From Las Vegas it was only about 3 hours of driving to get to Zion National Park. We stayed in the Watchman Campground. It's unusual for a national park campground in that it had electricity. That was most welcome as the week that we were there the highs were in the mid 90's! Running the A/C during the day prevented coming home to baked kitty. The Virgin River, the force responsible for creating Zion Canyon, flowed a few hundred feet behind our campsite.
Zion has a free shuttle bus system that we made good use of. During the prime season (about May - October) the road into the canyon is closed to all private vehicles. Before the shuttle system was introduced it was common to have several thousand vehicles in the canyon fighting for about 400 parking spaces. Needless to say they had to do something. The shuttle system is a great way to get around! There's a bus once every 5-10 minutes so you never have to wait long.
We did several hikes while at Zion and were constantly amazed by the scenery! We said "WOW!" a lot. There really aren't that many hikes to do at Zion and most of them are either very short or very long. 3 of the hikes that we particularly enjoyed were the Watchman Trial, the Emerald Pools and the Canyon Overlook Trail.
The Watchman Trial leaves right from the visitor center which is next to the campground. It climbs up and around a small canyon and leads to a great overview. From the end of the trail you get good views looking up into Zion Canyon.
The Canyon Overlook Trail starts right after the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel. Click here for info on this interesting tunnel. It's only about a 1/2 mile hike to the overlook but shear drop offs make it not for those with fear of heights. The view from the overlook into part of Zion Canyon was amazing!
The Emerald Pools are a series of 3 pools formed by the north fork of the Virgin River. They are the lower, middle and upper pools. The name comes from the fact that algae growing in the water tints it green. By taking a wrong turn at the start of the trail we managed to visit all 3 of the pools. The lower pools are easy to get to but the middle and especially the upper require a lot more effort. It was well worth it! Seeing standing water in the desert is pretty amazing. Seeing waterfalls is even more so.
Next time we're at Zion we'll try some of the harder hikes. This trip was a good introduction and definitely left us wanting more.
On the way home we sent another couple of days in Las Vegas at the same RV park.
 | Looking up into Zion Canyon from the Watchman Trail. |
 | View from the end of the Watchman Trail looking down in the campground. The vehicle and trailer at the top of the picture are our Casita and Xterra (Hi Jake!) This picture was taken with a 300mm zoom lens. |
 | The park road and shuttle bus end at the Temple of Sinawava. We did the 2 mile walk that takes you up to the start of the Narrows. Next time we'll get the right kind of footwear so we can hike up the river. |
 | Zion Canyon from the end of the Canyon Overlook Trial. |
 | Karen at the Upper Emerald Pool. |
 | Fun and helpful sign at the start of the Emerald Pools Trail. |
 | Zion shuttle bus. |
