We followed our spring of 2021 trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton with a fall visit to two popular National Parks in southwestern Utah. That state is blessed with five National Parks that showcase its incredible diversity of natural wonders. The other three will have to wait for a future adventure. 

Our trip started with a nonstop flight to Las Vegas. LAS is not only the closest major airport to the parks we wanted to see, but because it has an extraordinary number of direct flights from around the country, it usually has lower fares than other airports. It’s good place to start a trip to the southwest whether you want to partake in the gaming and entertainment offerings of Las Vegas or not.  We did not but drove into the Strip to pick up Zoe and her boyfriend Matthew who had arrived from Nashville the day before.

In less than three hours of driving we entered the community of Springdale just outside the southern entrance to Zion National Park. The only lodge inside the park was fully booked, so we opted for an AirBnB. There’s not much to Springdale, a strip of motels and B&Bs, punctuated with bistros and outfitters. We had surprisingly good dinners at the Spotted Dog and Oscar’s Café.

But we were there for the scenery, not the food. Allie’s birthday was just days away, so Zoe and Matthew surprised her with a helicopter tour. It was an awesome introduction to the area. Since flights are not allowed over the park itself, our tour skirted the periphery providing a preview of what we would see and explore in the next two days.

The spine of Zion National Park is the Zion Canyon, cut over the eons by the Virgin River, leaving a deep, narrow gorge with dramatic red cliff walls. We left our rental car back in Springdale and opted to use the park’s busses. Private vehicles are not allowed on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive along the floor of the canyon during most of the year, so it was not an inconvenience.

The highlight for the four of us, as for many visitors to Zion, was hiking the Narrows. This is the narrowest part of the river’s path through the park, a slot canyon, sometimes only 20-30 feet wide with vertical walls over 1000 feet high. Doing this hike starts conventionally enough. You take the shuttle to a stop called the Temple of Sinawava. From there you walk a flat, mostly paved trail for about a mile. Then the fun begins. The hike in the Narrows is done totally in water. The water is cool in the fall. In winter, spring and summer, it’s cold!  The depth varies based on rainfall and snow melt, but when we were there it was ankle-high to mid-thigh or occasionally up to your waist. The footing is precarious: loose, rounded stones that you can’t see. Sound like fun so far?

It is a unique and thrilling hike. I highly recommend it. Doing it from the bottom up as we did, is recommended for most people. It’s possible to do the entire 16 miles walking downstream, but that’s more than most people can or want to take on. Going out and back from the bottom gives the option to do only as much as you are comfortable with. We made it as far as a very photo-worthy area called Wall Street. We hiked about 6 miles round trip and were in the canyon for about 4 hours. There were many others in the river with us, but it never felt too crowded. The hikers were a convivial bunch. We were sharing a strange new experience with strangers. There was a lot of mutual photo-taking.

This is important so pay attention: Go to one of the outfitters in Springdale and rent a complete kit for the Narrows hike. This means canyon boots, dry pants, neoprene socks and a wooden (not metal—they’re likely to break) pole. Do not bother to use your own should you have them. If you have a waterproof pack or bag, take that. If not rent one of those too. You have been warned! You can thank me when you get home.

There are many other more traditional hiking trails in Zion. Allie and I stuck to those without steeps climbs (a nod to my limitations, not hers). These included the lower, middle and upper Emerald Pool trails. Matthew and Zoe did another famous Zion trail, Angels Landing. Zoe even made it to the very peak which requires a dangerous final approach clinging to a chain while inching along a very narrow ridge.

From Zion to our next target, Bryce Canyon, is only a two-hour drive. Once again there was no room at the only lodge in the park. The alternative here is the creatively named Bryce Canyon City. This burg makes Springdale look like a modern metro. Everything there appears to be under common ownership. It is devoid of charm, good taste or variety. It’s a place to sleep, eat and hit the road.

The National Park, on the other hand, is a gem. It is as colorful as the city that shares its name is drab. The centerpiece is the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater, a bowl 3 miles wide and 12 miles long populated with hundreds of hoodoos, tall skinny spires formed by wind and weather over millions of years. Hoodoos can be found all over the earth, but nowhere has a greater concentration of them than Bryce Canyon. Some stretch upward 150 feet.

The Rim Trail provides views that change as one progresses around the bowl. The entire length is 5 miles and would take several hours, one way. We opted to do it in segments. I would guess we covered about two-thirds of the total. There are also trails that descend into the bowl, going down more than 1000 feet. What goes down must come back up so I found a series of park benches where I could watch Allie, Zoe and Matthew moving among the hoodoos below.

A fascinating feature of the Amphitheater is how it changes throughout the day and with shifts in the weather. What you see in the morning is very different from the same scene in the afternoon. The colors shift kaleidoscopically, albeit in very slow motion. Sunrise and sunsets are very popular here. After staying to watch the sun set one day—no reason to rush back to Bryce Canyon City!—we agreed to get up in the darkness and return to await the next day’s dawn. It was a decision well-rewarded.

With the sun now overhead, we completed the entire 38-mile drive through the park, stopping at every overlook that was open. We left the park completely enchanted by Bryce Canyon.

Another post-trip addendum: As we planned our adventure doing the Narrows hike, we noted, but without much alarm, the warnings about checking the weather before starting your trip, watching the weather while in the canyon, etc. On August 19, 2022 a pop-up thunderstorm sent a flash flood through the canyon. Dozens of hikers were stranded after scrabbling to higher ground. Many were not so lucky and were swept downstream. Most were rescued with minor injuries, but one woman was not. Her body was found six miles downstream four days later. Our parks are wild places. Be smart and stay safe out there!