Zion National Park

A trip to Las Vegas gave me a chance to backpack somewhere different that the usual Appalachian mountains of the east. I decided to go do a few days of hiking in Zion National Park. Only two and a half hours from Las Vegas, the main feature of Zion is the spectacular canyon carved by the Virgin River.

I arrived in Zion late in the day and spent the first night at the Watchman campground, one of the two large campgrounds in the park. My plan for the next day was to hike up the West Rim Trail to the backcountry campsite I reserved, then set up camp and do a day hike up on the West Rim. I did a quick hike on the Watchman Trail that goes to an overlook of the campground and visitor center area and went to bed early. A strong wind was blowing all night making it hard to sleep and cook breakfast in the morning. After eating I parked my car at the visitor and got on the shuttle bus to the trailhead. To keep things under control during the summer you have to take a shuttle bus into the actual canyon. I arrived at the trailhead at about 9 AM after a brief stop for a breakfast sandwich at Zion Lodge. I now had a 3000 foot climb to get to the west rim of Zion Canyon. Fortunately the sky was overcast making it easier to stay cool while climbing. The trail followed the Virgin River a short while before climbing on switchbacks on a trail blasted out of the side of the canyon wall. There were a ton of hikers as this led to Angel's Landing, one of the most popular places in the park. The trail itself looked like it was paved and you could have gotten a wheel chair up it.

View on the initial ascent of the West Rim Trail

The trail followed the canyon wall to a small canyon that led away from Zion Canyon. A short period of level walking led to another series of short switchbacks up to the base of Angels landing. From here one can climb Angel's landing but I continued the other direction up the West Rim Trail. From here the paved trail ended. Initially the trail followed a rim above the main Zion canyon with views down to the road.

View of Zion canyon from the trail beyond Angels landing

The trail continued away from Zion canyon at this point through a small valley before steadily climbing up another canyon. Eventually the trail went up another series of switchbacks carved out of the side of a cliff to reach the top of the plateau. My campsite was right at the point when the trail reaches the top. I set up my tent and relaxed for a while. The view from the campsite was amazing. On the top of the plateau the West Rim trail makes a 5 mile loop. With a much lighter pack now I decided to dayhike the loop. One suprising thing was how green parts of the plateau were. Several thousand feet below was dessert but there were places up here that were surprising green.

The plateau was surprisingly green

Eventually I came to the end of the loop where the West Rim trail either looped back towards my campsite or continued on to Lava Point. I headed back to camp. The best views of the day were on this section. To my right I think I could see all the way to the Pine Valley Mountains west of St. George.

Pine Valley Mountains in the distance

View of the valley I passed through on my way up to the west rim

Several miles later I arrived back at camp. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. At one point a deer and faun decided to snack on some bushes near my tent. They must have been used to people because the let me get very close to them. At one point I checked out the "spring" near my camp and needless to say  I was glad I brought enough water with me for the hike. I went to bed before sunset and slept better because there was little wind.

I had to be back in Las Vegas by noon so I woke up before the sun was up. I packed up and started the 5 mile downhill walk back to the trailhead.

Sunrise at I head back down the trail

The sunlight on the red canyon walls was gorgeous

Two hours later I was down at the bottom. I learned when I got to the bottom that somebody had fallen at Angels Landing the previous day and was going to be helicoptered out. All in all it was a great hike and a nice change of scenery from the eastern woodlands I usually hike in.