Wide-Eyed in the Red Landscapes of Zion National Park

Zion National Park

Zion National Park in Utah wowed me with its rich red rocks, the height of its canyon walls and its incredible views.

It was in December (2022) that we visited this national park, which gets its name from the Pioneers who thought of equating it to the holy city because of its tall rocky structures that looked like temples to them.

According to the itinerary I had drawn up, Day 1 was for the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive and a couple of hikes along the way, and Day 2 was for the drive through the Zion Mt. Carmel Tunnel and beyond; to see the eastern part of the park.

My reading had told me that the shuttle season winds up in the fall. I guess it does but services had been resumed for the holidays so when we got to Canyon Junction, we learned that we couldn’t drive along the canyon floor that day.

As I was doing my pre-trip homework on Zion National Park, I’d also made a list of trails we might be able to get on and do some family hikes. However, when I got there, I found out that most of them on that fairly-short-list had ended up on the alerts page of the National Park System’s official site! If you‘ve been visiting US National Parks, you know what that means. Closures! It was winter, and the park had just received some rain and snow so that’s understandable; disappointing all the same.

However, it was disappointment that I could handle because there was still a lot we could do! 🙂

Through the Zion – Mount Carmel Tunnel and beyond

Seeing that we couldn’t do the Scenic Drive in our own vehicle, we quickly decided to take the shuttle the next day and do the drive planned for Day 2 on Day 1. Not so bad, is it? 😄

So first, we got onto Zion Park Boulevard and drove eastward — from the South to the East Entrance, to be exact. And wasn’t that a scenic drive too!

The boulevard creeps up the canyon through a course of switchbacks offering you some spectacular views of the temple-tower-like structures of stone as you go on to the higher elevations. With each hairpin bend the elevation goes up and views undoubtedly get better until you drive into the darkness of the historic Zion – Mount Carmel Tunnel.

As you get accustomed to the darkness of the tunnel you suddenly find yourself in some bright light from extra-large windows hewn out of the canyon walls. Oh! That’s an impressive sight by itself. Not only do these windows seem to pour light into sections of the 1.1-mile tunnel, they also offer views of the canyon. I’m sure the windows keep that mile-long tunnel well-ventilated too.

And then, as we got out into the open again, it was like another fresh look at the red rock landscape. And interestingly the roads were also red! No jokes there.  It must have been the rain that had fallen on the area a few days prior to our visit or it must have been all the rain the place has ever received that was responsible for that! All the Navajo Sandstone silt that flowed that way had stained the asphalt ‘red’ making it one with the surroundings.

We made a couple of stops along the way including at the Crosshatch Mesa and the East Entrance before we began that return drive hoping to stop at the parking lot at the east end of the tunnel so that we could do the Canyon Overlook hike. Alas! There was no room in the parking lot or on the roadsides near it so we had to get back into the tunnel and drive down the canyon again. This time we stopped at one of those curves, took in the views and a whole lot of pictures before we decided to drive back through the canyon and see if we’d have luck parking by the Canyon Overlook Trail. It was a NO again, and seeing that we were not going to find parking in the tiny parking lot on the westbound lane also, we found a fairly wide shoulder of the road further away where there were 2 other cars parked, and decided to leave our vehicle there and walk to the trailhead.

As such, it was a longer walk than the trail promised but wasn’t it all worth it! The experience of walking on narrow ledges along the canyon, peeking into the depths of the rocky landscape and navigating the narrow uneven trail that had become slippery in parts, and getting to that one-of-a-kind of view at the end, is a memory I’ll always treasure. Read all about it here — Terrific Trails: Canyon Overlook Trail

After the amazing experience of the Canyon Overlook Hike and another drive through the historic tunnel, we called it a day.

Zion Canyon Scenic Drive

The following day we got onto a shuttle and went on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive — an absolute must-do in Zion National Park.

The Zion Canyon Scenic Drive took us up north along the canyon floor and beside the North Fork of the Virgin River whose water has been working millions of years to carve out this 2000-odd ft. canyon beside the Colorado Plateau.

With walls that tall, I was again reminded of my size in this world and it made me look around and take in as much as I could because this again, was another privilege — to be in the bowels of a mighty red canyon that had so much to show and teach, and fill me with awe.

We made a stop at the Court of the Patriarchs and the Grotto before we alighted the shuttle at the Temple of Sinawava, hit the Riverside Walk, got up close with the river, witnessed some ice fall and got a taste of the darkness in the narrowing depths of the canyon.

How I wish I could have hiked to the Weeping Rock and Emerald Pools and most of all, walked the Narrows. For that, I’m definitely returning to Zion National Park in the next few years!

I can’t wait to wade through the waters of the North Fork of the Virgin River but for now the hike to the Canyon Overlook, I shall hold close to my heart.

Until next time, Zion! 🙂

More:
Amazing US National Parks:
From Utah
Lithic Landscapes to Love

Linking to —
Pictorial Tuesday
My Corner of the World

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