On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
Zion Nation Park: Southern Utah. We were based in St George UT.
Continuing our travel theme of not doing anything that requires waiting in lines*, we got to see the main canyon despite the crowds and the sold-out shuttle buses. We unfolded our eBikes and headed up the road. The trip from the visitor center to the end of the canyon scenic drive was just under eight miles, and we covered the round trip with stops, and with a hike, in three hours. While Kolob Canyon was impressive in its own way, there’s nothing like being in the bottom of a canyon like this looking up at the sheer rock walls. As it turned out, we spent three days in Zion, when it wasn’t even in our trip itinerary to begin with.
*this goes back at least to 2014 when we bailed on seeing the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.
Alternative transportation. We weren’t the only ones with pedal assist – about 80% of the bikes we saw were eBikes. This is a great way to see the canyon if you’re not planning to take one of the long hikes.
Last year the Park Service legalized the use of eBikes on park roads, with the caveat that they have to be Class 1: No throttle, and pedal assist limited to 20mph. I have never seen a Class 1 bike for sale anywhere! Every one I know of has a thumb throttle which runs the motor without pedaling, which is a Class 2 or 3.
Pa’rus Trail. This paved trail runs parallel to the road up to the point it’s closed to private cars, so it allows bikes to avoid the traffic.
The Court of the Patriarchs formation.
Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. The rules of the road are that bikes have to pull over and stop when the shuttle buses overtake them. For safety reasons, the buses aren’t allowed to pass a moving bike. It worked well, but the tour buses, commercial shuttles, and jeep tours didn’t have to follow the same rules.
The end of the road. The paved Riverside Walk goes from here to The Narrows, where you can hike up a slot canyon. If by hike you mean wade the Virgin River. It’s an eight-hour round trip. I walked about halfway to The Narrows.
View up the canyon from the Riverside Walk.
Hanging garden on the canyon wall. Fed by springs or seeps.
View down the canyon from Big Bend.
JPL
Thanks for the photos, and the trip looks like so much fun. I haven’t been to zion but the colors of the rock look amazing.
Mary G
Ooh, paved trails are a wheelchair user’s dream, and these red rocks and green growth have me adding this to my list of places I might actually visit. Such beautiful pictures, thanks frosty.
soapdish
100% behind you on the “no lines” thing.
Misswhatsis
That’s interesting about class 1 e-bikes: I have an ebike and I’m about to replace it with another class 1 and I see many, many choices out there! They’re the best.
Argiope
The bikes have sold me, not to mention the fantastic photos. I had no idea Zion was bikeable. Thanks for the inspiration, frosty!
Scout211
Nice pics frosty. It’s great that you had your e-bikes with you so you could avoid the crowds. I wish we had something like that when we went a few years ago.
Zion was on our itinerary in our long camping trip to celebrate our retirement a few years ago. It was a very strange experience. The park is beautiful and we were glad that we went but of all the National Parks we visited, that was our least favorite. And not just the least favorite on that long camping trip but the least favorite of all the National parks we have visited, ever.
The campground was basically a huge gravel covered parking lot. It had no shade, no privacy, lines in the restrooms and lots of noise. We were assigned a marked square that barely fit our tent and our vehicle.
We thought the crowds would be lighter because it was in the fall, but no. The crowds at the visitor center, on the shuttle busses and on the trails reminded me of a large metropolitan city teeming with people.
We are glad that we were able to check that park off of our list and to see the beauty of Zion, but we will not be going back.
J R in WV
@Scout211:
So… maybe visit in mid-winter? I hate crowds too, except in places where you know there’s a crowd, like NYC or Chicago. We visited the south rim of the Grand Canyon V early in their season, same for Yellowstone, were plenty of people but not what we would have called a crowd.
Leaving the Tetons and Yellowstone, though, on Memorial day weekend, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles down the river. Miles and miles of RVs and Campers. So glad we were on the way out!
Not crazy to visit anything in Utah, actually, tho. Like a foreign country to us.
Scout211
@J R in WV:
Snow camping is not my favorite thing to do so camping there in mid-winter is not happening. LOL.
On that same long camping trip (in late September) we had snow in Bryce Canyon and in Capitol Reef. It melted fairly quickly both times but we were tent camping and it was cold and mucky.
Zion Canyon is just really small in size so it’s hard to accommodate so many visitors. The shuttle bus system helps keep the number of vehicles down but it’s still very crowded with visitors.
JustRuss
Friend of mine was in London when the Covid shutdowns started last year. He did the Tower of London tour, with no crowds. When he visited the Crown Jewels the only other person in the room was the security guard.
The next day his travel agent told him to get his ass on a plane or forget about coming home for a few weeks…or months.
And Zion looks fabulous.