Zion Canyon National Park

The next stop on our Utah adventure was Zion. This was the place I had been begging Thomas to visit for ages. After a whole debacle at our planned Airbnb I would rather not get into, we ended up staying at the Majestic View Lodge, the last stop on the Springdale Shuttle line which would take us to the entrance of Zion Canyon National Park. That meant we didn’t need to worry about waking up an hour early and we would have time for a good breakfast before heading down into the canyon. On the shuttle ride, we met a man traveling alone and struck up a conversation. Coincidentally (or, you know…God), he was planning a trip down to Tucson the following week and we were able to give him some ideas for hiking and site-seeing. The experience showed us how God will put people in our path. Opportunities to show His love will happen organically. 

I was excited to use our Annual Parks Pass for the first time as we walked through the entrance to the park and over to the park’s shuttle system, admiring the already stunning views. Coming from Tucson, we were no strangers to mountains and the beautiful colors they can present with, but the deep reds of Zion were a wonder to behold. We didn’t have to wait long to hop on a shuttle and head to the last stop, Temple of Sinawava, the start of Riverside Walk to reach The Narrows.

The Riverside Walk got a little toasty even in the early morning. It didn’t help that we were covered as much as possible to avoid sunburn. When we reached the riverbank, there were many foreign families playing in the water and preparing to hike. We heard French, German, Italian, Spanish, and those were just the languages we could identify! 

The water was deliciously cool after the mile in the sun getting down to it. We pulled out our trekking poles and off we went. Our plan was to just go as far as we were having fun, but I really wanted to make it to make it to the beginning of Wall Street. Pushing our way upstream was exhausting but we didn’t take many breaks besides to take pictures–which we actually did a lot. 

As we made our way, the crowd thinned. It seemed a lot of people thought the Mystery Falls was a good turning point, or they got bored of the seemingly monotonous landscape. I couldn’t get enough, though, and we pushed on. I definitely appreciated the encouragement of fellow hikers as we closed in on Confluence. I came close to turning back a few times which must’ve shown on my face because the next thing I knew, someone new was telling me, “You’re almost there. The view from that spot is so worth it!” I don’t know if that was necessarily true, but the satisfaction of pushing myself to hike that far was. 

We took a short break before starting our journey back downriver. It was the same river on the way out, but we were beyond exhausted. I ended up twisting my ankle on one of the dry paths not twenty minutes after we turned around. That made navigating the slippery rocks and uneven terrain very interesting. Even the paved Riverside Walk felt like it had stretched out since that morning. We made it, though! We caught a shuttle back to the entrance and we were just able to check out the gift shop before it closed. 

Despite my injury, I cannot wait to go back to Zion Canyon. I would love to hike The Narrows again and I might even brave the heights of Angel’s Landing.