with blue jackets near the bottom, showing the path, it was intense.After getting down in darkness. it was back to the campsite to set up shop. Note to self, next time you go out and buy a tent, set it up in your yard, or at least in the daylight before heading out into the woods, huddled over a light trying to read and remember 4th grade Spanish in order to decode the directions. Lets just say I had a lot of extra parts, so we have our fingers crossed. Weather is decent and I fixed a hearty meal of Ramen noodles and Couscous (quite sure I spelled that wrong). Anyway, off to bed, for tomorrow is a hike through a stream in a part of the park called the Narrows. Below I attached a PDF of Zion if interested. "

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Loved it, but not exactly peaceful

Reviewed by mimer9600 on April 20, 2007

mimer9600's rating:

"I spent 4 days at Zion national park during mid April and truly enjoyed my trip. We hiked about 5 to 8 miles each day and found everything we saw to be stunning. We particularly like the Angels Landing trail and the watchman trail. However, one thing we didn't like were the crowds. Living in downtown LA, I was hoping for some seclusion, peace, and quite. But we since we went right at the start of the high season, we didn't really get that. The Angels Landing trail was full of people, as were most of the other trails. If you are looking for some quite time, I would recommend that you spend some time in the northern section of the part (Kolob Canyons). I found it to be very peaceful there. While there were still some people around, it was almost desserted when compared to the southern, more popular section of the park. "

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