Day 2 (P2) of 10 of Our Epic Summer Journey

ZION IS CALLING AND WE MUST GO!!

DAY 2 - Part 2: Horseshoe Bend and Zion National Park


After our awe-inspiring tour of the Lower Antelope Canyon,  (which was only minutes away from our hotel {Days Inn & Suites} in Page), it was time to head to Horseshoe Bend and then hit the road onward to Zion National Park (which celebrates it 110th year this summer!!)

Horseshoe Bend has been called the "most famous river bend in the world" and it's easy to see why. It's incredibly beautiful for an Insta-worthy Colorado River shot for sure!

They say the (relatively) easy trek from the parking lot to this iconic overlook is only 3/4-mile long. Now... that may be true, but we wondered if the distance wasn't in the way the crow flies! It's a winding path that leads up and down with ZERO shade, so it definitely felt like it was well over a mile. It gets HOT, so be sure to carry lots of water!

Since I am terrified of heights, this was about as close as I let myself get to the edge. As mentioned, this place is pretty Insta-worthy, so there were tons of people literally walking along and posing on the edge. Some were dressed to the nines with clunky high-heel shoe boots and cute little rompers ~ and my knees buckled every single time I'd see one take a half slip on the loose gravel dust. There are no railings or obstructions between the edge and the 800-foot fall, so do yourself a favor and dress with some common shoe sense when visiting! Some photo ops just aren't worth risking your life for. (Can I insert an eye-roll here?? ~ Because, well... this *really* seems like something that needn't be an issue, but you'd be surprised.) 

Objects in this photo are much farther away from the edge than they appear!

While it's maybe not a cairn, we noticed this cute 'Christmas Cactus' along the pathway. I was happy to see the rocks weren't necessarily stacked. See why HERE. 

After we visited Horseshoe Bend for a couple of hours, we were famished and decided to stop at the legendary Big John's Texas Barbeque for lunch. It was delicious!! 

After chowing down, it was time to head to Zion National Park! 

Navajo Bridge

Checkerboard Mesa

We drove Highway 89 from Page to Zion and as you can see... it was incredible! But because the number of visitors to Zion each year is pretty substantial (over 4 million in 2018), a free daily shuttle system was put in place (in effect March through November) in order to eliminate traffic and parking problems.

I absolutely love going through tunnels and there is a SUPER long tunnel on the way to Zion (almost a 3-minute drive) and omigosh... once we came out of it, the view was absolutely jaw-dropping.

Zion Shuttle Stop Map

The first place we hopped off the Zion shuttle system was at The Temple of Sinawava - the ninth and final stop on the Zion shuttle, which eventually leads to The Narrows. Because of time constraints (and the water being SUPER cold), we decided just to relax and enjoy the scenery in the beautiful Zion Canyon. 

If you're planning on hiking The Narrows, you'll definitely need to pay CLOSE attention to this sign as you're entering. Be extremely cautious, as flash floods can occur here. 

Next, we decided to get off at shuttle stop 8 (Big Bend) and take the easy walk to shuttle stop 7 to hike up to the Weeping Rock (about 30 minutes round trip from stop 7) and it was absolutely gorgeous! It was a beautiful walk through waves of golden grasses alongside the river. Once we made it to the Weeping Rock, there were dozens of tiny cascades that made their way down a moss and fern-covered eave of an overhanging cliff. The views were unbelievably spectacular!

Do-overs for the second day of our epic summer journey would probably been to have started the day with a sunrise view at Horseshoe Bend (which was around 6:20 a.m.), instead of the afternoon's scorching heat (thank goodness it was windy, which helped tremendously!). It would've given us more time to explore Zion and possibly even hike The Narrows - which is still on our bucket list, so we'll definitely be heading back to the Beehive State one day!

My advice: 1) Spend a full day in Page, AZ. Visit Horseshoe Bend at sunrise, tour the breathtaking Lower Antelope Canyon, then spend the rest of the afternoon on a Glen Canyon Half Day float trip or hike the Page View Rim Trail and visit Lake Powell.  2) Zion is worth a full day on its own to explore its multitude of beauty. You're able to observe much of its vast landscape just riding the shuttle system, but there's so many short hikes at one of the nine different stops that lead you to all its nooks and crannies, like the Emerald Pools. If you're REALLY adventurous, hike Angels Landing. My knees get weak any time I would see simple photos of that hike, so it is a no-go for me... ever! I mean... It's possible I could've gone a-ways up Walters Wiggles, but I'm not sure I would bet money on myself for that either. Seriously though... there are just SO many things to see and do at both locations for full days in their entirety.

Accommodations: Since there were 9 of us and we tried to stay together as much as possible, we booked The Cowboy's Retreat (a SUPER cute AirBNB) in the tiny town of Orderville only 20 minutes away from Zion. We all loved it!

What I learned: The shuttle system at Zion keeps everything so organized. There were no long waits at any time and it is an absolute gem of a National Parks system. Be sure to be at the pick up points ready to go though! We witnessed a couple of times that the drivers are on strict time schedules and didn't wait on some slackers, so be considerate regarding timeliness. 

Cheers, y'all!! 

xoxo!

"You cannot describe Zion. You can only experience it." ~ Unknown