Zion National Park - Utah

Introduction

Shari has been asking for a while as to when we are going to start visiting the plethora of national and state parks in Utah.  So to pair up a state parks visit with my marathon run, we decided to hit Zion National Park.

Zion is located about 50 minutes east of St George.  It is a super easy drive (as well as scenic) and I was able to show Shari some of the parts I had run on when we drove through the heart of Hurricane.  I totally expected it to be a zoo there, but on this super fine Sunday morning it was actually fairly low key.

After about a 7 minute wait in line to get in, I paid my $25 and was able to drive the park.

Zions National Park

I'll be honest, I wasn't too happy with the map given at the gate.  It bore little to no resemblance to the actual lay of the road.  

We really didn't have any set agenda so I just proceeded to keep driving up the road until I saw something interesting.  There were various scenic portions, where if you were able to, you could pull over and take some pictures.  You were welcome to park as well and adventure a little, but parking was at a premium.

Shari wasn't happy with the quick ascent -- her fear of heights and steep drops kicking into overdrive. 

I did manage to drive the entire route and got a ton of photos.  It was easy driving and other than a brief wait going through a long, dark tunnel (it was narrow crossing and I think they were letting people go in groups) it was a completely enjoyable ride. 

In hindsight, you can do some nice hiking if you park at the visitor's center.  From there you can easily get in some very mild trails to see some of the sites.

Enjoy the photos: