Zion National Park, UT: Disneyland of the NSP

Zion is popular, and like Disneyland, you have to have a plan. I recommend staying in Springdale for an overnight (at least), getting up at the crack of dawn (free shuttle starts at 7 am) and maybe going with a tour to see the Narrows. We did none of that. We stayed outside of Springdale (the resort town next to the park) and got in late. This afforded us the opportunity to drive around looking for parking (the 350-car lot within the park fills by 8 am) and finally found some paid parking at Stop 6 in Springdale. Then we boarded our free shuttle after a few minutes wait, and joined the mass of humanity seeking the quiet pleasures of Zion National Park. Mind you, this was a weekday in mid-March. Can you imagine a weekend?

Starting approximately mid March, you do everything on the shuttle. We spent a lot of time on shuttles that day, with the A/C cranking overtime though not quite enough for my taste. Benjamin tells me it was 84 degrees in park, but it felt like 94. It's dry heat, and I went through three bottles of water. The modern shuttles are driving by patient gray-haired men who implore you to step behind the yellow line so they can close the doors. It was stuffed like a Tokyo subway car.

So maybe I should talk about the park now. We started at the Visitor's Center, of course, of course. Walked a few yards in the interpretive trail that borders the Virgin River, then boarded the shuttle to stop 5, the Zion Lodge (another option is to actually stay overnight there - an even better bet than Springdale, but reserve in advance!).

Here we had an excellent lunch at the Red Rock Grill, surrounded on both sides by towering cliffs.

After lunch, we took the short Grotto Trail to Stop 6. Then a hop back on the shuttle to Stop 9, the final stop in the grand shuttle tour.

The shuttle was mostly full of campers in waders, staff in hand, ready to get wet in one of the more famous areas of the park, the Narrows. This must be a spectacular adventure. I include a picture of these Narrows because we didn't have time to do this, but I definitely want to when I return in a well-planned trip. A quick walk on the Riverside trail, accompanied by a great mass of humanity, finished our sojourn in the park, followed by a sweaty hour long shuttle back to Stop 6 in Springdale.