Sanctuary! Zion National Park.

May 13th:

Moab, Utah > Zion NP, Utah

Day 1 in Zion:

I feel like I’ve escaped the brutal desert at last! I was only in Moab for 2 days but after the dehydration fiasco and the wind storm and the dust storm, I was ready to go. Zion is a desert, BUT, it feels more like home here because there’s a ~hint~ of humidity in the air and the trees and river make everything so luscious and welcoming. Plus, Zion does mean sanctuary so it makes sense that I would feel safer here.

Zion has 2 campgrounds, both near the town of Springfield, the south entrance. South Campground and Watchman. I stayed in Watchman last time, and we’re staying in South this time- they are right next to each other, the only difference is the reservation system. Watchman can be reserved months in advance and has a longer season. South opens mid- May and can only be reserved 2 weeks in advance of your desired dates. Neither have showers, and they have pit toilets, but they’re on the Virgin River.

We took a short 3.3 mile stroll down the Pa’rus Trail along the river when we arrived, still recovering. We also found out we got a day- before permit for hiking Angel‘s Landing the next day! This hike is one of the most popular in Zion and the park just began a permit system to reduce crowding on the trail. There is a lottery system that starts months before the desired dates OR there’s a day- before lottery that you can enter for $6. You get 7 entries and you can enter for your whole group, you get to select different time slots. Before 9am, 9-12, or after 12. I would never want to do this hike in summer after 12pm, but we got a 9-12 slot, so we got there exactly at 9am. You have to ride the shuttle from the Visitor Center but they come so frequently. I think we would have had to wait longer for a bus if it was later in the summer.

May 14th:

Angel’s Landing

This morning we woke up and were on the shuttle by 8:30, and at the Grotto, the stop for the hike, by 8:50. You need a picture or copy of the email confirmation for the permit and a photo ID. They check about 500 feet up the trail before you even start really hiking. It’s 2.5 miles up the West Rim Trail to Angel’s Landing and the hike including that is 5 miles, 1,000 feet elevation gain. It is a series of switchbacks almost the entire time. Walter’s Wiggles are my favorite. Those are 21 small, switchbacks that put you right out to Angel’s Landing.

I didn’t remember how steep some of the spots on Angel’s Landing were or how long that part of the hike actually took. I did this in December 2020 and it wasn’t very crowded. Definitely helps to have the permit system, but we still had to wait for big groups to come up or down once it got closer to 11:30/12. I’m glad we started when we did at 9 because it was still cool and shady. This is my favorite hike. The view of Zion Canyon from the landing is incredible and then the view on the way back down really makes you realize how far you climbed up that mountain. It doesn’t even seem like it could be real. We ended up adding on a mile of West Rim by continuing up after lunch- that is a steep trail, but it’s actually higher than the landing so you get a cool view of it and of the other side of the canyon towards the west. The West Rim trail is the backcountry trail that has campsites and it continues for 13 (ish) miles.