A Weekend in Zion National Park

Huy and I were lucky enough to get approved for a few last minute days off work, and decided to take a little road trip to Zion National Park located in southern Utah.

Through high school and college, I took a lot of family vacations to Zion and other destinations in Utah. Zion has been my favorite national park for years, and I’ve always wanted to take Huy to experience it. Thankfully, it exceeded Huy’s expectations, and how he can’t wait to go back and explore more of Utah.

Day 1

After the 6 hour drive (plus some because we take breaks hahaha), we arrived on a Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Springdale (not sponsored, but we would be 100% down to work with Holiday Inn Express because we love them!). The view was incredible and the property has a beautiful fireplace where you can relax, take in the view, watch the sunset, and that’s exactly what we chose to do. There are lots of balconies around the hotel, and two smaller fire pits as well.

For dinner we headed to Pizza & Noodle, for some pizza, pasta, and craft beer. Utah has been into the craft beer industry for years, and they have some FANTASTIC breweries. Be sure to check out any local beer while you are there, and we recommend Unita Brewing Co, Wasatch Brew Pub, or Moab Brewery.

Day 2

After breakfast at the hotel, we boarded a shuttle to head into the park! The great thing about staying in Springdale is that there are free shuttles in town that take you to the park entrance. You can then hop on the free Zion shuttle to get to anywhere in the canyon. The shuttle makes a total of 9 stops, and a new one arrives every 10-15 minutes. Not having to drive and find parking makes visiting the park such a peaceful experience!

Out goal for the day was to hike Angels Landing. Angels Landing is a relatively short, but intense hike. It’s rated strenuous as you gain about 1500 feet in elevation in just 2.5 miles. The last .5 mile you walk along the spine to the summit, with chains provided to hold on to in the portions with steep drop offs.

Success! We made it to the top!

The views are incredible, so if you aren’t afraid of heights, it’s definitely a bucket list hike.

NOTE: Angels Landing is one of the most popular hikes in Zion. As a result, there tends to be quite a bit of traffic/build up during the last half mile chain section. So much that it took us about 1.5 hours to get through it. We recommend heading out early to avoid the largest crowds.

We were starving by the end of the hike and headed straight to Zion Canyon Brew Pub, for some burgers and beer.

Day 3

On our final day in Zion, we headed to the river walk hike at the start of the narrows. It was a rainy morning, and we ended up getting soaked! But it is a beautiful little walk. Out of all the times I’ve been to Zion, I’ve never done the narrows. We would love to do an canyoneering trip or hike the narrows one day!

After checking out of the hotel, we drove into the park and up highway 9 to go through the Mount Carmel Tunnel and search for big horn sheep at checkerboard mesa. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any big horn sheep that day. So we headed back toward Springdale and on our way to our next stop – Las Vegas! We stayed the night in Las Vegas before driving home.

Have you ever been to Zion? What’s your favorite national park?

Xx Heather & Huy

#hnhweekendadventures