Getting There

Getting to Zion National Park isn’t as easy as other destinations. We found out later that the St. George regional airport could have been an option, but we didn’t jump on that. We flew into Las Vegas and rented a car, Salt Lake City would have been a much longer drive, and after a 3.5 hour flight, less driving is better. Springdale and Zion National Park each have shuttles that can get you around, but in some instances, a car was a must, so St. Louis to Vegas, and a rental car to Springdale was the best plan for us. The last Walmart is about 20 miles out of town, and unless you want to get gauged for the simple stuff like granola bars, drinks, and other snack items, make the stop.

Getting Around

If you’re staying in Springdale, the way we did, there are two shuttles to know about. The first one is the Springdale shuttle that has stops all through town and is an easy and free way to get around. We stayed near stop 6 and it was probably the sweet spot, it wasn’t too far away to walk the whole way if we wanted, and it was far enough away that the shuttle wasn’t full when it arrived. Stops with lower numbers sometimes meant you were watching a full bus or two go by before finally getting on one. The second shuttle is the Zion National Park shuttle, and it’s free as well once you pay to get into the park. This shuttle starts at the Visitors Center and will take you all the way to the Temple of Sinawava. This is where the northernmost trails start, there are other trails in the park that aren’t on the shuttle network, but those aren’t usually for first time visitors.

Staying in Springdale

There are a lot of places to stay in and around Springdale, in addition to staying at the Zion lodge itself. We stayed in Springdale and we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, don’t be fooled, it was a lodge, and probably one of the best Holiday Inn’s we’d ever seen. It’s got a pool and hot tub, a gas fire pit outside, and one of the better free breakfasts we’ve run across. There are two small, and mostly overpriced, grocery stores in Springdale that we saw, in addition to a dozen or so restaurants. Here’s the ones we hit:

Sol Foods Supermarket is where we shopped for snacks, lunch meat, etc. They were very hit and miss, bread and deli meat prices were reasonable, things like granola bars were ridiculous.

Our favorite restaurant was Zion Pizza & Noodle Co., it’s got a long line, but it goes quick.

Me-Me’s Cafe was a second choice for us one night, it had a nice menu with overpriced drinks, we went there because we couldn’t get into another place but we weren’t disappointed.

After Angel’s landing, we recovered at the Zion Canyon Brewing Company and watched a Cardinals game, the beer selection was good for the area, but the food was only so-so and it was a fairly limited menu.

We had dinner at Jack’s Sports Grill one night, it’s attached to a steak house and was just a short walk from our hotel, the food and beer selection was good, but if we had wanted a little more high end, we could have gone next door to the Switchback Grille

Things We Learned

Obviously you’re coming to Zion to hike, take picture, and generally enjoy nature, but knowing a few things on the front end can help greatly. We did a lot of research and learned a few things while we were there.

You can rent gear just outside the park at several places in Springdale. Items like waterproof hiking boots, waders, and hiking sticks are all available for rent.

You can walk EVERYWHERE in Springdale, it’s a very small town and there is a restaurant, gift shop, or store on every block.

There are no bars, Utah state law doesn’t allow for drink-only establishments, so go find some food and have a Polygamy Porter.

Check the trail status before going out, some trails can be closed for a short while, some can be closed for a decade. There also might be other ways to get to where you want to go, Observation Point has three trails that lead to it, two are closed, trust https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/maps.htm for information about what’s closed, but do some googling to see what other hikers have done to get around.

If you’ve got a car, drive to the east gate, you’ll see the Checkerboard Mesa, possibly see some rams, and get to drive through the mile long tunnel. This is also how you get to the third trailhead for Observation Point.

We carried a lot of water and a lot of camera gear with us. We had 4-6 liters of water depending on the day, a tripod, camera remote, multiple lenses, two cameras, and six batteries. These are some tiring hikes, don’t get up there and not be able to capture it and enjoy the scenery.