In July of 2015 we set out on a grand vacation through the southwest. We traveled for 21 days and over 6,000 miles, visiting 5 states and 9 National Parks. We explored new places and met up with old friends. Overall, it was an amazing journey and everyone learned so much. I highly recommend the Foder’s guide to National Parks of the West, we used it when planning our trip and it was a great resource. You can see all my posts about the trip by clicking here.
Day 2 – Zion National Park
On Day 2 we woke up early (this was easy since everyone was still on Eastern Time) and headed out for Zion National Park. Zion runs a shuttle system within the park and I had read that if you aren’t at the visitor center early then you won’t be able to find parking and you’ll have to park down in the town. This wasn’t an issue for us since we were at the visitor center by 8am that day. We picked up Junior Ranger books from the visitor center and jumped on the shuttle up to the Emerald Pool Trail. This trail was well paved and pretty easy for the kids. It ends at a beautiful set of waterfalls, which everyone loved. We sat and had a snack at the top of the trail before making our way back down.
After we got back down to the bottom of the trial the kids attended a Junior Ranger program and we spent some time playing in the Virgin River. There were rocks to climb on and the cool water was fun to play in.
After a quick lunch at the Zion Cafe in the park we jumped back on the shuttle and headed up to the trailhead for the Narrows. I have always wanted to hike in the Narrows and was so happy we had time to do this. This area was pretty crowded right where the Narrows Trail starts, but if you went a little further up the river the crowd thinned out. The kids absolutely loved playing and hiking in the river.
When we were all done hiking we went back down to the visitor center where the kids earned their first Junior Ranger badge.
Leaving Zion we took the tunnel road, at the suggestion of my friend Andy, and it was really fun. The road winds around the mountain and part of it goes through the side of the mountain. Our next stop would be Bryce Canyon.
