30 Jun – 8 Jul; Trip days 91 – 99
After visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (video to come) and Pipe Spring National Monument, we drove to visit Zion Canyon National Park.
Getting into the site was a bit of an adventure. The sites were all back in and not aligned to be friendly for bigger rigs. They also had metal poles at the corners of each site so, no cheating. I ended up getting the rig backed in, although not straight in. The site was also only 1 foot longer than the RV, so that was additional fun.
Zion in the summer time could be quite warm (and dry!). We did a lot of hiding inside and during the afternoons when it heated up, we went to the river to cool off.
The view from the campground was pretty amazing. We had some towering canyon cliffs all around us.
The Virgin River was flowing right next to the campground, so it was very convenient to spend the afternoons there and cool off. There were small walls built in the river which made a nice little pool with very little current, which was great for the kids to play in, especially the littles.
One of Randal’s favorite past times, digging in the dirt on the river bank. He got cold rather quickly, but didn’t mind hanging out.
The campground was just down the road from the Zion Visitor Center, so we made a quick trip to get the Junior Ranger books. They had a table set up outside with things the kids could touch and explore.
After completing their books, they got their badges. The place was a bit of a zoo and we weren’t prepared to do the further exploration on the shuttle, so we saved that for another day.
Back to the river to cool off and play!
Ducky got a shark floaty. It was his favorite thing. He would happily bob around the pool and move up and down the bank in it all afternoon. The other kids were happily trying to catch frogs and minnows.
We braved the shuttle to the end of Zion Canyon. There you could take a short hike to the river narrows from which other trails branched off. We decided to not do some of the hikes we thought we’d like to do due to the difficulty, especially the difficulty with babies, and the heat. One of shuttle stops was closed, and we just weren’t up for the longer hikes in the heat with the kids.
Jarek poses along the riverwalk trail.
The river was packed. This place was a bit liked Disneyland or a theme park – packed with people. To get to the back of the park, you had to take the shuttle. The shuttle was not very good in my opinion – it would be better as an open top or bubble top so you could at least see the scenery. I did take some video that I have yet to process, but from my passenger side window on the ride up I had great views of the canyon walls.
At the end of the line, everyone had to get off and get back in line to get on a shuttle to return to the visitor center (or walk the 8 miles back). We spent about an hour in line on the return side to get a shuttle back.
The kids had a lot of fun standing in the hinge area of the connected busses.
Gambit seeks refuge from the craziness in his apartment.
Randal knows how to chill out.
The kids enjoying the river – their favorite part about this stop!
Amazing sunsets watching the shadows creep up the canyon walls. The stargazing was also amazing (as long as the rented RVs turned off their flood lights….😡😡 The western RV parks have a good culture of supporting the Dark Sky initiative generally speaking, so we were able to enjoy many nights of stargazing.
Overall, Zion was meh. I suppose if we did some of the other hikes, we would have a different thought, but visiting the park with kids, it is a goat rodeo. If we go back, we’ll go back in the off season when it is cooler and has less people all over the place.
