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What’s the fastest you’ve ever had to plan or replan a trip? For my winter vacation, I had to pivot to a new destination with just 24 hour notice. We settled on Zion National Park in February, about three hours from Las Vegas in the town of Springdale, Utah. February brought rain, snow, and no crowds to winter vacation in this popular national park.
ZION NATIONAL PARK and SPRINGDALE, UTAH
Length of stay:
3 nights
Where I stayed:
Zion Lodge within Zion National Park, in a 2-bedroom cottage. This hotel is the only lodging in the National Park besides camping. It’s located four miles into the park. The hotel has hotel rooms, duplex cottages, a gift shop, restaurant, and a cafe (not open in off season).
Zion Lodge has free parking if you are staying at the hotel. This is key since during most of the year, private vehicles are not allowed in the park and taking the shuttle is required. Zion Lodge gives you a red tag to be able to come and go from the park, and park in the lot. The shuttle also picks up at the hotel, making this a convenient lodging location.
The hotel has trails across the street to the Emerald Pools, although the footbridge was closed when I visited. It also has a trail directly to the Grotto as well. It does not, however, have a pool, hot tub, or fitness center like many hotels in town do. Chain hotels in Springdale were about half the price, although I knew that my tens of followers demand in-park content. I considered Bumbleberry Inn and Cable Mountain Lodge, but they were out of two-queen rooms for our stay.
Why I visited Zion National Park in February:
Visiting Zion was a bit of a pivot for me, since I had originally had plans to drive to Death Valley NP for my vacation. However, extreme rain posed a risk of flash floods, and the DVNP hotel suggested we cancel or rebook our trip.
My sister and I had flights into Las Vegas already, so we kept those and instead drove the other way to Zion NP, instead. I had done a lot of planning for Death Valley, and none for Zion!
Highlights of Zion National Park in February:
Zion NP has been on my list of national parks to visit for a long time! I put it off and put it off because of potential crowds. Let me say that visiting in February is a crowd-free time to visit! I don’t think we waited in line for anything.
It snowed our last day in Zion so we had a rare chance to see Temple of Sinawava in the snow! The dusting of snow made the quiet canyon a little more magical.
Lowlights of Zion National Park in February:
It rained a lot. Like a lot a lot. We had a brief window of sun as we drove into the park, which turned the canyon orange. It rained the rest of the time so we wore rain gear on almost every hike.
I knew that Utah had weird alcohol rules, but boy were the drinks weak!
Our last night at the lodge was disturbed because the lady in the other side of the duplex had a screaming match with…herself? Unclear, but the EMTs came to check her out after she was screaming about being killed in the middle of the night. This isn’t the hotel’s fault, just a weird happenstance that kept us from sleeping for a night.
What I did in Zion National Park in February:
-Walked the Pa’rus Trail, a very easy, accessible and dog-friendly trail that begins near the Visitor Center
-Walked the Riverside Trail, a very easy, mostly accessible (though not dog-friendly) trail that leads from the Temple of Sinewava to the beginning of The Narrows
-Hiked part of the West Rim Trail, that goes from The Grotto to the Scout Lookout. You do not need a permit to hike this, although you do need a permit to continue to Angel’s Landing
-Drank boozy coffees each afternoon with my sister in the lodge
-Read a lot
What I didn’t do:
–Hike the Narrows. You do not need a permit to hike bottom-to-top, but it was raining and the water was around freezing. Pass.
-Hike Angel’s Landing. We did not have a permit since we planned our trip so late. Also, it was sleeting rain and potentially storming the day we could have gone. The Rangers said that sometimes there are lightning strikes up there, which was an immediate “nope” from us.
-Walk around Springdale much. The town was smaller than I anticipated, and a lot of stores and restaurants were closed since we were there in the off season.
Approximate trip cost for visiting Zion National Park in February:
Airfare: Around $400 each, although I had a credit on Alaska Air anyway.
Rental Car: Avis Toyota Rav-4, $370 for four days and an additional driver.
Hotel: Zion Lodge was $234 a night, booked via Expedia. Book direct for free breakfast ($11 each).
Food: We stopped at Costco ($70) in St. George for snacks, etc. before making it to Springdale. We stopped for coffee and usually a pastry or something each morning, $8 each. Dinner was around $15 each, although the spendier restaurants were not open. Drinks were $8-10, but they were crazy weak.
Entrance fees: We already had a national park pass.
Gas: The rental got pretty good gas mileage, maybe $40 each way.
Total: $1773ish total for me, not including my sister’s airfare or food
What I read:
You know I love to read about the parks I visit! If I missed any, leave a comment and let me know what I should add to my Bookshop.org reading list (contains affiliate links – consider supporting independent bookstores instead of folks who fly to space).
Lonely Planet Zion & Bryce Canon 5th Edition, by Greg Benchwick: I picked this up in the gift shop since we had not been able to plan much for this last-minute trip. This actually contains all five Utah parks, plus Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I don’t think the trail information in this book is ground-breaking.
Best Easy Day Hikes: Zion National Park, by Erik Molvar: This book series really plays fast and loose with the phrase “easy”. Angel’s Landing is included here, and it’s INCREDIBLY difficult. Kindle Unlimited also had this, so save your pennies and borrow it.
The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest, by David Roberts: A look at the Indigenous Peoples that have lived in the Southwest for millennia, including the Ancestral Pueblans (formerly Anasazi), the Mogollon, the Fremont, the Navajo and the Comanche. I loved this book as an overview of the history of this part of the world, the drawbacks of having national parks/monuments, and to understand the landscape.
Finding Everett Ruess, also by David Roberts: Jon Krakauer wrote the foreword for this book, about Roberts’ (and many others) search for Everett Ruess, a Christopher McCandless-type wanderer of the 1920s. Fantastic and sad book.
Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey: I bought this at the gift shop and about ⅓ of the way through it. Edward Abbey was an original ranger at one of Utah’s five national parks, and does he have capital-T THOUGHTS about the theme park-ification of public lands. Definitely a thought provoking book, especially as someone who loves visiting our nation’s parks.
Thief of Time, by Tony Hillerman: I did not get a chance to read this one yet, though this series came up time and again in my searches for Utah-related books.
The Rope, by Nevada Barr: While I didn’t get a chance to read this one yet, I stumbled across this author in my searches for Utah-related books. She writes thriller/mysteries set in national parks! You can see the entire list on her site. This book is set in nearby Glen Canyon NRA.
If you visit Zion National Park or find this information helpful, please let me know. Follow me on IG: @HiFriendsItsLaura (I’m also on Threads!)
A trip report is a quick summary or overview of my trip, intended to allow me to capture what I did quickly without the full formatting of an itinerary or post. Check out what other trips I’ve taken:
–Big Island Hawaii
–Sailing the Midcoast of Maine
-Congaree National Park in South Carolina
