Zion National Park

Where Social Distancing Happens Naturally

I admit it, my fantasies of post-COVID travel did not include a single thought of travel in the US. When I fantasized where I wanted to go after being in lockdown for a year, my dreams had me launching out of the US on a long overnight flight that transported me across dark seas, landing on foreign soil as the dawn breaks, where I dive deep into another culture with unfettered abandon.

So why Zion? Why now? Well, because this trip was designed as a Christmas present for my COVID-bound partner, to fulfill his dreams of exploring the great Southwest. It was not a trip for me. Or so I thought…

What changed?

• Because I had plenty of time to read about Zion, and look at images of Zion, while I remained in lockdown, planning this trip in secrecy, and there was not a single picture I saw that did not have me lusting for the opportunity to immerse myself in the beauty of the red rocks and caverns.
• Because the flight was short and it was my small family’s first time outside San Mateo county in a year.

Flights to Vegas at the time I booked our trip were $90 roundtrip. The rental car I chose was only $39 per day. The flight was short – just one hour in the air and we were there. Perfect!

With hindsight, I know now that I should have dug a little deeper and asked a few more questions on our first foray back into travel after a one-year sojourn. Here is just a short list of things we ran into that we had not planned on:

• March 18th – The date we departed from San Francisco for Vegas.
• March 18th – Also, the date Las Vegas officially re-opened for business since the pandemic caused Sin-City to shut the front door on fun.
• March 18th – Also, the opening day of March Madness, when basketball and gambling enthusiasts from all over the globe converge on the casinos, ready to throw their luck to the wind.
• July 4, 2020 – the day American Airlines and all other carriers except 3 told the world they were going to fly at full capacity (Also the day I must have had my head in the sand because I was sure I heard middle seats remained vacant and social distancing was still the norm)

The picture above is the calm before the storm. A reflection in the lamp shows that Lily and I and roughly five others were the only ones gathered at the gate 20 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. All of that changed moments after I snapped this photo when the flight attendant announced over the loudspeaker that our flight was over-booked and they were looking for volunteers to take another flight. Lily and I looked at each other in disbelief and laughed, as if this were a joke.

It was no joke. As we entered the airplane we were handed a sani-wipe and told to make our way to our seat. We located our row and used our sani-wipe to wipe down the seat handles and tray table and anything else we came in contact with. We then double-masked and sat back waiting for the flight to take off. The plane reached maximum capacity in minutes and this was the first time we had been near a crowd of people since one year ago in March 2020. We were breathing heavily beneath our masks, counting down the moments until we could disembark and disperse to get away from the crowds.

Once we landed, we moved quickly to the rental car agency and were on the road in no time. Sooner than we expected, the red rocks of Zion greeted us against a backdrop of white blossoms that adorned the cherry trees in Springdale.

Springdale is a town just outside the border of Zion National Park. I recommend that you set aside time to visit the shops here. Lily and I walked up and down the two blocks of shops that bordered the drive to the National Park and discovered all kinds of treasures. We came, we saw, we purchased. One can find practical items like hiking poles, boots and hats here, as well as hand-crafted artisan works from soaps to totes to jewelry. It felt good to spend some money in a small town that suffered for a year from litte-to-no tourists.

If you plan to walk The Narrows (the river through the gorges of Zion) and you don’t own your own river shoes, gators, walking pole and waterproof bib overalls then call these places in Springdale to rent gear AHEAD OF TIME:

Zion Outfitters: zionoutfitters.com

Zion Adventure Company: zionadventures.com

Zion Rock Guides: https://www.zionrockguides.com/zion-national-park-outfitting

As we entered the park we were immediately served on our left with the impressive view of the sandstone cliffs referred to as: “The Court of the Patriarchs”. Each cliff is named after the biblical figures of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Be sure to pull out and snap a few photos of this “holy trinity” before you head deeper into in the park.

VERY IMPORTANT!
Listen to me now and act on this NOW if you plan to visit Zion. Splurge on the expense to stay at Zion Lodge inside the National Park. Zion National Park is the 4th most widely visited parks in our system. In 2019 (pre-pandemic) 4.5 million people converged on these grounds in a singular year. That is a population that exceeds the entire city of Los Angeles!

The trick to avoid these crowds and maximize your experience inside Zion is to book yourself at the Zion Lodge because, at the end of the day, everyone who is not staying at the lodge leaves at 5pm and they are not allowed back inside until 8am the next morning. Read that and think about it. This means you have 2.5 hours of daylight left at night and at least 2 hours of daylight until there is a single soul in sight. Talk about special! The rates are roughly $220 per night for a hotel room but you can also rent your own cabin or go all out and rent a suite. No matter what room you choose, you will not regret the extra expense to have those 4-5 hours of the park all to yourself.

SHUTTLE

Zion National Park trails are typically accessed via shuttle bus on a paved rouad that windows through both the upper and lower canyons. There are 9 shuttle bus stops. Each stop is at the gateway to an epic trail that ends in a breathtaking view. Shuttle bus passes MUST BE PURCHASED AHEAD OF TIME. The cost for a shuttle pass is only $1 but you cannot get on the bus without your wristband/shuttle pass. Sales of these passes are limited, driven by maximum capacity allowed in the park so please, do not be us. Buy your pass ahead of time. Yes, you heard me right – we did not know this and did not purchase our passes as we should have. Fortunately for Zion Lodge guests, you can go to the front desk and ask if there are any un-purchased passes after 1pm and you receive the blessed bracelet at no cost. That’s how we rolled on our fist day in the park.

We decided to head to The Narrows, the last stop on the shuttle tour, and we were able to board a completely empty shuttle bus. (It was empty due to the fact that most folks had headed to The Narrows earlier that day.) Ignorance is bliss and we simply thought there were little-to-no crowds in the park.

We stretched our legs with a gentle walk and got used to our new hiking boots as we meandered slowly alongside the Virgin River that wends its way through the red gorges.

We hiked as far as we could go along the trail headed to The Narrows. The trail ended abruptly at the edge of the Virgin River where, earlier that day, intrepid travelers wearing waterproof shoes, pants and jackets had jumped off and headed deep into the the watery gorges. An ongoing flow of neoprene clad adventurers now poured down the river, towards us, in a steady flow.

It was 4:30 when the flow of The Narrows crowd started to drown us so Lily, John and I decided to head back towards the shuttle, enjoying wildlife and fun along the paved trail.

We watched the crowds wash past us from our perch on the red rocks and then decided we had better get moving along with them. It was here that our luck shifted and our real Zion adventure began. The lines for the shuttle were so long that they traversed almost the entire path to The Narrows that we had just walked. John, Lily and I wanted NOTHING to do with crowds so we looked each other in the eye and said “Hey, it’s about 7 miles home if we walk. We can do it!” Then and there we decided to walk back on the route the shuttle had just taken us. Best. Decision. Ever.

As the crowds stood in line on top of each other, smelling of wet clothes and sweat, we ran past them all and jumped off the paved road and landed down on a dusty trail that ran alongside the Virgin River. We entered shangri-lah at the river’s edge and had the world to ourselves. It was a surreal experience to be alone in the 3rd most visited park and we knew how special it was, cherishing each step we took along that river, each turn showed us a view that was more exquisite than the first. Take a look!

See? I told you it was amazing! We made it back to base camp before dark and could not have been happier for making the right decision to walk the whole way home. I think we logged 15,000+ steps to get there and none of us would have wanted it any other way!

We got home to an empty lodge. Most of the hikers had headed into Springdale and St George for dinner, leaving behind just a small few of us to enjoy the silence and magic of these sacred stone mountains and cliffs. John, Lily and I knew that if we sat down we would not get up so we rallied ourselves to get dressed for dinner and we headed into to town to enjoy amazing food and a warm and welcoming atmosphere at The Spotted Dog Cafe. I HIGHLY recommend this place!

John enjoyed a wild game meatloaf. Lily inhaled a huge plate of pasta and I dove face first into a portobello mushroom stuffed with wild rice and cherry tomatoes.

Then it was back to the lodge to watch the stars and prepare for the 4am wakeup call to catch sunrise. Oh yessssss!