If Zion wasn’t on your bucket list...it should definitely be there now! Take a look at our Video Blog below to tag along!
2020 was quite a year, right?! Since last summer we had been planning a trip to Ireland. We were all set to leave July 8, 2021 for the past year. Things were looking real promising until we were a month out. Ireland’s restrictions were too much for us to fly all the way there for only 5 days. We scrambled for a different plan. We already had childcare (and puppy care) in place and if there were any year we needed to get away together...this was it!
As we were brainstorming new ideas, my husband and I tried to nail down what we wanted to do. If you know me at all...I have a very hard time relaxing (Enneagram 3 over here). I just don’t sit still, I don’t nap, I wake early...me relaxing looks very different than most. I told my husband I wanted to see epic sights and go on adventures with him. Given that information we landed on National Parks. From there we had to narrow it down to which one! Although I lived in the desert of California when I was 0-3 years old, I don’t remember a lot of it, there is so much to explore out there! Ben felt the same, so we landed on Southwestern Utah to the beautiful Zion National Park! Unbeknownst to us at the time, Zion is the 3rd (sometimes 2nd) most visited national park in the country, and for good reason!
We were only there for 5 days, 3 full days, but we did so much adventuring! We stayed at the beautiful Sand Hollow Resort mainly because we thought we would do some golfing or UTV’ing...but we ended up not doing either one. Thankfully we were used to the Eastern Time Zone and were able to wake before the sun came out and heated up the desert. Every day we were up super early to beat the heat, we knew we wouldn’t be able to hang for long when it’s 115 degrees outside. We spent time at Sand Hollow State Park as well as the epic Zion National Park. Our favorite trails were The Canyon Overlook Trail, West Rim Trail (to Angels Landing), and The Narrows.
Canyon Overlook Trail
This is a very short hike with absolutely breathtaking views! The evening before we were going to spend the day at Zion we drove to the park to check it out and verify shuttle times. We drove past this hike and spontaneously decided to hike it. I was in Teva flip flops, jean shorts, and it was BOILING hot outside...but we decided to try it. It is only 1 mile roundtrip. It was a super simple hike with cliffs and high drop offs. The end of the hike was a beautiful lookout through a canyon.
West Rim Trail
This is one of the most famous trails because from it you can go to Angel’s Landing, which is the scariest hike in America. The West Rim Trail has lots of switchbacks that climb high into the sky with steep drop offs everywhere you look. Once at the top we arrived to Scout’s Lookout, which is so incredibly beautiful. We actually saw the sun rise over one of the steep cliffs in the sky! From the lookout you can continue up to Angel’s Landing. This is a terrifying climb with only a chain to hold onto. You walk across a land bridge that is no more than 5 feet in width to finally get to the lookout. The most recent count is 13 people have fallen from their deaths from this hike. I climbed one set of chains before I decided it was definitely not for me, but Ben did the entire thing!
The Narrows
To be honest at first I did not want to do this hike. When we were planning our trip and I came across this hike I thought….walking through cold water? That sounds super uncomfortable...no thanks. But once we got there and it feels like a blow dryer is directed at your face 24/7, I gave it a second thought. It was SO much fun! I felt like a little kid on a playground climbing rocks and wading through water. I also felt like I had trained for this hike over the past decade by all of the rock beaches I’ve been to and all of the tide pooling I have done here in New England.