Tuesday to Zion - part 1

On Monday afternoon, we got onto the recreation.gov site right at 5pm to see if we could get tickets for the shuttle in Zion for Tuesday morning. We had almost decided not to go to Zion National Park at all because it seemed such a chore to have to get tickets just to get onto the shuttles, but, one of my friends encouraged me that, "You'll be happy once you get the tickets because it means it isn't as crowded as it would be without the ticketing.".

So, I was dutifully online and signed in to the site before 5pm -- I didn't think to get a screenshot of how many tickets were available at the various times, but here is an example I just pulled:

A total of 2325 tickets would be available for people to start the purchase process at 5pm...

At 5:04pm, after I had paid for my tickets, I looked to see what was left... 4 tickets total left after 4 minutes!!!

Wow! I'm glad I was online and signed in at 5pm!

We got 9-10am tickets, and left our campsite at Best Friends at about 7:30am for the 1+ hour drive over to the Visitor's Center. Zion National Park is actually not that far away (about 30 minutes to the east entrance), but the shuttle bus starts at the Visitor's Center which is by the south entrance. I had also read that the parking at the Visitor Center may fill up, and so we might have to find parking in the town of Springdale, just outside the south entrance. When we got to the Visitor's Center, sure enough, the parking appeared to be full (though a number of people were *just* leaving their vehicles, so we must have *just* missed getting a spot there). We headed out of the south entrance and found parking almost immediately. It was pay parking ($2 for 2 hours, or $20 for all day -- and we knew we'd be longer than 2 hours). There was then a pedestrian entrance into the park from very near where we parked, so we headed back into the park.

Driving in through East entrance to Zion National Park

Pretty dramatic views from the beginning

One of the things I had read about was that there was a tunnel near the east entrance of the park, and that large vehicles (like Gracie) were limited and had to pay a fee to go through.

So, we got to this tunnel, and I thought... here it is!

Woah, that's not too bad...

Driving on a little further

Oh... this is *the* tunnel...

I read that it is 1.1 miles long.

There were openings every once in a while that could give a glimpse (to the passenger, at least, the driver was concentrating on staying in the lane) of the beauty outside.

I got these pictures from the drive-in gate on the South entrance when we were "leaving" later in the day...

This provides the limitations for tunnel use. In the brown sign above, it indicates a $15 fee for "Tunnel Escort", but the sign below it calls the fee a "Traffic control fee". In reality, when a large vehicle is going through, they stop the traffic from the other end and allow the large vehicle (and others lined up behind it) to go through with no oncoming traffic and can drive right down the middle. So, when we went into the park in the morning through the tunnel, there was a CruiseAmerica (rental) motorhome in front of us so we went through without any oncoming traffic.

After getting through the tunnel, we went through a series of switchbacks into the canyon.

After we parked in Springdale, and entered the park through the pedestrian entrance, before we got to the Visitor's Center, we saw a couple of deer -- this is the younger one.

"Mom" crossing the sidewalk.

"Baby" coming along behind.

Both heading into another area to do some grazing.

We exchanged our shuttle tickets for wristbands that would allow us to get on/off the shuttle buses all day, or until we came back to the Visitor's Center. We rode to the Lodge, and got off to take a trail to The Grotto (the next shuttle bus stop).

At this point, we were down at nearly the river level -- so something like being at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, though I think the canyon is wider at the bottom at Zion.

We reboarded the shuttle bus and took it to the end of the canyon at the Temple of Sinawava to take the Riverside Walk -- about 1.1 miles into the Virgin River canyon to a point where the trail crosses the river. The trail continues on another 4-5 miles with frequent crossings of the river (the information pamphlet regarding the hike says "This hike is in the river and subject to dangerous flash floods."). The signboard told us that "Today (Tuesday's) flash flooding is possible" but implied not likely.

Starting the Riverside Walk. You may notice a couple to my right -- the lady you can see is in something that looks like ski bibs. These were "wet suits" that can be rented in Springdale to prepare for the hike *in* the river. (https://www.zionguru.com/narrows-rental-equipment) We thought they told us that it cost about $119 to rent the two suits and shoes for the day.

Carl holding up the rock over the trail so others could pass in safety!

We got to the end of the "Riverside Walk" which was the beginning of The Narrows trail -- through and in the river. Most of the folks who were crossing had the rented wet suits, though we saw a few folks who braved the icy cold water either in their tennis shoes (which would then be wet for on-going hiking) or with reef shoes (which we had considered bringing but elected not to).

Looking on further up river.

Obligatory selfie

A nice lady offered to take our picture -- we never refuse -- it is not real common now that people are willing to touch your phone to take a picture for you...

On our way back out the trail, we experienced some up-close animal sightings:

Some deer crossed the river and were eating just below the trail.

You may notice a collar on the one in the middle -- I guess some sort of tracking... or... Carl gave his opinion that they are all animatronic models and that was the control.

We had seen a couple of squirrels playing...

But this guy was just posing.

It appears he may have made use of many treats from visitors.

There were signs in the park warning of a fine for feeding the animals...

But I thought this "ad" on the shuttle bus was really cute!

We took the shuttle from the end of the line (Temple of Sinawava) to the next stop, Big Bend, to eat the lunch that we had packed and brought along. We had a really nice view from there, and a good rock to sit on (no picnic tables but we made do).

I was reading a sign board...

It told the names given to some of the formations...

To the left is The Organ and in the middle/right is The Great White Throne.

Further to the right is Angels Landing (with a jet contrail about to intersect -- and my phone got a sun glare on it).

Carl took this picture... zooming in on the top above me...

There are little dots that resolve into people who are walking on the trail to Angels Landing -- in that section they are holding onto a chain along the trail to keep from falling... nuh uh, not going there!

A larger view of Angels Landing

This was a picture on a signboard that told about different hikes showing the chains on the trail for Angels Landing...

And this was a signboard specifically about Angels Landing hike.

We had taken the shuttle back to The Grotto -- the Angels Landing hike goes from that area, as well as a couple of others. We decided to do a couple of other hikes that were rated "Easy" or "Moderate" rather than any "Strenuous" ones!

One of the things that we found surprising was how many people were riding bikes in the canyon -- particularly on the road that only the shuttle buses are allowed to drive on. The bike riders are supposed to stop at the side of the road and allow the bus to pass them. Carl realized that the majority of the bikes were e-bikes.

Some of the e-bikes parked at The Grotto.

Some more of the e-bikes that we saw.

We talked with a couple who were riding e-bikes at the "Big Bend" stop where we ate lunch. We could tell by markings on the bike that they were likely rentals -- and the riders confirmed that. We thought that they had said they paid $115 for full day, but the website (https://www.zionguru.com/ebikeszion) seems to imply $95 for a full day rental. But... that would be per bike...

Carl asked me if we were going to spend $115-119 for the day, would I prefer a wet suit or e-bike. I think we might enjoy hiking through the river more (and I think having to contend with the shuttle buses and pull over every time one came through would make the biking not too enjoyable).

More tomorrow (hopefully) about hiking in Zion National Park!