Zion National Park is located in the southwestern
corner of Utah, not far from the Arizona and Nevada state lines.
Southern Utah is home to many beautiful national parks; all of them
offer incredible scenery and all of them are worth the visit. But
the most impressive of them all is Zion National Park which covers
230 square miles of dramatic landscape of sculptured canyons and soaring
cliffs. There is so much to see in Zion that entire books can be
written about it (and probably already have). Most people who come
here visit Zion Canyon a scenic gorge carved by the Virgin River.
Red sandstone cliffs tower above the canyon floor, some of them more
than 2,000 feet above the river. Kolob Canyon is another popular place
to see, with several hiking trails. There are so many walks, hikes,
and climbs in this park, ranging from easy to very strenuous. I believe
that is what Zion is all about.
From April through October, you will need to park at the entrance
and then take the shuttle bus which was introduced in an attempt
to deal with the growing traffic. Zion National Park has some of
the most amazing scenery of any place in the United States but
the problem is that far too many people heard about it. The crowds
can be pretty big in the summer months but like all national parks
it's easy to get away from the crowds as soon as you go on a hike
on one of the unpaved trails. Summers can be very hot. It's common
that the temperature goes over 100 degrees (37 Celsius). The good
part is that is dry heat and that it cools off in the evening.
Always carry water while hiking. Summer also sees a lot of
thunderstorms. We visited in August and there was a storm every
evening.
We spent three full days at Zion and it wasn't enough. I
plan to return one day to hike the famous "Narrows" trail.
The scenery is like nowhere else and no matter if you drive or
explore the backcountry you will simply be overwhelmed by the amount
of scenic beauty in the park.
