Zion National Park, Utah
April 26-May 3, 2017
Heidi Marie Sassin
Swipe through the slideshow below
A Place of Peace
Zion literally means “a place of peace and refuge or sanctuary” and visiting this park, I was overwhelmed with how colorful it is here. I had very high expectations of how beautiful Southern Utah would be, and Zion exceeded my expectations. Zion is an Oasis in the middle of a desert, lush green plants sprout up from the Virgin River, giving life to everything it touches. Red Rock cliffs tower above canyons, blankets of snow cover far-away mountain tops, and deep blue skies stretch overhead.
I was initially struck with how colorful it is here. I live in New York City, and I can’t say I have ever seen a sky so blue. The weather was not too warm in April, however the sun was so strong that even on a 60 degree day it was pleasant to wear shorts and a t-shirt outside. The nights were crisp, cool, sometimes cold, but with the right gear and expectations, it was quite manageable.
Swipe through the slideshow for more about our Zion Adventure!
Preparing for Our Trip
Backpacking is a lot of work and carrying the pack is not the most difficult job. Preparation for backpacking can sometimes take weeks. Figuring out exactly what we need for our trip, how many pairs of socks, how many calories of food each day, and how much coffee to bring. It involves weighing everything, from our food to our sleeping bags; and when it gets too heavy, we have to go through all our gear and figure out what we can manage without. It means deciding that it is more important for me to have a pair of camp shoes than to worry about the weight of them. It means when my boyfriend isn’t looking I pack my mascara and lip gloss, which he will later laugh about when my camp mirror is hanging from a tree (its the little things that make this more pleasurable).
Preparing for Our Trip
Writing a list of everything you will need is paramount, I also made a chart, breaking down the day to day clothing I would need.
When we plan a through trek, we carry a lot less, however with Zion, we had the same backcountry-site reserved for 4 days, a bit more than 7 miles from the trailhead, so we were more willing to add a bit of weight, knowing we would not be carrying our packs for the entire time.
We brought our bear container with us, which we realized once in the canyon, was not needed. We could have hung our food from a tree here to keep out small pests, but there are have been no bears in this area for a very long time
A Night in Springdale
We arrived in Springdale, Utah, a picturesque small town just outside the entrance to Zion National Park. I expected Springdale to be similar to the towns around the Grand Canyon, which are quite remote and run down. However Springdale was charming, well maintained and clean. It is well designed, with the buildings matching the surrounding landscape in color, texture and material. A bike lane cuts through the town, and small shops and restaurants dot the street leading into the national park. It was beautiful.
A Night in Springdale
I was delightfully surprised with the attractiveness of the Springdale Hampton Inn. The hotel had chandeliers hanging in the bay windows and a gorgeous pool and jacuzzi outside, which we took a late night dip in once all our gear was packed. I walked around the grounds and down towards the river, and enjoyed some alone time with nature.
After driving to the Visitor Center at Zion to pick up our backpacking permit, we headed out to dinner at Jack’s Switchback Grille. The food here was tasty, the people were friendly, and the atmosphere set us in a great mood to begin our adventure.
Off The Grid
The next morning, we drove 45 minutes from Springdale to the Kolob Canyons in the Northwest area of Zion Park.
That day, Congress was expecting a budget shut down, and the National Parks would have closed. We left not knowing if the park would remain open. I have no idea how this would have effected us once we were out in the wilderness. We did not have cell service, and once we were in, we would have no idea what was going on in the world around us.
It is nice to just be able to walk away from all the noise and listen to the Earth around you instead.
Weather Adventure
Once we drove to Kolob Canyons it got very cold and extremely windy, it was only 45°F!. I left that morning wearing only my hiking pants and a t-shirt, and had to immediately dress up in long underwear, coat, hat and gloves. I was quite surprised at the change in temperature. However not even a half hour into our hike, once we got below the rim of the canyon, the cold wind died down and it got much warmer.
Black Bear Scare
I removed my bright purple puffy jacket (leaving me in my black long underwear). I was behind some bushes, off the trail and was having trouble fitting my jacket into my backpack. I stood up quickly and a couple who was on the trail jumped back in surprise. They had seen me behind the bushes, and were watching me for a while, all dressed in black, and thought that I was a black bear. The look on their faces, and their extremely quick departure from the scene told me that they were shaken up. I never heard this couple say anything, nor did I hear them approach me, they frightened me, just as much as I did them.
Black Bear Encounters
If encountering a black bear, you should begin by talking calmly, letting the bear know you are there, make yourself look bigger, stay close to other people, stand on higher ground, slowly wave your arms around to look larger. Pick up small children and walk away slowly, facing sideways so you can always see what the bear is doing, if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground. A scream or sudden movement may trigger an attack. You should not run, they can run faster and will chase you. Unless there are baby bears around, Black Bears generally do not want any trouble, and will go away if they think you are a bother. Brown Bears on the other hand are extremely aggressive. We do not hike in grizzly territory.
Campsites in Kolob Canyons
There are 13 campsites available for backpackers in Kolob Canyons, which we had to reserve a permit several months in advance. We used an online system, and planned ahead to reserve a site the day it became available online. Not one hour after, all camp sites for our weekend were taken. We had chosen Campsite 11 (The Cougar Camp) for an initmate setting without any day hikers passing through, as this site was past the popular Kolob Arch and the Hop Valley trails. Most of the campsites were not close to each other, with some being miles apart. Many required tough river crossings to get to and from the trail.
Campsites in Kolob Canyons
In-between sites 3 and 4 there was a perfect place to take a lunch break. Smooth rocks lead to small cascading waterfalls and aqua green pools. We took off our boots and soaked our feet in the cold, sandy creek.
After about a half hour of rest, we geared up again and continued a few more miles to our campsite. From here it was pretty tough going. The ground was extremely sandy, and walking with a 40lb pack over what felt like soft beach sand was difficult.
Campsites in Kolob Canyons
We arrived at our campsite in mid-afternoon. A make-shift table and chairs were set up with rocks, and there was a large tree root spread across the ground, where we were able to rest our equipment. It was very windy and sandy.
Zion is deceptive, it is a desert with a river that turns it green and gives it life, but it is still a desert. The water was very close, and we set up our water filter in the trees by the river bank. The sound of water cascading over rocks rippled throughout the campsite. To the far end, there was a waterfall of rocks, that you can climb up if it is dry, however during storms water may flow heavily down here.
Kolob Arch
We hiked to the Kolob Arch, which is the largest free-standnig arch in the world, however we were queit un-impressed with the entire site. It was a decent hike, but overgrown weeds and sharp branches were sticking up from the ground, trees blocked most of the view of the arch. I had expected to come out to a clearing, with rocks to sit on, a place to eat lunch.
There was a nice, clean stream running the entire trail to the arch. It was more rocky than sandy, and would make a good place to soak in the water. Today it was still quite cold, and the wind, my goodness, it was getting tough out here.
Hop Valley Trail
We read a lot about the Hop Valley Trail, and how the cattle along the trail really ruined the hike for a lot of people. We never went as far as the cattle farms, but from what I saw of the trail, it was really quite beautiful. We hiked about a mile or so uphill until we reached a ridge and clearing, giving us an amazing, unobstructed view of several areas of the canyon.
Extreme Weather
The weather this day had been exceptionally strange. One minute the sun would be shining, with blue skies and puffy white clouds, then a minute later there would be dark gray clouds and small balls of white hail bouncing off the ground everywhere. While at this clearing we witnessed the sky changing, moving around in circles. One side would be clear, the other side would be dark, then they would switch and what was just clear was again dark. These two pictures were taken less than five minutes apart. The wind was becomming a real problem for us that day and we decided to make our way back to the the campsite to settle in for the afternoon.
Extreme Weather
The wind speed seemed to double over night, sending pots and pans flying, and at one time in the night I thought I had lost my coffee mug, but it happened that I hid it behind the tree and we spent a good ten minutes that night looking for it with our headlamps, thinking it was lost in the creek forever.
On our third day out in the Zion wilderness, we decided to stay in our sleeping bags until the sun came up over the canyon. It was very windy and cold, unless we were in the sun. We took our time getting ready to head out that morning, and around noon we decided to hike to Bear Trap Canyon.
Bear Trap Canyon
Bear Trap Canyon is very far into the Kolob Canyons, and for most people will be unreachable in a day trip. We saw one day hiker heading there in the morning, and when we were on our way, we passed him coming back. He said he never made it, and had to turn around so he could hike out of the canyon before dark. It is about 13 miles each way to Bear Trap falls from the trail head.
Bear Trap Canyon
The hike was adventurous, like no other hike we have ever done. There were dozens of water crossings, and not all of them were easy. Some required a tight-rope walk up fallen tree trunks, precariously hovering 10 feet over the rushing creek below. Some were easy, hopping rock to rock. We were in the sun for most of the hike, and it was a pleasant day.
Bear Trap Canyon
When we reached the turn for Bear Trap Canyon, the sun was completely hidden, and the winds whipped quickly through the slot canyon. We stopped to put our jackets on, and then continued our hike – through the river! The last leg of the hike, we literally had to hike in and out and around a small creek. We had to force our way through some bushes along the banks, lots of bush whacking, lots of mud. Lots of off trail walking to get through the creek. We had to sink into some mud, balance on rocks, climb over fallen tree branches and sometimes just walk right through the water. There was never any time the insides of my boots got wet (I love The North Face shoes), and the water level was quite low this day.
Bear Trap Canyon
We reached the waterfall, took in the beauty of our hike, and hiked back to camp. It is a 6.85 mile hike from Campsite #11 to Bear Trap Canyon and back again. It took us just around 3 hours round trip, with plenty of stops for photos. Elevation profile went up and down the entire way out. It was a great hike and an adventurous day.
Cold River Baths
We decided to take a bath, which is the only thing I really want when we are outside, and the day before it was much too cold to even attempt. So when we arrived back at camp, we filled up our camp kitchen sink and brought it 300 feet away from the water (even eco-friendly soap will pollute the rivers and lakes). We then soaked in the super cold creek for a few minutes, went up to the sink, soaped up, rinsed off and then went for one more swim in the creek, before getting ready for our evening activities of making dinner, writing about our day, and sharing our pictures with each other.
Sunset Tea
It was much warmer on this night than the night before. We made our tea and climbed up as high as we could at our campsite and relaxed with a bit of a better view.
Hiking Out
Our final day, we had decided that we were not going to make coffee in the morning, and we just wanted to wake up, pack up our tent and other items and get on the road as quickly as possible. We had about 7 miles to hike out, and a lot of it was uphill, with all of our gear (with combined weight of over 90-lbs!). It was quite cold that morning, but we got everything ready to go by 9 am – before the sun even hit our canyon. We strapped all our gear on, and went to cross the creek.
Hiking Out
The night had been a lot colder than we realized, and the logs and stones to cross the river were covered in ice. My boyfriend crossed the river first, and about half way across, he slipped. His knee went down into the cold river and his boot filled with water. I had a moment of fear, what do you do in this situation? It had never happened before. My first thought was how to help him, but from where I was, I couldn’t have helped at all. He stood up quickly and finished the river crossing. On the other bank, he went to the sun and had to change his socks.
Hiking Out
Then it was my turn to cross the river, I crossed the first icy log, hopped across a few rocks, the ice was cracking off under the weight of my boot, and on the second log, almost making it to the other side, the logged flipped and my foot went into the river. Right before I crossed I realized my shoe lace felt loose, and I thought, I will just fix it when I reach the other side. This was a big mistake, always tie your shoes before crossing a river. Both my feet went into the water, and only one got wet. So I also had to change my socks.
Hiking Out
Once we redressed our feet, we were on our way again. Not long after that, the sun was up and it got hot, we had to stop to change. We continued on our trip until we reached the water/rocks area between campsites 3-4. We took a break here, and intended to have coffee, but I really just wanted to make our way out of the canyon and to the Zion lodge, for a night of food, drinks and especially a warm shower.
Hiking Out
I had noticed that my back was wet, and mentioned this to my boyfriend. At first we thought it was just sweat. But once we started walking again, I realized that I was out of water, and we had filled over 2-liters. My mouth guard was leaking water out of it. We said we would stop at the next stream and refill, and we shared my boyfriend’s water. But when we reached the stream, I just wanted to go home, we only had about a mile and a half left of our hike, he still had some water, and I didn’t want to empty my pack to refill my water bladder. So we continued on. We did run out of water about a half hour before the hike ended. But made it out. Our hike went more quickly than I had planned and we got to the car around 1pm.
Zion Lodge
It was a relief to have made it so quickly, and we drove back to the main Zion National Park entrance for the next part of our adventure.
We booked two nights at the Zion Mountain Lodge inside the park. It was perfect. We had our own porch with two rocking chairs and a restaurant next door. Our view was of the beautiful and colorful canyon walls. Deer roamed around and ate on the grassy areas. There was a nice gift shop next to the restaurant and I bought several items before we went home, including some Native American pottery, which I brought home very carefully in my carry on luggage. It made it home safely and I love it.
Zion Lodge
We went to the restaurant and we both got the meatloaf dinner. It was pretty good for a national park. We had to make reservations (I did this the week before), and moved up our reservation by an hour, and they accommodated us. One thing is that there is nowhere to purchase alcohol outside the restaurant here. So if you want a bottle of wine or a few beers you will have to stop in the town of Springdale before heading into the park.
We also found a new use for our Bear Canister.
We went to bed that night, clean, full, and very happy.
Hiking Zion Valley
The next morning, our plan was to hike the Narrows, however the water levels were too high, and the Narrows were closed. We had a back-up plan to hike up to Angel’s Landing. Apparently that was everyone’s plan that day as well. It was a Monday, the sun was shining again, the weather was beautiful with blue skies and white puffy clouds.
I went to the cafe to get breakfast, it was no better than basic cafeteria food, and only a few options, which included a plain bagel with cream cheese, or a plain bagel with sausage and egg. There were a few plastic wrapped muffins, some terrible coffee, but they did make me an ok cappuccino. We drank our coffee on our porch, in our rocking chairs.
West Rim Trail
We walked the half mile from the lodge to the trail head (it is also one bus-stop down at the Grotto stop). From the bus stop, the trail head is across the street and over a river bridge. To get to Angel’s Landing, go right over the bridge, on the West Rim Trail. The West Rim Trail cuts switchbacks into the rock face, with the bright sun baking the trails. It is paved some of the way, although some of it is broken, and could not be used with strollers or wheelchairs. The river shimmers below in the sunlight, cottonwood trees blow their pollen through the air and endless amounts of people all want to make it to the top.
West Rim Trail
When there was shade on the trail, it became a goal to reach for a bit of relief from the hot sun. We started relatively early, so some shade was available, however coming down the trail later that afternoon, there was almost no shade at all. When we reached Refrigerator Canyon on the way up, the cool winds blowing through the narrow trail was a blessing. Again on the way back, there was no shade, even in Refrigerator Canyon. The Canyon is also relatively flat, compared to the West Rim Trail, and connects Cathedral Mountain to Angel’s Landing.
The Wiggles
After the Canyon are 21-steep switchbacks, zig-zagging up the mountain known as “Squiggle the Wiggles”. Once on top of this you reach a plateau called Scouts Landing, with a lot of flat places to take a rest, have a snack and contemplate the next part of the climb. Once we reached Scouts Landing, it seemed that hundreds of people miraculously had found their way up here, there were not this many people on the trail, so where they came from is a mystery to me. This is where the trail to Angel’s Landing starts. The view from Scouts landing is amazing. If you stopped the hike here, it would be worth the trip. However if you decide to continue on, you will experience a heart-stopping climb up.
Angel’s Landing
Angels Landing was crawling with people, like little ants, climbing over each other to get to the top of one of the most dangerous hikes in all of the country. Half of the people who are going here probably never did a serious hike in their lives, we saw elderly people, young people and even a couple of children, and one couple that had a baby in a front carrier. This is not the place for children. It is one of the most dangerous trails I have ever seen.
Angel’s Landing
From Scouts Landing we began to climb up the Angel Landing trail, holding onto a thick chain, bolted into the colorful rock, we slowly made our way up, sometimes having to wait for others to descend the trail, other times having to wait for the people in front of us to get the courage to move on. It was a slow process, but still quite frightening. We reached another landing, and thought we had made it to the top. We took beautiful photos of the Zion Canyon below, and decided to climb back down. When I went for one last photo around the corner, we realized there was another entire section of Angel’s Landing to climb, and if I thought the first section looked scary, this massive thin wall in front of me, covered in people, made my heart skip a beat.
Angel’s Landing
We decided right then that we had enough adventure for one trip, we were happy, safe and very tired, and made our way back down the mountain and spent our last night at Zion Lodge before driving back to Las Vegas for swimming, mojitos, Elvis and an amazing buffet dinner at Planet Hollywood.
Goodbye Utah, For Now
Last year we hiked through the backcountry of Yosemite, and it was an extremely difficult experience. It was a strenuous four days of hiking over sixty miles and ascending and descending over 13,000 feet of varying terrains. The nights were sometimes bitterly cold, and the days were extremely hot. We carried 30 to 40 pounds of gear each and walked for over 12 hours some days. Our Utah adventure was completely different. Going in to one site, setting up our camp, and then spending our days exploring the canyon, allowed me to share a sense of peace with the Earth. Zion was a wonderful and beautiful trip, one of my favorites. I left Utah feeling relaxed, happy and accomplished.
Zion National Park Photos
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