Dave & Meredith's Travel Blog

Zion National Park is probably one of the most scenic parks we’ve been to on this trip.  It’s not the largest park, but it has a huge variety of scenery, due to its range in elevation and lots of water.  The main part of the park is a 6-mile stretch of Zion Canyon, a massive canyon carved by the Virgin River.  Most people only see this section of the park, although there are a couple other sections that are more remote, but doable by car (we drove the East entrance road, and the Kolob Canyon and Kolob Terrace roads).  There are also miles and miles of backcountry hiking trails that we didn’t explore on this trip but we’d love to at some point in the future.

Unlike many of the parks we’ve been to on this trip, Zion has the right conditions for trees, both evergreen and deciduous.  The fall colors were just coming out when we were there, so it made the park that much more special.  There was also a good diversity of wildlife in the park.  While we were there, we saw mule deer, bighorn sheep, squirrels, all sorts of birds, etc.

The scale of Zion Canyon’s walls are so great, it has inspired many artists and photographers to try to capture that grandiosity.  I think Zion is one of those places, however, that looks better in person, even though pictures can be really well done.  With that said, Dave got some good ones, so, enjoy!

"Towers of the Virgin" at Sunrise (lots of Biblical names at Zion)

A view of the waterfall above "Lower Emerald Pool" (supposedly there’s a lot more water in springtime)

"The Watchman" at sunset

Gorgeous fall colors

More fall colors in a dry wash on the Eastern side of the park

This desert environment is right near all those deciduous trees

Late afternoon sun on the eastern side of the park

– Meredith