ZION NATIONAL PARK: Ultimate Travel Guide

everything you need to know to visit Zion National Park all right let's go the first thing you should know is just some general information about Zion National Park it is the third most visited national park in the USA right after the Grand Canyon with just about 5 million people that visit this National Park annually now what's really different about this park versus the Grand Canyon is that the Grand Canyon you stand on the top and you look in but at Zion you spend most of your time in the bottom looking up at these cliffs these Cliffs are 3,000 ft tall Cliffs and the canyon is not very wide like at the Grand Canyon it's like 18 Mi wide here this Canyon can be as narrow as 30 ft yes one of the popular hikes here is called The Narrows where you actually walk through the river where it gets 30 ft wide minutes of sunshine a day and uh you can really feel how tall these Cliffs are this is not a super high elevation Park when you're at the bottom of the canyon the elevation is about 3,600 ft and the highest elevation is at about 9,000 ft but most people spend their time around the bottom hiking from the bottom up to the top and speaking of that the most popular hike from the bottom to the top is angels's landing we'll talk more about that later oh and I'm going to film each section of this video in a different part of the park now you should also know that the temperature changes drastically here between daytime and night time and so you'll see me in different levels of dress t- t-shirt this winter jacket um because those are all the different layers I needed throughout the day the second thing to know is some information to help you get oriented to Zion and so Zion has four major areas there's the main Canyon area that starts right here at the visitor center at the main entrance the South entrance which comes in from the town of Springdale now from here the part where most people go to when they think of Zion like 90% of the visitors go down the main road through the Canyon 8 mil to the end to the Temple of saava which Begins the hike in the Narrows that's the hike where you actually hike through the water in the canyon that we'll talk more about later the second part of Zion that many visitors go to is the uh caramel Scenic Highway this instead of going down the canyon you basically hang a right and you go east and that will bring you to the east entrance really Scenic Road out there lots of viewpoints uh and one of my favorite hikes is up there as well that we'll talk more about when we get to hikes and the third and fourth parts of Zion are the collab Terrace and cab Canyons this is a much more remote area of Zion not as many visitors go up there there is another Visitor Center up there um but because most people tend to go in the main Zion Canyon or on that Scenic Drive those are the parts I'm going to be talking about primarily in this video now you should also know about the town of Springdale this is the town that I mentioned that butts up right against the South entrance many of the things that you'll need for your day or days in Zion you're going to find in Springdale many of the Outfitters that provide equipment to go in the Narrows grocery stores restaurants hotels you'll find a lot of that out in Springdale that we'll talk about those amenities as we go through the various sections too and you should also know that if you need to pick up a map cuz you lost it or you didn't get one you can do so at the visitor center even if they're closed they're right in between the main doors just grab one right out of there now if you do want to talk to a ranger The Visitor Center just know the lines can often be long I've actually never seen a Short Line in there so make sure to wait your turn if you want to do some like Backcountry camping or Backcountry Trails there's a Wilderness desk that you can go to to get those permits and if you want to pick up some trinkets or souvenirs or forgot any last minute supplies like beanies or gloves there's a gift shop in there too the third thing to know is about getting into Zion and Zion is located in southern Utah a little bit in the middle of nowhere it is far from any major city Las Vegas is the closest major city with a big airport driving from Las Vegas is going to take you 3 hours if you're coming from Salt Lake City that's the next closest airport 4 and 1/2 or 5 hours if you're coming from Los Angeles LAX that's going to be about 8 hours driving now some other national parks you might connect with Zion that you might be coming from if you're coming from Bryce Canyon National Park that's a 2hour drive if you're coming from the Grand Canyon that's about a 5 and 1/2 hour drive so allocate a a bunch of time to get here and then go wherever you're going now if you're getting into the park what's sort of unusual about this one is the park doesn't have much parking and so chances are you'll be actually parking in the town of Springdale and then taking the Springdale shuttle into the park more about that when we get to the shuttle section uh if you do want to actually try to park inside the park try to get here by 10:00 a.m. because that's when the parking lots tend to fill up admission into this National Park is is $35 per car load valid for 7 days so when you get that make sure you keep it on you cuz you're going to need it to come and go from the park every time you go through one of the entrance Gates what is slightly unique about this park is that because many people Park in the town of Springdale and then walk in they don't drive in they do have a walk-in admission if you're just one person that is $20 but then if you do that you can't drive in later so you might want to drive in pay that admission and then yes if there were a few of you in the car you show that same receipt through the walk-in gate later and that'll get your whole car load of people in note there is like limited or no cell phone service in the park so uh download your offline maps before you go the fourth thing to know is about getting around Zion and what you need to know is that if you want to go down the main Zion Canyon you need to take a shuttle most of the year I say most of the year because it's the high season generally like March through November they change it every year there are a couple months that you can drop drive your own car down like December and January but most of the time when most people come here they're going to be taking the shuttle now there are actually two shuttles in Zion one that takes you from The Visitor Center nine stops down the canyon a second shuttle in the town of Springdale both of these shuttles are free the town of Springdale shuttle is because there simply is just not enough parking in the National Park to get on the shuttles within the national park the primary parking area is right at The Visitor Center it's a pretty big parking lot but it fills up pretty early in the morning and so if parking is full at the visitor center and it's full at the Museum which is an alternate shuttle stop then you'll need to park in the town of Springdale parking in the town of Springdale not free metered parking along the sides of the roads many of the hotels or businesses also have paid parking lots and then if you are close in Springdale you can just walk in to Zion but if you are not close enough to walk in then you'll get on the shuttle which will bring you to the visit Center then you'll go in through the walk-in Gates into Zion and then you'll board a shuttle from The Visitor Center to take you to one of nine stops down the canyon the one exception to this is if you're staying at the lodge that we'll talk about later then you can drive your own car down the Zion Canyon to the lodge now at the time I'm making this video There Are No Reservations required to ride the shuttles There's No Reservations required to get in the park the only reservations that are required to do anything is to hike Angel's Landing and we'll talk about that when we get more about angels Landing but when you do get here do be prepared for a bit of a weight to get on the shuttle because it's just kind of first come first serve you know expect anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to wait to get the shuttle once you get in the park it's pretty good the shuttles will stop generally both ways on most stops there are some stops that they only stop in One Direction so do be attention of kind of try where you're trying to go to I personally from The Visitor Center like to take the shuttle all the way in all the way to the end to the Temple of Cava and then kind of like work my way back towards the visitor center that way I'm not trying to get on shuttles that are just full if you're keep trying to go Downstream for people who just got there too and so just to show you on a map how that connection to the Springdale shuttle Works here's the Springdale shuttle here's the walk-in gate you walk through the visitor center to the other side and this is where you can pick up the Zion shuttle if you're going back then you just do the same thing the other way oh and definitely do pay attention to the last shuttle time there are last shuttle from The Visitor Center into the canyon and then from the canyon back out and sometimes they can be kind of early uh today I'm here in the winter the last shuttle into the canyon 3:30 p.m. and so what can you do if you can't get on a shuttle to get into the canyon well your other way you can get into the canyon is ride a bike you can get a bike H you can rent a bike and you can ride bikes down that main Canyon Road as well barring that then do something else uh drive down the caramel Scenic Highway uh or you can do one of the hikes that are around the visitor center and if you said Chris really I don't need the shuttle or a bike I'll walk it to the end of the canyon just know that 8 mil is going to take you about 3 hours to walk the fifth thing to know is about when to go and Zion is open all year round but most visitors tend to come between April to October now if you're coming in the summer the big concern there is it's going to be exceptionally hot temperatures reaching over 100° fah down in the floor of the valley and uh the walls here of the canyon this rock really like absorb the Heat and then radiate it out so it seems even warmer in the summer than that 100° actually lead you to believe if you are planning to hike the Narrows though summer might be a good time cuz you'll be in the water and the water will cool you down the springtime can be a little bit cooler but that might not be a good time to hike the Narrows because the snow melt increases the flow of the river which often leads them to closing the Narrows hike in the spring fall is often a good time to hike the Narrows but then you do have to be concerned about Monsoon rains it rains more in the fall and then the winter time which is when I'm here much less crowds in the park uh and what's nice about winter is it's not too hot so you can do these hikes and you don't have to worry about dying of heat exhaustion though you do have to worry about icy conditions and snowy conditions if it's just snowed consider bringing uh some traction devices for your shoes some crampons some spikes but but it is worthwhile to note that they do plow the roads so at least as it's maybe when it is snowing it might be closed cuz it's too slippery but you know a day or two after the snow and you'll be able to get back in the park again and I like the winter because it's much less crowded so I ran to philage Bo Brandon Gus and Hannah and they have a tip for you if you're coming to Zion yeah our tip is if you're coming to Zion come here January 1st uh that way you don't have to battle the crowds and uh Miss with the shuttles the sixth thing to know is about where to stay and if you want to stay in the park there is one hotel option and exactly one hotel option it is The Lodge at Zion National Park right here they have 76 hotel rooms in these twostory buildings and then they have 40 rooms in little Cottages it's about four rooms per Cottage uh this is a really awesome place to stay I stayed here on this trip it's really special because you can drive into the lodge when the shuttles are running you're the only cars that can drive on the road other than the shuttles and so that is pretty sweet the rooms are big they're comfortable The Price is Right $250 a night uh as I'm recording this video a little more if you want to get the cabins um and uh overall I really liked it my full Hotel review is coming soon so you can check that out as soon as the review for the Zion Lodge is out if you want to camp in the park uh there are three campgrounds they do take reservations depending upon the season and at least one of them is open all year so do check that out oh one thing you should know about staying in these campgrounds things like that uh and I mentioned earlier is lack of cell phone service uh and even here at the hotel they have Wi-Fi but they have signs in the lobby to tell you that the Wi-Fi is really slow and the Wi-Fi is really slow so just plan to kind of like be unplugged for a little while maybe you won't be watching a lot of Netflix or YouTube streaming while you're here now there are a ton more hotel and camping options nearby that aren't in the park if you can't get into one of these uh just in the town of Springdale right nearby there are a ton of hotels that really range in quality from like slightly questionable to like really really nice um we stayed at the Spring Hill Suite uh last time we were here we really enjoyed that that review is done at the time of this video so um I will link that at the end and also in the description if you can't get any hotels in Springdale or they're too expensive you could also consider the town of St George Utah that's about 45 minutes out uh but then if you do that you're going to have to struggle with parking in Springdale where if you're staying at a home hotel in Springdale then you can just walk from your hotel and hop on the shuttle which takes you to The Visitor Center then you can hop on the shuttle to come into the Zion Canyon and so that's that's pretty nice now with a park that gets 5 million visitors a year uh you want to book your hotel early if you want to stay at the lodge hotel reservations open out uh like 13 months in advance so they will open out the first of a month so like January first then the next year's January all of those days will open up so if you want to book you know July 4th you'll want to do that on July 1st the previous year because the room rates at the lodge they don't go up they don't fluctuate it's the same rate all year round and so you just need to be one of the first to book it as soon as they open 13 months out if you really want your choice dates here if you're staying in Springdale cuz those room rates do fluctuate and do get higher in peak season you know I'd suggest at least 6 months out for the town of Springdale oh and now there's a question of like how long should you stay and so yes there are a ton of people that come into Zion and just do it as a day trip honestly if you just do it as a day trip and you don't stay here I feel like you're cheating yourself because like the shuttle ride itself it's like 80 minutes round trip just to get from The Visitor Center down to the end of the canyon and back and so there's so much to see with so little time and only a day trip so I would encourage you to spend at least one night here uh that's how much I'm spending on this trip I spent one night in this Lodge uh the first time we came here we spent three nights here and we still felt like we didn't see it all so uh I'd suggest to you somewhere between 1 and 3 nights um and that'll give you like a good appreciation of the park all right the next thing to know is about what there is to eat in Zion and honestly it's not much there are two main place to eat in Zion the first one here is the Red Rock Grill this is on the second floor of the Zion Lodge and the food here is actually pretty good they serve breakfast as a buffet $12 at the time of this video all you can eat lunch is by menu I've got the cheeseburger here I've had this before I really like it and uh cheeseburger is like 13 bucks lunch is by menu lunch can have a long wait especially if it's busy so if you want to eat lunch here I'd say try to get here before noon or 12:30 by about 1:00 everybody's here and you're going to be waiting a long time to get a table dinner is by same day reservation um you order off the menu prices are also reasonable if you are going to eat here for dinner make sure that you've still got a way to get back in town like you've checked the last shuttle time and you'll be done by then or you know someone stays here like taking you out otherwise you're going to be going to be walking it and it's a long walk the good news is there is a shuttle stop right here in front of the lodge uh so you can just like take that pretty quickly after you eat and get back into town now down in the ground floor of the lodge they have like a Quick Serve Cafe uh only open in the summer season and if you're at the lodge when the weather's nice they have an outdoor seating area you look out at that American flag and there's great views of the canyon Above So speaking of town Chris wait you don't look like you're in town no I just thought this was kind of a cool shot here okay I'll take it back to a normal angle uh the rest of the eating options are in the town of Springdale and the good news is there's actually a lot of them there's a lot of restaurants in Springdale uh two that I can recommend to Mimi's Cafe I really enjoyed their Hawaiian sandwich that had pull pork and pineapple and bacon it was really quite delicious uh also for dessert I really like the bumbleberry pie over at Porters or the bumbleberry Inn so you can check that out for dessert now if you are getting dinner in town cuz there are a lot of people here I mean there are a lot of restaurants but there's not that many restaurants and so the restaurants do get really busy for dinner so I would either try to plan to eat like early say like 5:30 or then try to eat late like 8:00 uh otherwise if you go at like peak time of like 6:30 or 7: you're probably going to find a long wait at most of the restaurants in town now uh good news in the park uh to hydrate yourself you will find water bottle filling stations at most of the shuttle stops and you'll also find restrooms at most of the shuttle stops too oh and one last Pro tip if you're looking to pack some like lunch into the park there's one kind of small supermarket in town it's the Soul Food supermarket uh they have some prepared sandwiches in a fridge and also a deli in the back that you can get fresh made sandwiches so that's a pretty good like pack of Lunch Spot the eighth thing to know is about hiking Angels Landing right here this is the most popular hike in the park it is about a 5 1/2 mile hike where you'll gain about 1,500 ft of elevation to head right up there on the top it is named Angel's Landing because one of the early visitors to Zion looked at it and remarked only an angel could land there well now only you can hike there if you have a permit but you can get pretty near it right here to the Scout Lookout even without a permit and it's totally worthwhile to do this hike even without a permit so let me show you what the hike looks like to get up to here and then we'll talk about the permit process if you want to go all the way to the top so the hike starts at shuttle stop number six it's about a half mile from the Zion Lodge uh there's restrooms and water there so the first 20 minutes of the trail pretty easy you cross a bridge over the river then you get to a paved section where it starts to go uphill it goes uphill gradually and then it gets to this part of all of these switchbacks this is why the park guide the National Park Service calls this a strenuous hike is quite Steep and I started this in the winter with a jacket and a beanie and gloves and 30 minutes in I've taken all of those off in the summer this is really hot if you're not here right in the morning then it's indir Sun the Rocks heat up and so uh yeah make sure you bring plenty of water if you're planning to hike this Trail after those switchbacks it goes through more of a flat area through a pretty neat Slot Canyon and now becomes the fun part of the hike this is what they call Walters Wiggles and as you can see it Wiggles quite a bit I mean that first one if you thought that was a steep rise this is even steeper rise and you know sometimes people poo poo hiking trails that are all paved but let me tell you even though this is paved definitely serious hike and it's kind of nice that this is an a Slot Canyon so it keeps this part Shady quite a bit of the time oh it's a long way down and then at the top of Walter's Wiggles you reach the Scout Lookout which I am just above that right now the Scout Lookout is a nice little Sandy Plateau there's restrooms up there that you can stop a good place to have a picnic uh me going really slowly and vlogging along the way took me about an hour to get from the bottom up to that Lookout the guide says allow about 3 hours for the round trip I guess that's if you're going like really slow and taking in all of the scenery and then from here is where you need the permit to go up the chains to go up to the top of Angel's Landing this is the last half mile of the trail so it's about uh 5 half miles total round trip if you go up there 4 and 1/2 if you're not going up to Angel's Landing expect to add an extra hour to go up and down this now how do you get the permit well the permits uh they're available via recreation.gov and they're a lottery and they have two different lotteries one you can enter a lottery for like a season ahead of time and then two you can do a lottery the day before uh and for me on this trip I entered the day before Lottery cuz I didn't plan it early enough to do the seasonal Lottery uh I didn't get the day before Lottery um and so I still hiked up here to the summit anyway to look at Angel's landing and so even if you don't have the permit it is still a super rewarding Trail to get up here and see this View and to see the lookout down below to the canyon it's really Steep and Tall oh and your adventure doesn't have to stop at the scout Lookout Trail here the west rim trail continues this way to quite a number of other destinations another cool thing to do here is watch the sunrise or the sunset now this one one's a little bit tricky particularly if you're doing it in the canyon because you can't just like Google sunrise or sunset time and figure out when you're going to see the sun I mean the sun does rise at the time that it always does but it is 10:00 a.m. here and I'm on the trail up to Angel's landing and you can see here the sun is starting to rise over that Canyon wall and lighting up this Canyon wall so definitely as you're out in the canyon you know kind of like late morning you'll start to see these sorts of things so do pay attention to it watch it there's even a guy right down here who's taking a bunch of photos of the sunrise now if you did get a permit to go to the top of Angel's Landing do know that there are Park people at the top checking permits which means you either need to have it printed out or saved on your phone and there's no internet when you get to the top so in a pinch if you made it into the park and you're like uh-oh what do I do the Zion Lodge has guest Internet for everybody it's just one shuttle stop before Angels Landing so if you're in the park and you remember and you're like darn it we forgot to print it out we didn't take a screenshot come to the lodge get on the guest Wi-Fi do that Zion Lodge where it's at and the ninth thing to know is about the Naros this is the second most popular serious hike in the park it starts at the end of the Riverwalk at the Temple of saava stop and from here Where the Sidewalk Ends and where the river begins is where this hike begins this hike goes down the canyon this way up to 5 miles uh how do you do that how how do you walk in the water well you rent gear to walk in the water if you're coming in the winter then you'll actually rent kind of like a dry suit it's not a full dry suit but it's sort of like a like fancy overalls uh and some special boots to help you not slip and a stick so that you can find a good footing uh because people often describe this hike as walking on wet bowling balls if you're coming in the summer well then in the summer you're going to have uh boots and some socks and a stick and you don't need the fan overall cuz the water is a lot warmer in the summer now there is a version of this hike that does require a permit there's a 16m oneway hike that you start further up and then come down but if you're just doing what most people do which is walk in until they get tired and then walk back you don't need a permit for that you just need the gear where do you rent it from there are gear rental places in Springdale not from the National Park Service but they rent it to a ton of people because there's a ton of people that come out here and do this when you're on the shuttle or you're on the Riverwalk you will see all these people in the fancy overalls if you're in the winter or in the same looking boots with a stick in the summer they are going on this Trail now just an interesting tidbit about this River where does all of this water come from well much of it actually comes through the Rocks when you walk out here you can actually see the Rocks they look like they're crying almost uh the term the National Park Service uses is weeping the water weeps from the rocks and then forms this River now Pro tip if you are doing this hike uh don't try it without the right shoes or gear I did see some people try to do that and they didn't they didn't get very far these rocks turn out to be quite slippery and you can't find your good footing if you don't have that pole and pro tip two is if you have a cell phone uh you know put it in some fancy plastic bag in your backpack or whatever so that you don't drop it in the water taking pictures uh bring a GoPro or bring some waterproof camera your cell phone will thank you later oh and actually not all of the h is in the river there are sections that go over land depending upon how much water is in the river depends on how much water walking you have versus land walking you have if you do the full 16 M through there are some sections that are really deep and in that case you might actually be swimming hey so don't just listen to me the guy who's standing on the sand let's talk to two people who just finished the Narrows this is Dave and 8-year-old Lucas they just finished the Narrows hike how was it it was awesome only took us 3 hours we went up to the wall Street uh had water up to here I had to carry this guy but we made it we survived I highly recommend it go for it do it what about you Lucas I like touching the mysterious Falls mysterious waterfalls he like touching the mysterious waterfall how much was the gear and where did you get it gear we went to Zion Adventures $75 highly recommend it for one or for two uh for each this is a full-on wet suit so uh completely dry only our feet are wet uh but $75 all day highly recommend Zion Adventures great company and the 10 thing to know is about stuff to do other than those two really challenging hikes and the first one to do that is the least strenuous thing in the park is to ride the shuttle from The Visitor Center to the Temple of saava it is a really Scenic bus ride big windows so you get to see the canyon as you go the bus drivers also do a pretty good job of telling you what you're looking at the total ride from The Visitor Center to the temple of in aava is 40 minutes you do have to get off the bus here and then get on another one to go back so allow an hour and 20 minutes just to ride the bus in and then out now there are two hikes that you can take from The Visitor Center if you get here late or after the shuttles aren't going anymore there's the pus Trail and there's also the Watchman Trail uh the Watchman Trail is pretty good it goes up into the hill right here and you get some good views down into the canyon this way the Watchman Trail has a pretty small elevation gain 368 ft it's about 2 and 1/2 mil and take you 2 and 1/2 hours round trip now if you want to do the easiest and most rewarding hike in the park then you're going to find it right at the end of that shuttle bus stop number nine the Temple of Cava there is this Riverside walk as they call it it is a 1.1 M entirely paved trail that takes you along the river to the Narrows where people get in the water to do the hike that I talked about before you're not going to get in the water you're just going to go there and take a look at at it but what's neat is you can get in the part of the canyon that's pretty Nero and uh this walkway you know it's like stroller friendly to like it's a little Sandy in places but a little bit of sand is the only danger you have to worry about here all right so let's talk about gear for a moment what do you need to bring with you if you're doing these hikes well unless you're doing the Narrows Trail not really that much I mean the hikes here are all well manicured well- groomed wellmaintained and so your tennis shoes or even light hiking boots are going to be good enough the exception is the winter when you might want some spikes or some poles to help you if it's snowy and it's icy but the rest of the time light foot wear is just fine now let talk about what you should wear layers as I mentioned earlier there can be large swings between the low temperature and the high temperature a day maybe a 40° difference between the two so you'll need to bundle up a little bit for the morning but then by noon you'll want to take all those things off but then you're going to be far away from your car because you rode the shuttle or you're on a hike so you'll need a backpack or some place to put that stuff then you'll need to put it back on again when you get in the shade yeah like the temperature difference between the shade right now is like 20° between the Sun and the shade and I have when I was doing the Angel's Landing hike I took off my jacket to go up but then when I did the little like Walters Wiggles it was shady there and it was cold so I had to put my jacket back on so plan for undress and redress and I think what's really cool cool about walking this Trail is just how close to these Cliffs you get I mean to see those 3,000 ft Cliffs from uh so close like really makes you feel the immensity and as you walk like the further you Walk This Way the narrower and narrower the canyon gets but for the truly lazy who don't want to go thousands of feet of elevation climbing the canyon Overlook Trail this one it's on route nine just outside of the tunnel and you can get some pretty impressive views of the canyon down below and it's only about a mile round trip hike from the parking lot now some other things to do if you like horseback riding you can actually ride a horse through Zion uh you can organize those through the Zion Lodge it's $50 for 1 hour or 3 hours for $100 you do have to make a reservation and those are also in the spring summer and fall season at night time the Stars up there they're amazing I'd show them to you but my camera is not that good but it's really dark here and so look up at night and see some amazing Stars the Rangers also offer a bunch of ranger-led programs you can take like Ranger tours and walks and finally don't forget all the stuff in the town of Springdale in addition to the restaurant there's a lot to like shops and things like that so take an evening after dinner and just explore the town now if you want to do a scenic drive one you can do all year round is the one on route 9ine to the east entrance of the park where you would normally drive in and you find Zion scenic drive and you can't go if you just turn right you'll go up a hill through this one M long tunnel and then you'll be treated to tons of really neat red rocks on this twisty Road tons of viewpoints and Hikes along there so check that out if you like scenic drives oh but if you have a big vehicle and you're trying to go this way you'll need to get a permit ahead of time because vehicles that are too big like big RVs they basically need to like close off traffic in the tunnel so you're the only one that can go through uh and so if you do have a big vehicle make sure you get that permit ahead of time and the last thing to know is I've got more videos if you want to check out my review of the Spring Hill Suites I'll put it right here the Zion Lodge one it's done right over here if you're going to the Grand Canyon you might enjoy this guide or Bryce Canyon right here links are also in the description below as you won't say goodbye cuz I'll see you in some of those videos

Channel: Yellow Productions

Views: 39,398

Keywords: Yellow Productions

Id: 7AcAw1DlSKQ

Length: 30min 43sec (1843 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024