Exploring Zion National Park - Pt 1 - 2022/09/08

Today is another move day! This time we're headed a little further south and going to visit yet another national park! This leg of our trip has seen Glacier, Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonland, Dead Horse, Bryce Canyon, and now today we're going to see Zion National Park! Whew! Theresa was a little concerned we might get "National Park'd out". 

The drive from Bryce Canyon was a little over 2 hours for us in the RV. 

All the way down to the Saint George KOA in Hurricane Utah. We got there shortly after the 12pm checkin and got the RV all set up. With some time left in the day, we figured we should get out and explore a little. 

Because a little under an hour away is another National Park we've heard good things about. Zion! 

All through the town leading up to it, we saw metered parking and shuttles taking people to the Visitor's Center. Even though the sign said parking was going to be full, we chanced it and happened to find a spot in the oversized lot for the Beast! Perfect! 

Welcome to the Visitor's Center! Guess what! It's hot! 

Rangers are helping people outside today. 

Wow. It's going to be hitting 105F here today. 

Once we got to the front of the line, a Ranger gave us our Junior Ranger booklets. Usually if we don't know if we'll make it back before they close they're pretty good about giving us the kids' badges, but today they didn't want to hand them over. We'll try to get back in time to collect them!

Some of Zion is accessible by car, but the more interesting features are only available by tram. These free buses take you back into the park to the trailheads. Yes, we made sure to have plenty of water available. 

Working on their Junior Ranger books while we drive. 

And looking out the windows at the places we pass. 

This section has had rock slides, and our bus driver told us of one back in 2019 that almost took out one of these buses! A portion of the park is still closed while they clear the debris. 

But we've safely made it to our stop. The last stop of the bus line, the hiking trail to The Narrows. 

Luckily we're in the middle of some high walls so there's no direct sunlight. 

Of course, there could be rocks falling off those high walls, but we'll cross our fingers and hope for the best. 

Oh good. And flash floods are a possibility too. 

These cactus had purple fruits on them and Alli just had to have a picture with them. 

There's wildlife along the trail that don't seem to be bothered by us at all. 

Like these deer, right by the trail. 

It's like something out of a Disney ride. An animatronic animal on a hillside perched right about the trail. 

Hi there. 

Walking by sections that had signs warning about rocks falling. 

There's so many squirrels out here. Please do not feed them. 

The bus even had signs saying not to feed them. 

How about this guy? 

He looks like he's been fed a few time already. 

And we saw many tourists digging into their backpack for snacks to feed squirrels, so it's definitely a problem. 

And while they are feeding the squirrels, it doesn't look like the deer are getting any love. Those are some scraggly, bony, deer. This one has a tracker necklace too. 

It's the Narrows!

The path continues through the stream. 

Gotta take off the shoes and socks to go through it. 

Let's go!

Just me and the kids. The stream was filled with lots of slippery rocks. It was good to have the hiking poles. 

But we made it to the other side. 

Looking down the canyon. This is as far as we got into it. 

Passing a wall where people have left their hiking sticks for others to help cross. 

Once we came back, the kids needed to get their shoes back on...

But not with sandy feet! We rinsed them in the river then carried them. 

Over to a rock to dry off and then get their shoes back on. We'll be heading back shortly!