September 8, 2025
About an hour north of Fredonia is one of Utah’s five National Parks- Zion. Home to such iconic sights as Angel’s Landing, The Narrows and Weeping Rock, I’m honored to be able to that that I have been able to visit and enjoy one of the most popular National Parks in the country.
Departure and The Tunnel
Monday, Christy, Hayden and I headed up to Zion National Park as Brandy elected to spend the day working.
We left the AirBnB just before 8:00 am. About an hour later, we were plunged into the absolute darkness that is Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel.
The narrow, two-lane tunnel stretches just over a mile through one of the peaks in Zion National Park. There are size restrictions, and a permit must be acquired if you plan on driving anything through that exceeds those restrictions. In those cases, the traffic in the oncoming direction is stopped to let the oversized vehicle pass.
As we entered the tunnel, the traffic coming from the other direction was stopped so we saw no oncoming cars. The tunnel twists and turns through the mountain meaning we were very quickly plunged into absolute darkness. I was astounded at how dark the tunnel was.
Every so often, window would open on our right side allowing some sunlight in briefly, and offering a glimpse of the interior of the park to my passengers.
We finally emerged on the other side of the tunnel and were immediately awe-struck by the sheer magnitude of the mountains surrounding us, as far as we could see. The road continued onward and down into the valley floor, several switchbacks aiding in slowing our descent. Along this stretch of the road were several turn-outs, a few of which we stopped at to take pictures.
Parking Struggles and The Shuttle
After traveling through a good portion of the southern part of the park, we finally arrived at the visitor’s center. We circled the parking lot at least a hundred times and never found a spot forcing us to leave and find a spot in a paid parking lot just outside the south entrance of the park.
Forty dollars later, the three of us headed back toward the entrance and took the pedestrian entrance back to the visitor’s center we’d just left. We did our requisite souvenir pick-ups then headed to the shuttle bus pickup stop.
During peak season, private vehicles are prohibited from the main road through the park. Visitors are welcome to hike, ride bikes (manually pedaled or electric-assisted) or take the park-provided shuttle bus, a double-long, segmented bus that runs the length of the park, from the visitor’s center all the way up to the end where the trailhead for the Narrows awaits.
We hopped on the bus and exited at the first stop at Court of the Patriarchs.
Court of the Patriarchs
As we exited the bus, we were greeted to a trailhead that was purported to lead to a viewpoint to gain an ideal view of the peaks making up the eponymous patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The trailhead sign did forewarn us that the trail was steep, but short, so we started our way up.
I was delighted to see, almost immediately, cacti with some lovely prickly pears in full bloom alongside the trail.
The trail was indeed very steep with many switchbacks along the way to assist in the elevation gain. Before long, we found ourselves at the landing with the requisite informational signs talking about the peaks in front of us, and delivering a wonderful view of them.
After taking our fill of pictures, we made our way back down to then past the bus stop, crossing the road. We almost immediately found ourselves on the Sand Bench Trail, a trail that, at least at this point, was fine, beach-like sand, which I always hated walking on.
We hiked down to the banks of the Virgin River. The area was totally abandoned, it was just the three of us. We took some more pictures then headed back up to the bus stop where we waited for the bus to our next stop, Zion Lodge and the Emerald Pools.
Emerald Pool(s)
Our next stop was the Zion Lodge stop which allows access to the Emerald Pools trail. Accessing the trail required us to cross back over to the other side of the road then over a bridge to the trailhead.
We started up the sandstone trail and around one of the first corners was a group of mule deer munching on the vegetation just off trail. There was a crowd of people there taking photos and videos but the deer were wholly unbothered by the people, staying even just feet away from the crowd. I took some video of my own but no pictures.
We continued on the path toward the pool with the trail on a steady but shallow incline the entire way. Finally, we turned the last corner and were greeted with a view of the pool.
We took the path under an outcropping of the sandstone above where water dripped down to the pool now below us, the light from the sun sparkling in the drops as they fell. It was a rather magical experience, and one we would see duplicated later on. We continued on past this point up some very steep portions of the path on what we would discover would be the way to the upper Emerald Pool.
It was a surprisingly strenuous walk to the middle pool and, after a quick snack break, Hayden, Christy and I briefly entertained the idea of moving on to the upper pool before quickly rejecting the idea. Instead, we turned around and started making our way back. On our way back to the road where we had left the shuttle, we passed the sign once more inidcating the direction to the pools and were informed at that point that the middle pool was only .5 miles from where we were. All three of us soundly debunked that, sure that we had walked a hundred miles to the point where we’d turned around. And that set the tone for the remainder of the day.
Lunch Break and The Grotto
We reached the road where we’d disembarked from the shuttle and crossed the road to the Zion Lodge, which was promised to have food and, since we were all taxed from the strenuous walk to the middle Emerald Pool, we decided this was a great place to pause and refuel.
The lodge is home to several options for dining, we selected the Castle Dome Cafe that offered several grab and go style options and a couple of made to order dishes as well. It was set up very similar to a cafeteria where we scooted along, grabbing what we wanted before finding ourselves at a register where the food and drink we purchased. Once we had our food, we made our way to the covered outdoor seating area where every table was occupied. Just as we were ready to succumb and sit on a low wall surrounding the seating area, a group of women offered their table to us. We gladly accepted and sat down for a quick lunch of mediocre food.
Once we’d had our fill and sufficiently rested, we decided to walk the half mile to the next shuttle stop which was the stop for The Grotto. I’ve always had a been of affinity for small caves, particularly those surrounded by water, whether an ocean or a river, or even a small stream so I was excited to see what the park had to offer only to be disappointed that there was not an obvious cave to be seen. We found a ranger nearby who informed us that the Grotto was a grotto in name only and there wasn’t actually a grotto in The Grotto.
Grotto.
Dejected, we headed to the shuttle stop to wait for the next bus that showed up promptly and whisked us on to our penultimate stop, Weeping Rock.
Weeping Rock
Weeping Rock is another outcropping that visitors can hike to and under much like what we had experienced at the Emerald Pools. The trail to Weeping Rock, however, was much steeper, and much more strenuous. It took every ounce of fortitude for me to make it to the end of the trail, with many, many stops for me along the way. My feet were sore, I was out of breath, super thirsty and was very close to calling off the rest of our trip.
I powered on though, and was rewarded by the magnificent view from under the overhang that saw a large crowd of people.
I’m glad I was able to get some pictures of the view without a ton of people obscuring the images. I was struck by the beauty of what surrounded me and let myself become overcome with emotion. Again, I am eternally grateful for all of the opportunities I am given to be able to experience this life and all of its beauty.
After lingering about for a bit, we started our journey back down the hill to the bus stop and on to our final stop on the trip, The Narrows.
The Narrows
Alongside Angels Landing, the Narrows is one of the most popular attractions at Zion National Park. A nearly 8 mile hike up the Virgin River, most of the trek is actually in the water. Waders and boots and dry bags are all available to rent at the outfitters just outside the south entrance to the park, and the entire day, we’d seen people decked out in the gear as they made their way to the trailhead.
Sure enough, the Narrows stop was the most crowded stop on the shuttle route. As we got off the bus, we were met with a large group of people, some getting off the bus, others getting on, and still others either resting after or preparing in anticipation of their hike up the river.
By this point, I simply wanted to be done. I was extremely tired and in a significant amount of pain but I pushed on, not wanting to rob Christy and Hayden of the experience of this trip.
We made our way up the trail toward the drop-in for the hike, not realizing that it was an exceptionally long lead-up to that point. I had to stop way too many times but finally, we got to the point where the hike officially began and…
Boy was it crowded.
Not in the mood to deal with a bunch of people, we went the opposite way, finding some off-the-beaten paths that provided much of the same beauty but without the crowds.
After a smattering of pictures, we said enough was enough and made our way back down to the shuttle stop for the ride back to the entrance.
Back Down the Road
We hopped on the next bus that showed up. It was largely empty so we took some seats at the back of the double long bus, each of us selecting seats with empty seats next to us. By the time we departed, the bus was full and Christy wound up with a man next to her that talked OVER her to some people sitting next to me. Christy was pleasantly perturbed by the situation with an RBF that said it all.
We made our way back down the road stopping at all the now-familiar stops along the way: at the Grotto, the Lodge, the Court of the Patriarchs and, finally, back to the Visitor’s Center.
We stopped there and back at the Outfitters just outside the gate for some souvenirs then headed back to the truck to begin the hour and a half drive back to the AirBnB.
Conclusion
The grandiosity of Zion National Park went a long way in reminding me how small and insignificant I am in the grand scheme of things. Likewise, I was reminded that any problems that come my way are just as insignificant. As the old adage goes, “this too shall pass”, and being reminded of my own impermanence went a long way in helping me realize that.
Instead, I was able to wash myself clean of any problems and worries that I may have and was able to completely immerse myself in the beauty that surrounded me. That is, of course, except for the immense pain and exhaustion I felt at the end of my time in Zion National Park.
Pictures from this adventure, of course, are found on my Photo Diary.
Stay tuned for the next post from this trip which will see us making a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park and the Toadstool Hoodoos.
I’m woefully behind in my posts, and that is a direct result of my innate desire to go into excruciating detail about every aspect of my adventures. This is very much borne of my desire to remember these things, but I think recounting every little bit of minutiae is compromising the posts anyway. I really need to scale back on these posts and just write about the high points.
Anyway, stay tuned, next post shouldn’t be too far behind this one.
Until then!
-Phil