Blogs from Zion National Park, Utah, United States, North America - page 8

Four months ago I put my name in for the lottery to hike “The Wave”, (I’ll tell you more about this on that post). Anyway, one of the three dates I submitted were picked and I secured my place. Yesterday I flew into St. George, Utah, rented a Jeep and made my way east through Zion National Park. The entrance fee for the park is $25, the sights seen are well worth the price of admission. I was planning on just driving through this park making my way to Kanab, UT where I am based out of for the next two days. The scenic drive is incredible, words can’t do it justice. I ended up making several stops to pull off and take photos. The winding road and awe inspiring scenery forces one to keep their ... read more

Today is my first day in another compelling southwestern National Park, Zion. I got a nice taste simply leaving my hotel room this morning, large cliffs of red sandstone rising above Springdale. Sadly, things got worse from there. Zion Parking Hell Every visitor to Zion National Park who drives has a parking rant. Please indulge me for a few minutes while I do mine. Vastly more people try to visit Zion National Park each year than the amount of parking. Zion Canyon is very narrow, so it has no place to put any. Zion probably has the highest ratio of prospective visitors to available parking in the entire national park system. Until 2000, that caused the notorious car conga line, a huge queue of cars backed up on the road, nose t... read more

A beautiful sunrise awaits and Steve is up early to get some Sunrise Photos and I'm up with him and make some coffee. Whilst out getting some sunrise snaps, Steve stumbles across a desert Tarantula that was baking on the path, why he has to show me I have no idea, but he was in his element and it's what he has been hoping for and although he's a little disappointed because ideally he would like to have a picture of one crawling over his hand!, it's made his day. Good luck with that one Steve, because when that happens I will be off like a shot! We say goodbye to Monument Valley and now head towards Zion National Park, we stop at Antelope Canyon and take a tour of the lower Antelope Canyon on foot, ... read more

17th Sept ’11 Cedar City, Utah This was our base for 3 nights allowing us 2 full days of exploring. We set off from Flagstaff that morning and drove to Cedar City via Zion National Park. This was a fabulous park, we both agreed it was our favourite. From the direction we came from we had to drive through a massive long tunnel right through the mountains to get into the park – an unusual sensation but pretty exciting as it was so long and there were occasional windows where you got tantalising glimpses of soaring mountain peaks. The mountains surrounding the canyon were all different shapes and colours, from red jagged peaks to white flat topped mountains with vegetation growing on them, all different heights and all equally impressive. What was particularly unique and special ... read more

Kolob Terrace The Kolob Terrace is in the middle of Zion between Zion Canyon and the Kolob Canyons which are located near Cedar City. The Kolob Terrace offers a 21-mile scenic drive to Lava Point, starting at the small town of Virgin. At first you will notice homes and farms as you travel in and out of Zion. The road transitions to gravel once you are beyond Lava Point and headed to the Kolob Reservoir. It can take you another 20-miles to SR-14 near Cedar City, ending about a-mile from a long standing restaurant - Milt’s Stage Stop. Keep in mind the Kolob Terrace is a primitive area and there are no services so be prepared with water, a spare and other items you might need if you break down. Directions to the Kolob Terrace - ... read more