Zion National Park is one of the best National Parks the United States has to offer. It has some of the most magnificent views I’ve ever seen, has wildlife everywhere, and you can get an incredible experience without ever having to leave the main road! 

Angel’s Landing:

My first experience with Zion was for a sunrise hike up Angel’s Landing. For those of you that don’t know, Angel’s Landing is a hike that requires that you are not afraid of heights. It’s VERY exposed near the top but offers some of the best views I’ve ever seen. This is a Bucket List hike and doing it in the winter made it so much more enjoyable because of the Solitude. In fact, I didn’t see anyone else until I was almost off the chains on the way down. This is one of the reasons I love sunrise hikes.

I started hiking about an hour before the sun came up. It was around 22 degrees but I dressed in Layers because I knew going up in elevation I would warm up quickly. I made sure I had enough water, some food, hand warmers and a good headlamp before I headed up on the trail. The stars were so bright and the moon lit the trail so I didn’t need my headlamp. Hiking by moonlight in such a neat location is a great experience.

Once the sun came up it was easy to see through the Canyon.

Soon you come to some slot canyons.

These switchbacks are a good workout. Straight up!

Once you get to the bottom of the chains there are bathrooms and areas to rest. This is a great spot for people to hike up to enjoy the view who aren’t going to go all the way up. They can wait for the more daring in their party to go all the way to the top.

It was really neat looking down into the Canyon. I was relaxing at one point and watched a truck with a Travel Trailer go the entire length of the main road in Zion. The Travel Trailer is in this picture.

This part of the hike was hair raising. Very exposed with just chains to grab onto to avoid a fall.

On my way down I stopped to take in the view and a few pictures of people heading up. If you zoom in on this picture you will see multiple people halfway up this ridge. It’s crazy to look at it from this view and realize there are people climbing up it.

Would you look down?

Hiking “Off the Beaten Path”

On the way into Zion there are fields of Bison. I thought it was funny that there was one random Cow mixed in the group.

One time I was hiking through the wilderness, making my own trail and something caught my eye. When I became still and focused I realized there was a family of Big Horn Sheep just a little ways away from me. I was able to get really close without them getting spooked, I sat down and hung out for around 15 minutes and then took off for more exploring. Cool experience!

This couple was traveling across the USA in this Class B. They were enjoying breakfast after hiking for sunrise. 

The Emerald Pools

Looking for a short, easy hike that takes you through beautiful scenery? The Emerald Pools in Zion are just that.  

With this hike, you choose how long you want to go based on which pools you want to see. The lower pools are the first ones. You are actually able to walk behind the waterfall.

After the first pools you head up just a little further to the middle pools. We stopped just before we made it to the middle because we wanted to catch the Sunset at the bridge on the edge of Zion.

Springdale

Springdale is the town closest to Zion. It’s lined with beautiful Red Rocks. Leaving Zion there is a bridge that you turn at and we heard from a local that this is the place where all the photographers go for sunset. We stopped and sure enough, there was a row of photographers.