Zion National Park
Day Three - Best of the Southwest - 2023
A morning spent at a very snowy Zion National Park, followed by an afternoon stop at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.
1. Zion National Park #1
Zion National Park was first established as Mukuntuweap National Monument; the name was changed as the prevailing wisdom of the time thought visitors wouldn’t come to a park whose name they couldn’t pronounce.
Day Three of the Best of the Southwest Road Trip began as many would eventually begin, trying to figure out how to spend the day after not securing a Coyote Buttes North permit. You see, the primary purpose of the road trip was to park myself in the Kanab-Page corridor and take five or so opportunities to try and secure next-day permits to The Wave after dozens of in-advance lottery attempts had failed me. If the lottery attempts failed (spoiler: they all did), we would head to an “alternate” location to do some sightseeing before heading back to the Kanab-Page geofence corridor for another crack.
Failure ensured, my original backup plan was to head to the East Mesa Trailhead and hike to Observation Point; however, the road from Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort to the trailhead was buried in a couple of feet of snow. So, on to Plan C.
It was still quite early in the morning at this point, so I gambled that there would still be a parking spot available near the Canyon Overlook Trailhead. Much to my surprise, there was, so we decided to take the short albeit very icy and slippery 1 mile / 1.6 kilometer trail.
Six more photographs from the Canyon Overlook Trail follow.
2. Zion National Park #2
3. Zion National Park #3
4. Zion National Park #4
5. Zion National Park #5
6. Zion National Park #6
7. Zion National Park #7
8. Zion National Park #8
There are seven species of scrub jay endemic to North America.
After completing the Canyon Overlook Trail, we made our way through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel and around the park’s famous six switchback turns before making it to the main parking lot of the Visitor’s Center. After a quick stop inside, we decided to tackle the relatively short but steep 3.3 mile / 5.3 kilometer Watchman Trail before heading down the main valley on the park shuttle bus. The melting snow and recent rainfall made the lower part of the trail an absolute muddy mess, but the struggle was well worth the hassle.
We spotted this scrub jay along the way, which features in the next photograph, as well.
9. Zion National Park #9
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10. Zion National Park #10
Like many features in the region, the 15 mile / 24 kilometer long Zion Canyon was created when the Colorado Plateau was lifted and a river -in this case, the Virgin River- carved a path through the newly-raised earth.
We reached the top of the Watchman Trail just as the sun was illuminating the western cliffs of Zion Canyon. This resulted in some of the beautiful landscapes that Zion National Park is best known for. While we were unable (and, frankly, unwilling given the ice) to try a hike to Angels Landing, this wasn’t a terrible consolation prize.
Five more photographs from the top of the Watchman Trail follow.
11. Zion National Park #11
12. Zion National Park #12
13. Zion National Park #13
14. Zion National Park #14
15. Zion National Park #15
16. Zion National Park #16
Zion Canyon shows approximately 160 million years of geological history from bottom to top.
After the Watchman Trail, we decided to take the shuttle bus down Zion Canyon to take in some sights. Many of the popular trails (The Narrows, the aforementioned Angels Landing) were not really high on our list due to the cold and the ice making hiking dangerous. We decided the short .4 mile / .6 kilometer paved trail up to Weeping Rock would be a decent choice.
At this point, the cloud-obscured sun was pointing straight up Zion Canyon; this made photography difficult, especially through the icy mist being thrown from the small waterfall at Weeping Rock. The snow- and ice-covered landscape was pretty all the same.
Another photo from Weeping Rock follows.
17. Zion National Park #17
After this, I felt there wasn’t much more we could accomplish (safely) during our visit, so we decided to head back to Kanab in the early afternoon.
Despite having traveled to the American Southwest many times, this was my first trip to Zion, and -boy- I look forward to coming back one day to check some more boxes (particularly that trail to Observation Point!) This is the great thing about traveling in this part of the world - you always have new and old reasons to come back!
18. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park #1
The sand dunes within Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park have been formed over the last 10,000 years from eroded sandstone being forced by high winds through a narrow gap between two mountain ranges and deposited.
On the way back to Kanab, we decided to make a quick stop at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, a wild desert landscape that extends through a wide valley in Southwestern Utah. While the sand was more brown than pink (I suspect because it was damp), it was still a lovely landscape, and the lack of crowds was a welcome change of pace from Zion.
Seven more photographs of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park follow.
19. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park #2
20. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park #3
21. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park #4
22. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park #5
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25. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park #8
After departing Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, we made our way to Kanab, where we enjoyed a dinner at Peekaboo Canyon Wood Fired Kitchen. I am by no means a vegetarian, but I did find their Baked Ziti quite delicious. Definitely check them out if you are in the area!
