spirobulldog

This was a short but very full 2 days at zion with my wife and 14 year old daughter. We had two roundtrip tickets with Southwest and $600 on United that we needed to use. We flew out on SW, which was our first time flying on. Then, back on United.
Flew out on a Thursday evening. Woke up at 5:00AM and headed towards Zion. Took us 3hrs to get there. My first mistake was not realizing that Utah and Nevada timezone was different, so we arrived to the park an hour later than I had intended. We stopped at Zion Adventure Company and got our gear. They were extrememly busy and could'nt find my reservation. I wasn't impressed with their operation at all. I told the lady several times that we wanted everything. We realized when we got to the river that they didn't even give us hiking sticks. The best service we got there was the 12 year old boy who took our equipment when we turned it in.
We went to the Deli and Ice Cream shop and got sandwiches and fudge for our River Hike. Both were really good. We drove our car to Zion Lodge and took the shuttle on to the Virgin River stop. After getting all of our hiking attire on we were off into the river. Much prettier and easier than what I had imagined. We were shocked to see so many people not wearing the gear. I can only imagine how cold they were. We went to Oderville Canyon and into it for a pretty good way. On the return we did go into the Wall Street section for a bit as well. The weather was perfect at 75 degrees. We were in the water about 11:00 and finished around 3:00. We then took the shuttle back and got in our car to return our gear. Our next mission was the Tunnel and Checkerboard Mesa. After that, we hiked the Canyon Overlook trail. This is a nice short trail with great views. We did see some Bighorn Sheep on our drive not far from the trail. We had dinner that night at Whiptail Grill. This is an unusual place located in an old gas station. We ate outside. I had Spaghetti Squash Enchilada, wife had stuffed Avacado Salad, and daughter had Sesame Tofu with Orange glaze. All three dishes were excellent. I would definately go there again. If you go to the restroom, they give you a key for the bathroom around the side of the building, just like an old gas station. We then found our cabin at Zion Lodge and were very happy with it.


Day 2
After a standard, but good breakfast in the Lodge we found turkeys just outside on the lawn. We jumped on the shuttle and were off for Angels Landing. My wife stopped at Scouts Lookout, but myself and daughter continued all the way. We had a mission to accomplish. The most strenuous part is really up to Scouts Lookout, after that it is scarier. There were two 74 year old men at the top that said it was there first trek there. I was suprised at the number of people who make this hike. It took us 3.5 hours to do the entire trail. Coming down was much easier than going up for us. There were about 10 guys there who were running it and timing themselves. You would have to be in some kind of shape to run that thing. We then had lunch at the Cafe Dome in the Lodge. We ate it under the big tree right in front. This is a place where many people gather on the grass in the afternoon. Afer lunch we headed off to The Emerald Pool Loop. We saw all three pool areas. I thought the best area was the first one. This trail had a ton of people on it. Even though the park was busy it seems that the shuttle system is able to handle it all pretty well. We had 7:30 reservations at the lodge for dinner, but decided that we were hungry at 6:30. They were very busy but seated us within only a couple of minutes after our arrival. I had Navajo Eggplant, wife had Flatiron Steak, and daughter had the Seafood Pasta. All three were very good. Keylime cheesecake for desert was very good as well. Deer were out on the lawn in front of the lodge afer our meal. We saw them in several areas of the park.

Day 3
On our way out of town back to the airport, we stopped at Sol Foods for breakfast. This was great and would be a great place to shop for you picnic items.

We were only able to spend 2 days at Zion. We did see all the major highlights that we had intended to see. For a more relaxed time, 3 days would have been better. I would have liked to have done a day of canyoneering as well. Outside of Alaska, it is probably the prettiest National Park we have been to. The weather was perfect the entire time. Some of the trees starting to turn. I would imagine they will peek in a week or two.

spirobulldog

I will post picture later today

OO

I enjoyed your trip report spirobulldog, thank you! Will look forward to seeing your pics too. For only two days, you accomplished a lot, including bragging rights to Angels Landing. Good job!

We've stayed in the lodge once and outside the park once. I LOVED being in the park! We eyed those cabins...they look like the way to go. Can you tell me more about them?

I hope you found the pile of walking sticks at the end of the trail at the Virgin River so you had something to hike it with...think it'd be tough to do without a stick!

MichelleY

Thank you for the very nice report!

MY

Dayle

spirobulldog,

I'm so glad you had a good time with perfect weather! Oct is normally a great time to go to Zion, but as you saw, very popular for lots of reasons.

Thanks for the report on your impromptu trip.

spirobulldog

http://www.photoworks.com/members/Spirobulldog


find Zion and click on that for the pics

spirobulldog

OO,

I don't know if the bragging rights or the view is the best thing about Angels Landing. LOL. As far as the cabins, they were nice. With they had something bigger than double beds, but it was ok. Ours had a gas fireplace, I assume they all do. The room and bathroom was actually pretty big. I think the cabins are the way to go. We did pack a lot in for only 2 days. Would have liked to have had a little more time for a couple of more hikes, canyoneering, and taking my time on photos instead of rapid firing them.

claire_bluesky

Thanks for the report and photos, spiro. We went last year at the same time. Also amazed at the people doing the Narrows w/out gear, brrrrr. We saw some people barefoot!

Too bad you didn't have more time, but maybe next time. Have you been to Bryce?

spirobulldog

No, have not been to Bryce. Hope to go in 2010. Have trips planned already for 2009. Trips for 09 are San Francisco(3 days), Oregon (10days), Shenandoah(3days in the fall) Would like to spend two days at Bryce and 1 or 2 days in Escalante, and 2 days in Capital Reef. Have been to Moab, Monument Valley, and Four Corners area. Didn't see enough of Canyonlands, so would like to go back. Would like to raft Cateract and hike to the Petroglyph Wall. I did fly over Canyonlands in a small aircraft and saw a lot of it that way. Would also like to go to North Rim of Grand Canyon and Lake Powell.

karens

spiro - great pics and report, thanks for posting.

The Narrows is one of my all-time favorite hikes. All along the way, I kept telling my husband, this is so amazing, this is so cool...

OO

Loved your pictures spirobulldog. Got my coffee and sat and enjoyed the full screen slide show. (Nice website). We have many of the same shots...the one from Scout's Landing looking down, the hole in the rock where you can stick your head out. I have never seen pictures taken during the final stages of Angel's Landing though, so thank you for that! I can't believe you took your hands off anything long enough to snap the shot.

I think your waterfall was on the upper Emerald Pool trail? This is what it looks like when it gets cold (Thanksgiving). http://tinyurl.com/64cz8t

OO

Hmmm...that didn't work right. Sorry, I thought it was capturing just that picture, not the whole album. Let me try another way.

http://picasaweb.google.com/CMcDanie...94211329719362

spirobulldog

OO,

Thanks. It is fun to look at pics of somewhere you have been after you have been there. I looked at all of yours. For some reason, I wasn't scared on Angels Landing. My daughter, thought about stopping several times. She is the type that will ride anything. We have rappelled, bungeed, etc. I guess she didn't like not being attached to something. I make photobooks from that website. The books are really nice. I like the Large Standard book the best. It is the $39 one. The finished product looks like a High School Annual.