As I said before, they all decided we had seen enough of the Grand Canyon and wanted to move on to Zion National Park. So we packed up camp and started driving to Utah.
Along the way we made a side trip to Coral Pink Sand Dunes, because we saw a sign that said Sand Dunes! And my family is fascinated with sand dunes, ever since we visited the ones in Colorado.
We just made a quick stop, to see what they were, we really didn’t get that good of a picture of them, but I think they were mainly to take 4 wheelers out on and ride around on.
But the flowers were really pretty!
And Ian of course had to take a short walk out on them.
Finally we made it to Zion National Park! We had to drive thru a 1 mile tunnel to get there, but as soon as you drove through it you were right in the Canyon.
We drove through the canyon into Springdale to get a room for the night, since we didn’t have one yet. Then we went back into the park to get an idea of where everything was and how the park was laid out. They also have a great shuttle system. They have one set of buses that take you all through the park and another that will take you through Springdale, so you never have to drive your car if you don’t want to. We never had to wait more than 7-10 minutes for one and all the drivers were very nice. So we hopped on a shuttle and took it all the way to the top of the route which ended at the Temple of Sinawaya, better known as the beginning of The Narrows. It is about a 1 mile walk on a paved trail to the start of The Narrows.
The start of the Narrows.
We then worked our way down the road, getting off at each stop to familiarize ourselves with the park and check out some of the smaller trails. After the Narrows, is Weeping Rock, which has a nice little trail which has little signs telling you about all the native plants in the area. Then the next stop is the Grotto, which is where several hiking trails start. Next is Zion Lodge, where they have a place to eat and get ice cream. (Which we did! Yum!)
Western Columbine
Golden Columbine.
After the tour the we went back to our room and relaxed. The kids were full of ice cream and snacks, so Mark and I went out for a late dinner. It was kind of nice! We set outside in a Patio area and watched the sunset over the Canyon.
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