As a quick note before diving in, this is my first photo log. It's a bit lengthy, but I wanted to have some documentation on our super fun trip to look at later. Feel free to read or just scroll through the pictures & videos.
Monday 02/13/23
Early Monday morning, we started our drive out to Zion National Park. We were out the door by 7:00 AM (but had to quickly turn back to grab things I forgot as it would be tough to hike in the snow without hiking boots...). On our drive, we made pretty good time. While passing through Nevada, we actually got to watch some skydivers landing on the ground.
It took us about 6 hours to get to the Zion Canyon Lodge. Since the weather was clear and we knew that snow would be incoming tomorrow, we decided to take a drive through the park to soak in the views. We drove through the Mt Carmel Tunnel for the first time, and the view was amazing. It was definitely a cool experience to come out of the dark tunnel to the lit up canyon walls.
After coming down from the tunnel, we went to the end of the park to check out the Riverside Walk at the Temple of Sinawava. However, we decided to cut the hike short after our long drive.
Making our way back out of the park, we decided to grab some pizza for dinner from Zion Pizza & Noodle. Throughout our entire trip, we never had a single bad meal. Zion Pizza & Noodle makes a great pepperoni & pineapple pizza.
TUESDAY 02/14/23
Tuesday morning, the weather began to change as snowfall was on the forecast. Since we still had some time before the actual snow, we woke up early to drive to some scenic spots just on the other side of the Mt Carmel tunnel.
Since it was lightly raining/snowing, we went over to the Visitor Center to check out some exhibits as well as pick up a few souvenirs. At the time, we had no idea just how quiet the park was. We'd later come to find out how busy the park gets on weekends (especially when the bad weather clears up).
Once we finished up grabbing some mementos, we headed further into the park. Our first stop was at the Weeping Rock Trail. It was a pretty short walk up some steps, but it lead to a rock overhang that had water constantly dripping right onto my neck as I tried to capture photos. Surprisingly, we actually had the place to ourselves for 5-10 minutes. I got to walk away with this fun shot.
Once we had been sufficiently dripped on, we returned to the Riverside Walk once more to conquer what we'd left behind the day previously. The walk itself is about a 1.9 mile out & back paved walkway. However, we were met with some wet conditions as the rain & snow began to fall. Not to be deterred, we marched on until we reached the end of the trail.
This is actually the beginning of The Narrows, and we did see several people begin the walk. However, as it was raining, and we weren't prepared-for or willing to walk in the frigid water in the rain & snow, we decided to head back to the car. There were a few stops for some photo ops before making it back to the car. I made sure to grab a video to document the conditions we were walking in.
After we finished up the walk and headed back to the lodge, the snow finally began to fall in abundance. We went back to the lodge to grab some food and warm back up. By the time we decided to head back into the park, they had closed entry due to multiple car accidents. The only thing left to do was to go to the Zion Canyon Brew Pub, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over. We even had some company right outside the window.
Once the roads were plowed, the park reopened, and we went back in to scout some locations for future photos in the winter wonderland. We found a nice spot on a bridge with an excellent view of The Watchman, and we made plans to return the following morning.
After that, we decided to head back to the Lodge and get some rest. The plan was to get up early (again) to catch sunrise and see if we could walk away with some nice photos.
Wednesday 02/15/23
Waking before sunrise, we went back into the park to reach the spot we'd scouted yesterday. However, after the snowfall, it was a cold, foggy morning, and there was no sunrise to witness. That didn't stop us from walking away with some pretty (and dramatic) shots of The Watchman.
After sitting in the snow for an hour, we headed back to the lodge once more to thaw out and get some well-deserved rest. A few hours later, we decided to go pick up some lunch from the Zion Canyon Brew Pub once more with the idea that we'd get some hiking in once we'd gotten something to eat.
Post-meal and back into the park, we were treated to some beautiful views of Zion in snow. Our first stop was at the Court of the Patriarchs. It's a quick stop off the side of the road with an uphill walk (covered in ice!) to a scenic view point over the treeline of the rock formations called "The Patriarchs".
On deck was the Emerald Pools hike. The Lower Emerald Pool trail was closed. So, we decided to try out the Middle Emerald Pool. While the hike was at-times muddy and icy, we were rewarded with some gorgeous views of the canyons. At the end of the trail, we spent some time looking around the pool before heading back down.
By this time, the light in the canyon was getting pretty harsh. In order to prep for sunset, we went back to the lodge to warm up & grab some stuff. At this point, Krysta decided to stay back in order to get dinner started (thank you to the Lodge for having a kitchenette!) while I went out to try to get some shots of The Watchman at sunset.
Thursday 02/16/23
We made the decision to drive 2 hours out to Bryce Canyon for sunrise. Well, I decided, and Krysta is a fucking trooper who went along with my frozen shenanigans. We woke up at 3:30 AM to give us time to get up and prepare to head out. We set out on the completely pitch black, back-country roads. As we drove, we watched the temperature drop outside of the car; 3°, 2°, 1°, 0°, -1°, -2°,... all the way until -17°F. Needless to say, we had the seat warmers & heaters cranked. However, as there were very few street lights on the 2 hour drive and we were both still cold and tired, it was not an easy drive.
However, our sacrifice was rewarded with a fantastic view of Bryce Canyon right in time for sunrise at Inspiration Point.
There were very few people at Inspiration Point when we arrived. The walkways were buried in snow and ice, but after our drive, I had to be sure to get at least one satisfying image before we left. After spending some time taking photos and absorbing the sunrise, we went to check out the Visitor's Center. A good chunk of the park had been closed due to the recent snowfall, but we grabbed some souvenirs and went back out to see more.
Next up was Sunrise Point. After the view at Inspiration Point, we were a little bit let down from the view here. It had a scenic vista, but there wasn't much view of any of the hoodoos which is really the main draw of the park, I feel. We didn't stay long before we headed over to Sunset Point, and I'm glad we did. The views were considerably better, and it definitely added more to the experience as we walked around in below 0 temperatures.
Sunrise Point
Sunset Point
Our last stop in Bryce Canyon was Bryce Point. It's a lookout at 8300' elevation. It was covered in ice and snow, and the wind was blowing like crazy. Krysta decided to hang out in the car while I bundled up to take a look. I'm glad I did as it was one of my favorite views within the park. It led to a walkway with a near 360 degree view of the park, and I had the place to myself (for about 5 minutes). I snapped a few panoramic shots and some selfies then got back to the car to see about finding something to eat.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much in terms of options for a quick breakfast. We decided to just eat some of the food we brought with us to tide us over until lunch, and we got back on the road back to Zion. It was another 2 hours to drive back, but the drive went much better in the light. After about an hour and a half, we were back at the entrance to the park.
However, we were greeted with some bad news. There had been a rock slide inside Zion (on the very road that we had driven out of in the morning), and all traffic had been shut down in the park. The ranger was very kind, but let us know that it could be a few hours until the road opened again. We were pretty bummed. Looking at the GPS, the only way to get back was to take a 2 hour detour which would turn our 2 hour total drive into a 4 hour drive. We pulled over to use the restroom and stretch our legs for a bit before we braced ourselves for the next 2 hours behind the wheel.
Our drive before the road closure
Our drive after (without traffic)
No sooner than we had gotten out of the car, the ranger began walking over and called out the best news we could've hoped for, "THE ROADS ARE CLEAR. YOU CAN HEAD INTO THE PARK." We immediately got back in the car and hit the road to get through it as quickly as we could. We were not about to waste the opportunity.
About a half hour later, we were sitting in Oscar's Cafe getting lunch and feeling very gracious for how lucky we had been that we decided to use the restroom before taking our 2 hour detour. We decided to spend the rest of the day recuperating and catching up some some sleep. We ordered a pizza for dinner, had a few drinks, and knocked out to get ready for the next day.
Friday 02/17/23
For the first time on our trip, we slept in. We made a quick breakfast before deciding to head out for the day. The main item on our agenda was to check out Scout's Overlook. It's a 3.6 mile hike that leads right up to Angel's Landing going up over 1000 ft of elevation. We were excited to get on the trail and check out the views.
However, we were greeted by a ranger upon arrival who let us know that the top most set of switchbacks were completely iced over. We wouldn't be able to reach the top without some traction devices. We decided that we'd go up, but stop once we hit the iced out part of the trail. The trail is a paved path, but once you get near the canyon wall, it's just a constant back and forth of walking up hill (both ways!). Knowing that we wouldn't be able to complete the trail, we decided to call it early and divert our attention elsewhere.
We drove down to the Big Bend Viewpoint. This stop has a view of Angel's Landing from below as well as the connected rock formation known as "The Organ".
We stopped for a few minutes, but I wasn't finding any photo compositions that I was happy with. So, on we went. Just down the road, there's a pull out named "The Great White Throne". There was a trail that led down from the road over to the river where I spent a good bit of time walking around and taking photos.
At this point, I started creating photo spheres in an attempt to relive the moment exactly as it was in the future. Unfortunately, those types of images don't upload well in this format, but here's a video as well to make up for it.
This is actually a full 360° view
As it had gotten a bit later in the day, we took off to get lunch at the pub once more. After another great meal, we went back to the lodge to wait for the afternoon light to fade.
Near sunset, I went out to check out sunset once more. I parked at the (closed) Human History Museum as there was a small trail that led to some great views of the Watchman. As I walked through the trail, I stumbled upon a couple "friendly" deer.
I posted up on the bridge over the Virgin River and snapped pics until the light was almost completely gone. Of course, as anyone who knows me well could tell you, I was armed with a few flashlights. So, I wasn't too worried about the 10 minute walk back in the dark.
That ended our Friday adventure, and we were nearing the end of our trip.
Saturday 02/18/23
Saturday morning, we left the lodge around 7AM to go to one of the more popular hikes in the park; The Zion Canyon Overlook Trail. The weather had calmed down, and it was looking to be a fairly warm day compared to what we'd already been treated to. As soon as we got there, we saw that the parking lot was already full. Fortunately, after finding some overflow parking a couple hundred feet down the road, we parked up, and headed out.
The Zion Canyon Overlook Trail is a 1 mile out and back trail with less than 200 ft of elevation gain. There were a few people already at the view point when we arrived, but after about 5 minutes, everyone had left. I suppose they got there for sunrise, and they'd already had their fill. This worked out fantastically for us as we had one of the most popular views in the park entirely to ourselves. We snagged some pictures and enjoyed the views before making our way back down the trail to explore a bit more of the eastern side of the park.
This was part of the trail to the Canyon Overlook
There were a few other areas off the side of the road that we stopped at to do some of our own exploring. We had a great time wandering around, and taking a calm day of slow paced exploration to wind down our trip.
On the way back to the lodge, we found out that they had actually closed the scenic drive going further into the park. Fortunately for us, we'd already done all of the exploring of that area that we had planned to do. However as it was the Saturday of a three day weekend, we were definitely starting to notice the crowds were showing up to Zion. We stopped off at the visitor's center one last time to grab some last minute souvenirs & gifts. As we exited the park, we witnessed the absolute longest entry line we'd seen since we arrived on Monday. Fortune was definitely in our favor on this trip as neither of us had any plans of heading back into the park until near sundown.
For our last day in Zion, we played some board games at the lodge to relax then began heading back into the park at around 5PM. We parked at a few spots on the road up to the Mt Carmel tunnel to see if we could find any good places to shoot sunset. We didn't have much luck, so I took Krysta to the spot I'd went to yesterday for sunset.
Parking up at the museum, we walked back to the bridge to get some final sunset pictures of the Virgin River running up to the Watchman. I ended up with my favorite composition of the Watchman from the trip. We took a few pictures of each other as well as some shots of us together before going back into town.
We didn't feel like making any food. So, we decided to try out a place called Porter's. They also had some great food (and beer), and they were also attached to an ice cream shop as well as a gift shop. We figured that after a big meal, ice cream might not have been the right move, but who could turn down looking at some extra souvenirs.
However, our night wasn't quite over. After getting back to the lodge, we decided to take one last time to go into the park. I took a few long exposure night shots up near the tunnel before we both got too cold to stay out any longer.
Back at the lodge, we hit another snag. There wasn't a single space left in the parking lot of the lodge. As we pulled up to the end of the lot, we saw one spot that had a cone in front of it. Tempting, but we weren't going to risk having the car towed on our last night. We ended up going to the front desk where the door was locked. We called, and fortunately they picked up. They actually told us to park in the handicap spot in front of our door. We were nervous about it, but we'd not seen anyone use the spot all week, and we didn't have any other options. As we pulled around, we saw another guest had moved the cone and parked in the spot. We're pretty sure they just blocked it for themselves, but oh well.
All in all, it was a great way to end our final full day in Zion.
Sunday 02/19/23
We got up around 7:30 to get packed up and hit the road. After getting some gas and snacks for the road, we made our way to our last stop of the trip; The Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. We had a couple hours of driving to make it there, and we had no idea what we were in for.
As we pulled into the East entrance, there were a few people in the parking lot. We continued to drive further into the park where we hit more and more crowds. The visitor center was packed, and frankly it was no where near the quality of the National Park's visitor centers that we'd grown accustomed to. We stopped in to see if we could find a hat or a shirt, but their selection was slim.
Even with the crowds, I have to say that the rock formations really were striking. We stopped at the Rainbow Vista. It had some great views of distant rock formations as well as some right near us. Walking around, the trail was loose red dirt, and it felt similar to walking along the beach. The park can get well into the 120° mark in the summer. Fortunately for us, the temps were just around 50° which made walking around super comfortable.
We drove past Elephant Rock, and I actually managed to get a shot of it from the road. We actually had to stop in front of it because people were standing in the middle of the road taking selfies, and the car in front of us had only driven up to pick up people who had walked up the 0.2 miles to get near Elephant Rock.
We weren't really digging how busy the park was so we decided on one last quick stop before leaving. We went over to the "Beehives". These are sandstone formations that show off layers of rock being stacked up over time that ended up resembling a beehive. There really wasn't any way to get a good photo in the afternoon light while dozens of people surrounded them.
With our interest in the park dwindling, we decided it was time for us to get home. As we left the park, we saw the entrance was lined up with hundreds of cars trying to get in. Once again, we were very happy to be on our way out rather than in.
The next few hours went by, and we headed home armed with all of the new memories we'd made. It was a wild adventure, and I'm sure our trip is something that we'll look back on for years to come. I hope that this log helps accomplish that.
Thanks for reading!
Richie & Krysta