ZION NATIONAL PARK & TOADSTOOLS
For the last part of our trip, we headed north from Page, Arizona, to Utah for two days in Zion National Park. This was a last minute decision, shifting from more time in Page and a next stop of Monument Valley after Monument Valley and the slot canyons in Page closed. Zion is closer to Page than we had thought it was, originally not even including it in our planning discussions, but it’s less than two hours away. We switched hotel reservations to Springdale, started looking at Zion information online, and hopped in the car to cross over to Utah.
Ultimately, it was all for the best and a perfect decision — Zion was amazing. It’s absolutely stunning everywhere you look, with so much to do and a good range of hikes. Plus, it was bright and sunny, warmer, and not too very crowded. (We finally had a weather win! I promise, this is my final note in the weather saga.) I’m dying to go back sometime to get more time there, partially because some of the famous parts of the park were closed due to a rockfall (Weeping Rock, Observation Point, and some other trails in this area) and longterm repairs (Emerald Pools, which I believe are now back open). I’d love to do more in Zion, such as the Narrows, though I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get myself to do Angel’s Landing.
Rather than driving around to Springdale, where the main park entrance and visitor center are, we entered Zion through the East Entrance and drove along the extremely scenic Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. This drive alone makes Zion worth it, before you even reach the canyon. We kept pulling off to the side of the road to pause and take photos, and there are some trails from this section of the park. If I was taking too many photos from the passenger seat before we got to Zion, then I definitely went crazy while driving here.
As I said, extremely scenic. Then you go through the tunnel — a strange, dark experience with just a few windows — and emerge into the heart of the park. There’s a series of switchbacks that make for a surreal, gorgeous drive down to the canyon floor, visitor center, and shuttle stops. The road zigzags, giving you all of the angles of the view and allowing you to spot some major features of the park, as well as the tunnel you just came out of. We stopped partway down to be able to really take in the view and document it.
Shae’s reaction to the view pictured above
We parked and took the shuttle to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava. It was too late in the afternoon to start a longer hike, so we did a few shorter walks, including the Riverside Walk starting at the Temple of Sinawava. This leads to the entrance to the Narrows, where some hikers were arriving at the end of their hike. We also took a couple of short routes on the way back to the visitor center. We were often in the shade at that point in the day, surrounded by peaks and cliffs, but afternoon light did creep onto the red stone and the sky was still bright blue. Once we left the park for the night, we checked into our hotel and had dinner with a view of the park and the sunset. The town of Springdale is right outside the park entrance, so everything backs up to a ridiculous view.
The next morning, we sadly made the tough decision to shorten our trip and fly back to New York a day early, booking new flights and contemplating the drive from Zion to Phoenix. Luckily, we were still able to spend the morning and early afternoon in the park. Our main stop was the Canyon Overlook Trail, which starts just after you drive through the switchbacks and the tunnel again. We chose this trail for the overlook point a thousand feet up — there are several with high up viewpoints, like Angel’s Landing and Observation Point, but Angel’s Landing made me too anxious and Observation Point was closed, plus both are longer and more strenuous hikes. Canyon Overlook is short and fairly simple for the same kind of reward: an amazing, sweeping view of the canyon. You can see the switchbacks and tunnel down below, and some of the famous peaks around them.
With our flight scheduled for late that evening, we soon started our journey back down to Phoenix, stopping again in Page and eventually going through Flagstaff again and around Sedona. However, not far from Page, we pulled off the highway at a small, random parking lot around Kanab to take the Toadstools Trail. This spot is free and part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
It’s just off the highway, not far from the state border with Arizona, but the easy and pretty short walk makes you feel like you’ve emerged into a place very far from the car and road — we kept saying it really felt like another planet. The toadstools, or hoodoos, are rock formations with a larger piece of rock balanced atop a narrower column of rock. It was quite an unusual but special roadside stop, with dramatic red and white rock and multiple toadstools dotting the flatter areas, a bright blue sky as a contrast and brighter sun to wash everything in light.
I have to include some unedited phone photos of this unique place as well:
And with that, we headed back out on the road, to the airport and the end of our trip. I’m so grateful to have squeezed this trip in just in time, even though it was stressful, bizarre, and cut short by a day. Knowing it’ll be awhile before I’m back on a plane and traveling again is quite sad, but it’s been good to have these photos and memories to reflect on throughout the rest of the year. Shae and I have already said we'll have to go back eventually, because we have so many more places to go in the Southwest — Antelope Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Park, a longer visit to Zion and Sedona, and more — and I still love the region. For now, I’m mentally plotting another trip, or two, and continuing to scroll through photos of bucket list places.
