My reconnected relationship with Zion National Park in Late Fall
I’ll never forget the first time I went to Zion National Park. I almost gasped as I made my way on the shuttle in Zion Canyon to the now unavailable (and maybe forever) hike up Observation Point. I was in love with Zion National Park and it seemed to love me back. Then we somehow grew apart :(. But this article is about a late fall adventure and my reconnected relationship with Zion National Park!
It took my breath away. Zion hit me in the gut with beauty that I never saw coming. I was fortunate enough to be taking several work trips to Las Vegas right after this that enabled me to make two more trips to Zion National Park in two years!
It was my second or third favorite National Park, I put it on the cover of my 3rd book The Passionate Marketing Revolution (eerily it was a shot of me at the top of Observation Point which has now been closed due to a rock slide since 2018 and might never reopen.) I put that hike, Angels Landing, and The Narrows as 3 of my 10 favorite day hikes in America! I have done hundreds of day hikes in America and in the top 10 were THREE FROM ZION!
Hiking down the Angels Landing Trail in late November.
I won’t sit here and just blame Zion. Zion could probably do the same to me. It was both of us. We simply had different priorities and agendas in the last several years!
But I could sense the distance. Zion fell from 3rd on my Top 10 National Parks list down to 8 or 9.
Observation Point became closed, deadly bacteria invaded the Virgin River, inexperienced hikers were going up Angels Landing and making it even more dangerous for others, and all of my friends who visited talked about massive lines to get anywhere. To the point that most of them rarely ever hiked much and more so just drove by and went on their way to the other parks in Utah. I drifted away from Zion National Park and she didn’t do anything to try to have us grow closer again. We are now full-time travelers and are still basically stuck in lower 48 of the US due to COVID19 and trekking through National Parks is all we do for recreation, yet Zion wasn’t even getting asked out on a date with me. Zion seemed like a thing of the past for me!
Jill G in her drysuit hiking up the Narrows.
All it took though was a happen chance route. Heading out from Durango Colorado to Joshua Tree California for several weeks Jill G mentioned the idea of wanting to see Seven Magic Mountains near the Mojave Desert in Las Vegas.
As I looked up that route it basically would take us straight across the Arizona/Utah border and just have about an hour detour to visit Zion.
Jill had never been to Zion and I thought maybe, just maybe, I would consider a weekend hiking in SW Utah with my old fling that I loved so much from 2015-2017!
Waist deep. Ear to ear grins.
I am going to give credit to the timing. Coming to visit Zion National Park in late November rekindled my relationship with it. It was just wonderful. I remembered why I loved it so much all those years ago!
Zion National Park Late Fall Road Trip HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Tent camping in late November in comfort outside.
2. Donning drysuits and hiking up the Narrows in water that was 38 degrees Fahrenheit!
3. Hiking to the top of Angels Landing with such small numbers of people due to COVID19 and leaving so early in the morning. (PS: Wore a mask the whole hike and brought gloves that I didn’t touch again until after washing/drying in laundry for gripping the chains. Still sanitized pre and post chains with hand sanitizer.)
4. Reasonable lines at the tasty restaurants in Springdale Utah like Oscar’s and the WhipTail.
5. Fall Foliage in full bloom!
Zion is back in the TOP FIVE of my National Parks and I am grateful to have now done the trifecta of its iconic day hikes (The Narrows, Angels Landing, and Observation Point) two times each.
The deer were roaming everywhere, the coffee was hot, and the shuttle reservation system due to COVID19 was seamless.
Sure Zion still attracts people who shouldn’t be up on the chains of Angels Landing, crazy crowds in the summer, and Observation Point remains closed.
But that doesn’t mean it’s still not an amazing and gorgeous place. We fell for each other hard and fast and maybe we just needed a bit of time to go out and explore and let each other be.
I am back in love with Zion and we have a reconnected relationship!
In all honesty though it was the timing. I hadn’t been there for years and I had never visited ZNP in the late fall. I would highly recommend giving it a visit this time of the year and seeing a truly different vantage point of this gorgeous National Park in Southern Utah.
My next visit there might still be a few years from now but it won’t be an accident because it makes sense on the map or because Jill G had never gone, I can’t wait to go back!
See you soon Zion, you were great in late fall :)!
Thanks for reading! Have you ever visited Zion this time of year? Or do you have any questions on the Narrows or Angels Landing Hikes? Comment below!
Cya on the dirt paths my friends.
Because adventure feeds the soul,
Mike R
