Zion National Park
We both felt a bit nervous heading to Zion. I’d (well past me with a stable income - thank you past me) dropped quite a bit of money to stay in a hotel in the national park boundaries for Amy’s birthday and I really wanted it to be amazing. Zion is Amy’s favourite national park and she was hoping it would live up to the happy memories she had there from seventeen years ago.
We were meeting up with Amy’s friend Lindsey from her ER nursing days in San Diego. Lindsey has been doing van life for a few years now, in a tall Ford Transit called Sylvia. She’d grabbed a campsite in the park for the week and was happy for us to join her before our two night stay at the hotel. A van life veteran - she suggested we buy a long extension cable to run from the outlet at our pitch into Big Buddy so that we could run our electric heater whenever we wanted without draining our battery pack. Such a game changer especially because it was below freezing at night!
Big Buddy being dwarfed by Sylvia and the mountains
Zion at this time of year is a bit of a logistical nightmare. The free shuttle buses that take you to the big ticket hikes (Angels Landing and The Narrows) aren’t yet running but there is very little parking, meaning that the road is generally closed to traffic before 9am each morning. And it was spring break so very busy. On our first day we did a hike close to the campsite and I entered the daily lottery for a permit to hike Angels Landing the next day. At the last minute, Amy and Lindsey also entered as we weren’t sure how competitive it would be. Lucky they did! Lindsey’s successful permit came through first before me and Amy both got rejected from the lottery.
In the queue to get our hotel reservation sorted - the person in front of me was trying to get up to hike The Narrows and the ranger told her that once the road closes (which it did at 8:30 that day) it doesn’t usually open again until 4! I’d assumed they had some kind of “one in one out” system but apparently not. One of the perks of the hotel though is that it is halfway up that closed road so if you have the magic red hotel guest tag they’ll begrudgingly let you in. It was a bit of a weird attitude because, as we found later, there was plenty of parking available along that road.
Our hobbit home for the three of us for two nights
Angels Landing was one of the coolest hikes I’ve ever done! It starts out as a series of switchbacks and eventually you reach a sign warning of impending peril and cliff exposure. Obviously there was a huge amount of snow and ice - like everywhere we’ve visited so far. We reached “Walter’s Wiggles” a real icy slip ‘n’ slide of switchbacks and put on our microspikes. They’re basically a stretchy band that slips over your shoe and has spikes on the bottom to allow you to grip the ice.
They don’t look like much but these little spikes are lifesavers
Again a perk of the extreme weather was having Angel’s Landing basically to ourselves. In more favourable conditions (at least before the lottery permit system) it could get dangerously busy with people trying to pass each other on the narrow sections. We had to cross paths with a few groups but luckily we were always able to find a wider, safer spot to edge past each other. The park service have installed metal chains you can use to pull yourself up the steeper sections of the ridge which made the hike possible in the conditions. There were a few spots without chains which I mentally bookmarked as needing caution on the way down.
The view at the top was magical - it was late afternoon so the light was getting better and better and blue sky was moving in making it look almost like we were above a calm blue sea. We also heard what sounded like a huge snowfall - the thundering crash was stark on the quiet peak, made extra surreal by the fact that we could only see a small amount of snow falling off the mountain opposite. It was spooky not knowing where the noise had come from and we made tracks to leave.
On our way down I often felt my feet slip on the ice before the microspikes caught me and I was so grateful to be wearing them. We saw a couple coming up in trainers and no spikes - absolutely nuts. It’s a similar situation to the Grand Canyon but in reverse I guess. It’s not too hard to climb your way up the ice, but safely getting back down is a much scarier prospect with huge drop offs on both sides. Taking it slowly though we made it down and enjoyed the rush of endorphins that followed as we picked up the pace for the lower half to get to the park gear outfitters to pick up waders ready for the next day’s adventure!
The trail follows the ridgeline in the middle of this photo. Heading up and coming back down I genuinely couldn’t believe that that was where we were heading, it looked impassable from a distance..!
We were planning to hike the Zion Narrows, the second park classic. It’s, as the name suggests, a narrow canyon which the Virgin River flows through. You can either do a 1 night backpacking trip from the top of the canyon to the bottom or just day hike up from the bottom. Given the night time temps and potential for rain we were firmly in the day hike camp. The water was apparently a chilly 7 degrees celsius so we were a little hesitant when we were given our trainers and neoprene socks and told that our feet would be wet the whole time. We also got a drysuit dungarees type overall and a wooden staff so I felt like a hobbit.
About to get our feet wet
We arrived at the start of the hike really early and still couldn’t get parking so we found a pullout not too far away. None of us fancied hiking in the chilly early morning so we made pancakes in Lindsey’s van, played bananagrams and waited for the sun to properly rise over the valley.
We eventually left the relative warmth of the van and made our way to the start of the river walk. In the summer it’s often not flowing above ankle level but at this time of year we were told to expect waist deep pools. When we stepped in the water it didn’t feel too cold - although in summer it can get up to 18 degrees and it certainly wasn’t that. Again though, in summer this place has been described as “busier than a New York subway” so I was happy to put up with chilly feet in exchange for the quiet we enjoyed. The small beaches bathed in sunlight were such a dream to relax on and warm up though!
Walking through the running water was a really cool experience
The water flow rate was pretty low for the season - around 50 cubic feet per second. For context, the Park Service will close the Narrows for hiking when the flow rate reaches 150 cubic feet per second. It felt ideal to me - fast enough to be a bit of a challenge and a chance to build my river crossing skills but we never felt close to being knocked over by the flow. We hiked up to Orderville Canyon and explored the very beginning of this narrow slot before chilly feet and the promise of tacos for a late lunch turned us around.
This pool at Orderville Canyon was FREEZING - note Amy’s clenched fist!
It also felt like changes were afoot - ice and snow were dropping for the top of the canyon into the river at regular intervals and it felt like waterfalls were appearing out of nowhere. All very pretty - all signs that it was time to leave! The next day the gear hire company weren’t doing rentals as it was pouring rain all day and the day after that the Narrows was shut due to water flow rates of over 2,000 cubic feet per second! It hasn’t yet reopened and might not for months due to the record snow levels so we really did make it through just in time.
Heading for the sunshine
Was that waterfall there on the way up?!
Zion delivered and it was an amazing trip. The parking/shuttle system was a nightmare though. When we did make it through the gates into the scenic drive - there was plenty of parking, especially after the 8am rush for the Narrows. It felt like rangers would close the gate after a certain number of cars went through and then leave it shut all day - even if a lot of people left quite quickly. If you can get in, it gives you a great experience as the park is quiet. But otherwise you’re looking at a long bike ride to the trailheads (which a lot of people were doing - including on e-bikes which seems like a good bet); a long walk up a road before your big hike or starting to hike after the road opens up again in the late afternoon. As we were coming down from Angel’s Landing, a lot of people were heading up - all of whom would presumably be hiking down in the dark. Given it was spring break it would surely have made more sense to have started the shuttle service or station rangers at the parking areas to manage the situation rather than shutting the road every morning.
Rant aside, it was incredible and felt like a very special time to experience the park. My top tip for doing big ticket hikes in National Parks is to pick a record snowpack year to do your road trip. Guaranteed that most people don’t want to contend with sub zero temperatures and hiking on ice (or in icy water) so if you can enjoy that you’ll be rewarded with solitude and incredible scenery!
