Zion NP

View of the Virgin River from Scout Lookout

Fall colors on the West Rim Trail

Spectacular view from the Canyon Overlook trail

We left Joshua Tree NP early in the morning and hit the road.  Again, more Mojave Desert.  Desolate as it is, it’s beautiful in its own way.  Especially after you stare at it for 5 hours straight.

Our next destination was Zion NP, for our first taste of the Colorado Plateau.  I had never been to the plateau before, so I was extremely excited.  Zion did not disappoint.

The park is fairly simple – one road, going up and down Zion canyon.  Red rocks surround, with multi-colored spires and rock formations everywhere.  The canyon walls rise 1-2,000 feet from the valley floor.  But this is true all over the plateau.  What makes Zion unique is how incredibly lush the area is.

We only had one full day in the park, so we decided to do a long-ish hike up the West Rim trail.  The trail was quite busy on the climb up to Scout Lookout, as many park visitors seemed to want to try their luck on Angels Landing – a very narrow rock outcropping with a precarious trail leading up to it.  Not for us.  We continued on the trail past Scout Lookout, and immediately we were alone.  The trail wound its way up spurs and down valleys, with incredible (and incredibly surprising) fall colors.  It was amazing to see so many leafy trees in an area we thought was the desert!  The valley bottoms were wet, and we could feel the humidity in the air.  After about 5-6 miles of hiking, we came to a natural viewpoint of the surrounding canyons and decided to turn around.  In all, I think we got a great feel for Zion that day.

The next morning, we packed up early and drove East out of the park.  However, our guidebook told us we had to hike up to one last spot, the Canyon Overlook.  The hike was short – only about an hour round trip – but the view was spectacular.  The colors of the rocks were incredibly deep in the morning sun.  What a place.