Zion National Park


After the wonderful experience of dinning at Parry Lodge, we continued on our journey to Zion National Park. The approach to the park is nothing out of the ordinary; green rolling hills, fields of buffalo, and verdant hills of cottonwood and oak. Once you enter the park all that changes; colorful sandstone mountains shaped by eons of erosion caused by the Virgin River which flows through the canyon present awesome vistas at every turn.

A short distance from the entrance is the historic Zion-Mt Carmel Tunnel carved into the side of the mountain. Having been built in the 1920’s the tunnel dimensions do not allow the larger RV’s used by today’s traveler to travel in one lane through the tunnel. Traffic on one end of the tunnel must be stopped while the larger vehicles, namely us, pass through while driving down the middle of the tunnel road. This is nice, as it gives us more time to enjoy the tunnel. The feelings of grandeur while driving down the middle of the road and holding up all that travel behind me often makes me break out in song of “Hail to the Chief”.

Periodically in the sides of the tunnel length, windows have been cut in the rock providing a quick view of the canyon below.

We drove through the canyon for a quick survey of what we would like to do after we set up camp for the night. We pulled into the Zion River Resort for the night’s stay. It was a beautiful facility, and we managed to get a spot right by the river.

After we set up camp, Julianna and I wanted to go on a short introductory hike. Watchman Trail was the hike of choice; a moderate hike of three miles which took us up a trail with a view of the Towers, the Virgin River, lower Zion Canyon, and the nearby town of Springdale. Nothing to write home about, but it was a good introduction to the canyon.

After we returned from the hike, we ate dinner, investigated the campground and retired for the evening.