2012/06 Western USA trip - Zion |
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Dear All,
At the end of part two, we had just left Death Valley and spent the day negotiating the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas and visiting 
Nevada’s Valley of Fire. We’d briefly crossed northwestern Arizona and entered Utah via the canyon of the Virgin River.
We followed the Virgin River until we reached the small town of Springdale and found the Zion Canyon campground, attached to the Quality Inn, not our usual choice for a campsite, but we needed laundry and Internet again. As expected, this one was overpriced but it was definitely scenic. Springdale is inside Zion Canyon and bordered by great red cliffs. It was our third visit to Zion, but the first time we’d stayed on the west side of the park and the first time we’d had to use the park’s shuttle system. We knew we would need to catch the shuttle bus to see the rest of the canyon, but we had no idea of how the park handled admission.
I
n the meantime, I was grappling with the campground’s Wi-Fi which was definitely substandard. However, I found that by sitting in the hotel’s foyer I could use the hotel’s Wi-Fi, much better. It was time to catch up on e-mails and some bill paying.
Friday June 8th
Shuttle systems are great for keeping the traffic out of the park, but they require us to carry snacks and drinks for the day. Normally, we can 
be lazy and drive with our kitchen close at hand. We queued up for the shuttle, which took us a short distance to the visitor centre where we all piled out, went through a gate where we showed our pass and then all piled onto another shuttle. Now we knew how the system worked: a town shuttle and a park shuttle. We decided to ride to the far end of the canyon and work our way back.
At one of the shuttle stops was a bunch of people with telescopes on the sky. Our driver pointed to some dots in the sky and said the people were watching California condors. I could see the dots but to the naked eye a common vulture at 1000 feet looks much the same as a condor at 2000 feet.
When we all piled out at the end of the canyon we could see that the shuttles eliminated car and parking congestion, but they might be making people-
congestion worse as dozens of people hit the trail or the view at the same time. The tour buses are even worse as the passengers seem to be afraid of getting left behind so they move as a compact army.
The trail to the end of the canyon is beautiful, with 4000 foot cliffs of red sandstone, vivid green vegetation, and the clear waters of the Virgin River. Despite the crowds we enjoyed the flowers and lizards and furries, even a very tame mule deer. However, the canyon gets progressively narrower until there’s just a beach and the river, and ultimately just the river. The beach filled up with people until it felt like a railway platform in the rush hour. It’s possible to keep walking up the river, as I did once many years ago, but we didn’t fancy it with the crowds stumbling around. It was difficult to even get off the beach with the crowds coming down the steps 
from the trail.
At least it had been pleasantly cool in the shade of the canyon, but then the sun came over the cliff tops and it suddenly became very warm and we learned to keep out of deep sand as it roasted our sandaled feet. We began working our way back, one shuttle stop at a time. We found that the trails that had a name were crowded whereas unnamed ones were not. We walked up to Weeping Rock, still in the shade, a place where the weeping allows plants to grow directly out of the cliffs. 
I suggested we get off the shuttle at the Grotto and walk the trail to Zion Lodge. This trail had great views of the cliffs and no crowds, but it was rather warm. We were all ready for lunch at the lodge. From there we crossed the river and hiked up to the Emerald Pools, but only the lower trail; the upper parts I’d walked in ’93 were closed for rebuilding.
We had one more stop for hiking at the Court of the Patriarchs, a spectacular view, but the trail was rather steep, so I hiked alone on what was now a very hot afternoon. The view is of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All the geographical features in Zion have biblical names, bestowed by the first Mormon farmers in the area. They are certainly awe-inspiring. We had one last stop at the museum, enjoying the opportunity to sit and watch the park’s history videos in the comfort of air conditioning.
That evening, I used the town shuttle to go find a store and do some shopping. The town is hemmed in by the canyon and it has very little parking space, so the free shuttle is a great idea. Back at the campsite, we found that the canyon’s scenic cliffs around the campground retain their heat after sunset; it was our hottest night so far.