Like most national parks, there’s not a lot of explaining to do – the views speak for themselves.  And so it is with Zion National Park.  It has been years since we last visited Zion, and of course it maintains its beauty.  Even during this government shutdown, the park remains open, although with somewhat limited services.

We camped at the Watchman campground (electric-only), on the grounds of the park, and honestly some of the best views were right from our campsite, with 360’ views.  At the present time, the South campground is closed due to renovations.  Our particular site abutted the Virgin River, so on occasion we would bring our chairs to read.

There is a road that goes up into the canyon that offers (more) beautiful views, and dead ends at a place where you can walk up the Narrows, a slot canyon that requires waders (offered for rent from an outfitter just outside the park).  We did not do this, but did ride our bikes up the road, about a 20-mile roundtrip ride, and walked about a mile to the beginning of the Narrows.  The road is closed to most passenger cars but does allow bikes and park busses.

 

We also did a hike up the Watchman Trail, which we could access from our campsite.  The trail (about 5 miles, 600-700 feet elevation gain from our campsite) is gorgeous, but the ironic part is the views from the top, nice as they are, show views of the town and park facilities below, whereas the views from below show nothing but beautiful mountains.

Otherwise, it was just plain old boring gorgeous views.