Zion National Park
In November of 2022 I took a trip to Las Vegas because I wanted to see Death Valley National Park. I had never been there and as part of my goal to visit the large National Parks it made sense to use Vegas as my starting point. Following a couple days in Death Valley I headed back toward Vegas, but realized I still had a little time before I had to go home, so I decided to travel to Zion National Park. I had been there once when I was younger. I went with a few of my friends and we did the 16 mile Narrows Hike, doing it in two days and camping overnight about half way through the hike. Back then I wasn’t interested in taking pictures, so I thought it would be a good time to come back and see how the park had changed. To travel through the park you can either ride one of the shuttle busses to different locations through the canyon, or ride a bike. I hadn’t made any reservations because I hadn’t planned on coming to Zion, and the only bikes they had available were e-bikes, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I ended up loving it, the only traffic was the occasional shuttle bus, and I felt like I got to see so much wildlife. I was able to stop whenever I saw something I wanted to take a picture of and it felt much more like taking a leisurely ride than just sitting on a bus and only getting to get off at the stops. The e-bike also made it so easy to cruise and didn’t tire me out to much so I was able to do a couple of hikes. When I came here with my buddies in the early 2000s, the highlight was the Narrows hike, but they also convinced me to do the Angels Landing hike, which I would not recommend for someone with a fear of heights, which it have. I stuck to the easier hikes this time, including the lower portion of the Narrows to see the steep canyon walls, and the Lower and Middle Emerald Pool trails. I also biked some of the trails that parallel the road, hoping to see wildlife. After exploring the canyon, I went for a little drive through the rest of the park, including checking out the Mt. Carmel Tunnel
Trail for hikers and bikes entering the park.
Mule deer near trail.
Mule deer near trail.
Trail bridge heading into the canyon.
Canyon road.
Cactus along trail.
Steep canyon walls along Riverside Walk hike.
Steep canyon walls along Riverside Walk hike.
Canyon walls along trail.
Canyon walls along Emerald Pool trails.
Waterfall along Emerald Pool trails.
Reflection in water along Emerald Pool trails.
View of canyon from Emerald Pools hike.
Wild Turkey along trail.
View of Zion from scenic overlook.
West entrance of the Mt. Carmel tunnel.
Rock formations along road.
Bighorn Sheep climbing steep slopes.
Bighorn Sheep along roadway.