A Different Canyon Experience - Zion National Park, Utah

Although nearby Bryce Canyon offers great sights of hoodoos and canyons, Southwestern Utah's Zion National Park offers a totally different canyon experience.

Unlike Bryce, most of the beautiful views come from inside the canyon, rather than viewpoints along the canyon rim.

Dad and I came into the east entrance of the park through the Mt. Carmel Junction (coming down through State Highway 89, turn right and head on to State Route 9, also known as Zion Park Scenic Byway).

The park's entrance was by far the most dramatic welcome to the National Parks I have been through. The road winds its way through impressive sights of the canyon, the Checkerboard Mesa, and a long tunnel that cuts through the canyon rock. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the sights on the byway.

The aforementioned scenic byway. Photo taken by Wikipedia user Crevans.

We kept going through the road and continued up to Zion Lodge, where we would be staying. Although the road continues on to the north end of the park, no cars are allowed beyond the lodge. In order to access the rest of the park, the Zion shuttle must be taken.

The primary view of the canyon from Zion Lodge.

We left our stuff at the lodge and took the shuttle up to explore the rest of the park, getting an idea of any hikes we would take the next day. As we looked out, we saw many beautiful rock formations that surrounded us.

The Great White Throne, one of the famous formations in the park.

The next day, we headed back up the shuttle and stopped at Weeping Rock. It was a short half-mile hike to the formation, which was more than worth than walk.

Weeping Rock.

It was quite beautiful to see the water fall from the top. But we had more to see, so we left and explored more of the hotspots near the south entrance of the park, where the visitor center was. After we stopped at the visitor center, we came back to the lodge and embarked on the Emerald Pool trail.

We got to see many little waterfalls and neat rock formations here. Yet, this was only the Lower Emerald Pool. The Upper Emerald Pool was still a ways to go.

Small waterfall on the trail.

We saw many other beautiful rock formations on the way, but when we arrived at the Upper Emerald Pool, we were rewarded with the view of a waterfall from way up high! We stayed here for a good while, trying to comprehend the staggering height of the fall.

Waterfall at the Upper Emerald Pool.
I was looking almost straight up when I shot this photo.

The cliffs from Upper Emerald Pool.

There are many other hikes and views that I have yet to see in this park when I return. I didn't get to hike Angels Landing, which is one of the most famous (and one of the most dangerous) trails. Angels Landing offers a rewarding, spectacular view of the canyon from an overlook at the very end. However, the trail offers exposure to dangerous heights and is quite strenuous. In fact, several people have been killed from falling off the canyon cliffs on this trail.

Like most national parks, there is a $25 fee that must be paid upon entrance, if you are driving in to the park, which is good for one week. However, you can buy other kinds of passes here:

http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm

View on our way back to the lodge from the Emerald Pool Trail.

The Zion Lodge was a great place to stay, with great dining that lets you view the canyon from inside. One downside was that the phone in our room did not work during our stay, so we had to use a pay phone in the main building.

More shots of Zion are on my Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=zion&w=52619990%40N06