June 11, 2021
This is the second part of the blog from my trip out West. This part of the blog will feature Zion, the Grand Canyon and a short part on Hoover Dam.
On Sunday morning we said goodbye to Summerlin, NV and the crazy weather there and headed for Zion National Park in Springdale, Utah. It was an easy drive ( because Jim was driving!) and we actually drove through the edge of Arizona before arriving at the border of Utah. I had driven it several times before and never realized that I had to do that!
There has been a lot of growth in the surrounding towns of Zion. I remembered from my last trip that St. George and Springdale were the two main towns but there are several more new towns with a lot of conveniences such as gas, shopping and restaurants.
We arrived in Springdale after noontime and the streets were lined with cars. Of course on a weekend one would expect Zion to be busy and that it was. There is a shuttle system in the park and now one that leaves from Springdale ( it's free but you have to pay for street parking) as the park only allows so many cars in per day. The only parking in the park is at the visitor center and once that is gone you are out of luck. You can pick up the park shuttle at the visitor center and be driven to all the scenic areas. However, you need a shuttle ticket to board and the tickets have a specific time for you to board. The time ticket allows you to board within a particular hour period. Once you board you can ride the bus all day to the different scenic sites. Be careful, though. If you take the bus all the way back to the visitor center you must get off the bus with no return to the park. Here is information on both Zion National Park and obtaining a shuttle ticket.
Zion National Park website:
https://www.nps.gov/zion/index.htm
For shuttle tickets:
https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/300016
Shuttle tickets are hard to come by. They are only released twice a month and then at 5 PM the evening prior to when you want to use the shuttle. The best way to describe obtaining a shuttle ticket (for those who have been vaccinated against the virus.....) is that once you are in the shuttle ticket area the system tends to crash and won't let you in. You have to keep refreshing the page and have a little bit of luck. For Jim and I, I was hoping for a 7 AM shuttle ticket but I kept getting blocked out. Finally after much frustration the site let me in and I was able to obtain a 12 PM ticket. Woohoo.
There are other options for getting around the park. You can rent bikes at Zion Lodge ( which was where we were staying during our visit) and possibly at the Visitor Center. They rent for $35. I am not sure how long you get the bike for the $35 fee but it does allow you to get to the scenic areas. They give you a helmet and a bike lock. In fact when we got to the Narrows ( one of the water scenic stops) there was a sea of bikes all around the area. You can also call a approved ( by the park service ) van service that will take you to the sights. Almost all of the beginning of the scenic areas are in the same place so it makes it easy to hire one if that is your only option.
Here are some photos as we drove to Zion Lodge
These are deer that are very aggressive and hang out at the lodge front lawn. There are signs everywhere to keep your distance.
We were lucky in that our room was ready early and we were able to check in and get settled. As an added bonus the person at the front desk asked if we had shuttle tickets and I happily said yes. She was able to provide us with wristbands for boarding any time of the day for the following day. That turned out to be a lifesaver as we only one full day to hike the scenic areas.
We decided to do a short hike to Emerald Pools that afternoon. There are lower, middle and upper Emerald pools so we took the lower trail. Here is a view from our hike. If you look closely at the rock wall there is ice that has formed.
We were tired and decided to eat at the Lodge restaurant. I would not recommend doing that if you plan a visit to the park. The food was terrible but the view was great. At least that was worth it.
The restaurant handled dinner the same way the cafe for breakfast
handled coffee and breakfast orders. You place you order at the main restaurant desk, paid
for your meal, and headed upstairs to the dining room. If you decided
to order something else such as coffee or dessert and didn't order it
from the main desk with your first order, you had to go back downstairs and get in line and
order and pay again. It was not a great system.
We had come prepared and had breakfast in our room. Thank goodness. The line for the cafe ( opened at 7:30 AM ) was long. Having breakfast in our room ( with lousy coffee, though) allowed us to board the shuttle bus at 8 AM. It was a bit chilly at that hour so we wore long pants and had jackets to keep us warm until the temperatures were warmer.
Our first stop was the Narrows. There was a 2 mile paved, flat hike that meandered along the Virgin River. There were warning in the literature handed out at the visitor center as well as along the path indicating the presence of cynobacteria in the water. Cyonbacteria is the same bacteria found in red tide! However, it didn't stop a lot of hikers who had long pants ( with gators which protect you from getting water in your shoes) that wanted to hike in the Narrows. Water temperature is another thing to consider as well as flash floods. Jim and I were happy just to walk the path.
Hikers in the Narrows
Some plant life along the hike
We boarded the bus again and headed towards Angel's Landing. There was an intermediary stop which was an area where you could possibly see California Condors. We got off the bus in search of them but they were not in the area so we waited for the next bus and continued on the next scenic area called the Grotto. This area is probably the most popular scenic stop as it is the start of the hike up to Angel's Landing. The trail starts with the West Rim trail which is a bit dusty and flat. This trail connects you to Walter's Wiggle Trail, which is a long switchback trail that continues to climb (it's a cardio workout for sure) to Scout's Lookout. Scout's Lookout got its name from people scouting out angel's flying up to Angel's landing.....or at least that is how the story is told. We took a lunch break at Scout's Lookout and decided that the traffic jam of people headed up the trail was not worth the risk. Scout's Lookout is at approximately 4, 790 ft. Angel's Landing adds another 1,000 ft of climbing that is definitely risky. There are parts of the trail that require hikers to hold onto to chains secured in the rock with no foot base. If you are afraid of heights.....Angel's Landing is not for you. Here is a description I found while searching the web
https://www.citrusmilo.com/zionguide/angelslanding.php
We were definitely beat at the end of this 4 mile hike to Scout's Lookout. Angel's Landing would have added another 1 mile to the hike and we were so glad not to have done it. I have hiked to Angel's Landing two other times during previous visits and there was no urgency for me to do it again. Jim agreed.....he was done at Scout's Lookout.
We boarded the bus back to the Lodge and relaxed before dinner. I had made dinner reservations at the Switchback Inn in Springdale. There is plenty of parking in their lot after 5 PM. They are located in the Holiday Inn Express but in a separate part that of course included a gift shop for you to browse through while you waited to be seated. The food and service was excellent although the portions were a bit too large. They had a great wine selection and our server was very knowledgeable. Here was the appetizer dinner fruit salad that we ordered. We could of had that for our dinner!
We checked out the lodge the next morning and drove the main road to the Mt. Carmel Tunnel which would get us on our way out of the park and in the right direction for our drive to the Grand Canyon.
The park service was only letting one direction go through the tunnel at one time so we had to wait for about 10 minutes for us to be allowed to drive through the tunnel. We headed on Rt 189 and took the longer route on Rt 189A which was a bit more scenic and came close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. That part of the Canyon opens mid May due to snow and it was cold in that area when we got out of the car to get gas and coffee. We continued on towards the South Rim. In all, it was about a 5 hour trip with stops. Here are some scenic views from the drive.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon and luckily our room was ready at Maswik Lodge. As with Zion, we were on the second floor and there are no elevators in either of the lodges. It's something to consider if there is someone who has a disability that is traveling along with you. Be sure to ask for a first floor room if you book at either of these lodges.
We went off in search of food and ended up at the Bright Angel Lodge where we were lucky to get reservations at the Fred Harvey Bar and Grill. The food was excellent and we were ready to explore the rim trail. Bright Angel Trail is right outside of the entry to the Lodge and it is where the mules take people down the canyon to Phantom Ranch for overnight stays along the Colorado River. You have to book the mule ride a year in advance if you want to do it and have reservations available at Phantom Ranch.
We walked along the trail for a while and decided to head back toward our lodge but we stumbled up on a free shuttle along Hermit's Rest Road. It has 9 scenic stops along the way. It was around 6:30 PM and if we were lucky we could see the sunset at 7:35 PM if we wanted to hang out at one of the viewing points. That's what we did. The shuttle runs for an hour after sunset but only picks you up at 3 of the 9 stops so be sure to be at one of those 3 stops or it's a long walk down to the village and lodging.
Here are some photos of the sunset. The view was spectacular.
The above photo has the moon in it which we saw at sunset also. Amazing.
We caught the shuttle back to the entrance of Hermit's Rest Road and headed back to our room for a good night's sleep. We were not sure which hike we were going to do the next day but we would figure it out.
The next morning we decided that we would again catch the shuttle and head up to the next to the last stop ( Hermit's Rest...which has a hike into the back country) and walk the rim trail back towards the Village.
The trail came pretty close to the edge of the rim at times and was not a paved trail but rather rocky and dusty for a good part of the way back. We ended up hiking two miles and we had enough for the day. Here are some photos from the hike.
Look closely. There is a native bird in the tree. He made his presence known to us and that we were invading his quiet area!
We got back to the bus stop and Village and tried to get food. Fred Harvey Bar and Grill was full as were all the restaurants. We ended up grabbing something from the grab and go cafe back at our lodge. We had dinner reservations at El Tovar, which is the historic lodge located on the rim. It was very hard to get reservations and we even started months ago. Luckily we were able to get an 8 PM reservation and we were very glad we did. The food was excellent as was our server. We were also able to get one last sunset photo.
The next morning we packed up and headed towards Hoover Dam. It was about a 4 hour drive there.
We arrived and it was hot. It was about 1 PM. Unfortunately there are no tours open and the exhibit house is also closed. You can park your car ( $10 fee) and walk around the top of the dam to take photos. That's what we ended up doing.
There is another parking lot as you enter the dam that will allow you to walk across the bridge between Arizona and Nevada and get additional photos of the dam. We were done and ready to head back to Las Vegas for an overnight before catching our flight back to Florida in the morning
It was a great trip and one that we will remember for sure. However, as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz said......There's no place like home!
