Sometimes it feels like we’re just trucking around ticking off the national parks, skipping things in between, missing out on wilderness and hidden gems, as though we were on a short package tour. Today we went straight from Bryce Canyon to Zion Canyon National Park – another crowded spot, particularly as it’s the long Labor Day weekend here in the US. But we are in Utah, where 65% of the state is federally owned land, much of which is national park. And the parks here really are different from each other, even though it’s almost all rock of some sort or another. I have managed to learn a bit about the history of the area, about the Indian tribes and early settlers. There’s not a huge amount of information about though; the exhibits in the visitor centres go a small way but are naturally conservative, having to avoid offending anyone. I’ve a good list of recommended books to stock up the boat library, and now that we’ve seen a bunch of places they should make good reading over the winter.
Zion Canyon appears out of nowhere, after a couple of hours’ mediocre drive from Bryce (mediocre compared to the rest of Utah at least). The park road starts winding through tight, steep gorges flanked by monster slabs of pale sandstone, the surface of the stone all creased up like an old mountain man’s face. Then you’re plunged into a dark, long, twisting tunnel, bored through solid rock. Every few hundred yards there’s a small viewing hole, where you can see glimpses of a vast empty space, and lots of red rock. After a mile or so you burst out into the sunlight, onto the side of a monster canyon, the road dropping away to the right down tight switchbacks. The view really is impressive – made better by the fact that you don’t know what’s coming until it’s suddenly there in all its massiveness – and this isn’t even the main canyon. Definitely the best way to enter this park.
Saturday on a bank holiday weekend was always going to be busy, so we were pushing our luck a bit trying to find a free camp spot. Luckily the first place we tried, just outside the park on the western side in Springdale, had a cancellation just as we were about to leave. We set up camp, then walked into the park via a coffee stop. You can’t actually drive up into Zion Canyon itself – back in 1997 the park decided that lots of car traffic was going to kill the experience, so they introduced a free shuttle service to take visitors to all the spots in the park. Getting on the bus makes it feel a bit like Disneyland or Alton Towers, but there’s a good commentary, and not driving meant I could soak it all in. We got off and headed out for a hike to Emerald Pools, thinking that getting off the main track would provide some solitude from the crowds. Nope, just as busy out on the trails. And the pools were more like disappointing puddles, hardly shimmering emerald lakes. Maybe a bit of the scenery desensitisation creeping into our attitudes again here, exaggerated by the hordes of people… While we were in the valley we decided to wander up to the most well-known hike in the area – The Narrows – which runs along and through the river at the bottom of a tight slot canyon for perhaps 20 miles. Again, SO many people! Looks like this is definitely the Thing To Do when you come to this park. A local business was doing well renting out river shoes and walking sticks… we explored the first mile or two in bare feet, and then called it a day.
Road and Ocean 