Hiking in Zion National Park
It is fair to say that a main reason of ours to keep exploring new places is our enthusiasm for outdoor adventures, and this time we headed towards Zion National Park with one clear goal in mind - we are going hiking in this outdoor paradise!
We spent 2 days in Zion National Park during a special time - shortly after its reopening after weeks of Covid-19 closure. Because of the new guidelines in place, the park only allows 400 cars to enter each time, and once the capacity is reached, no more vehicles can enter until someone exits the park. In order to guarantee our entry, we lined up right outside of the park entrance at 5:45am, 15 minutes before the park’s opening hours of 6:00am.
Day 1 - Angels Landing
Our first hike after we successfully entered and found parking inside the park goes to the legendary Angels Landing. Though this trail normally is heavily trafficked due to its fame, it wasn’t the case for us during our visit as we started the hike quite early at 6:30am on a day with restricted vehicle entry.
The trail is well known for its elevation gain in its roughly 5 miles of round trip (depending on where you park) and it starts off with an upfront view of our final destination - Angels Landing in the background. The hike quickly turns into steep climb, but if you don’t mind the uphill, it is actually a very nicely paved trail that doesn’t require any of those professional hiking gears. Also because the trail starts from the bottom of the canyon, it is almost entirely shaded earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon.
Views along the way are also breathtaking, the trail is built based on the rocky mountains, so when an area gets too steep to go straight up, you will find yourself walking on a “z-shaped” path and making lots of sharp turns. The most famous one is definitely Walter’s Wiggles, where you would make 21 switchbacks one immediate after another.
During our visit, due to the new safety measures and guidelines in place, the last chain section of Angels Landing is closed and not accessible, so Scout’s Lookout is as close as we could get to. Though it’s definitely a pity we couldn’t experience Angels Landing in whole, views from Scout’s Lookout is already rewarding and impressive enough for us to consider a second visit when the full trail opens up again.
Day 2 - The Narrows
We’ve hiked in canyons, we’ve climbed over rocks, and we marched on sands. But never have we done all of that at the same time in a rapid river, this one of a kind experience took place for us at The Narrows.
As our first time hiking a wet trail, the unknowns are both exciting and concerning. Though it is possible to walk in normal outfits/shoes (they will be soaked obviously), we decided that we would rent professional water gears (listed below) from a rental place just outside of the park:
Water shoes/neoprene socks
Wooden hiking stick
Dry bibs (or dry pants)
Waterproof backpack
The hike didn’t start off easy - as an out and back type of trail, the first half of the hike was against the current, every step we took we were also struggling to stand still and not lose balance. But going easy was never our goal, going upstream is!
Since it is an out and back trail, you can decide to turn back anytime. We chose to hike to Wall Street, which is one of the most “narrow” section with best views. It is only less than 3 miles one way to reach this point, but 3 miles in the water definitely took us a lot longer than we normally do on the ground.
The Narrows is for sure one of the most unique but exhausting hikes we’ve done, as walking in waist high water (deepest level on our day of visit) and on the uneven bottom of the river both require the use of core muscles rather than only legs. But isn’t it awesome to get a good workout and incredible views at the same time? One stone two birds, totally!
Additional Trails We Hiked
During our 2 days here, we also managed to hike a few more shorter/easier trails on top of the 2 strenuous ones mentioned above:
Upper Emerald Pool Trail - a moderate difficulty trail that starts flat, but then turns into a semi primitive uphill climb. At the end of the trail, you will reach a natural pool area near the top of the hill where you can walk in and refresh yourself in its spring water.
Riverside Walk - an easy, paved, and rather flat trail that leads to the starting point of The Narrows. The trail is built alongside the river, thus chances are you will get to see quite a few wild animals hanging out in the area.
Grotto Trail - a short and easy trail that is in the center of the park and connects to many other trails from Zion Lodge.
Two days were not nearly enough for us to enjoy the park, guess it is quite obvious on why Zion gained its fame and popularity among outdoor lovers. Zion definitely stunned us with its majestic nature and canyon views, and the uniquely and nicely designed trails only made the experience that much better!
Click and read blog posts on other Western U.S. National Parks: