Road Trip Day 15 - Provo, UT to Zion National Park

We ate the free breakfast provided by the hotel and loaded the cooler with ice before starting the drive to Zion. The landscape got increasingly beautiful as we headed south. The sun was shining and we made sandwiches in the car so we could get to Zion in time for a short hike. Just outside of Zion, we picked up some fresh apples at a cute, albeit touristy, town called Springdale. Springdale mainly had bed and breakfast places and rock and gem shops, but it also had character. We stopped at a cute barn for some local apples before continuing into Zion NP.
Zion is stunning.

There was way more foliage than either of us had expected.

Our campsite was right on the Virgin River and surrounded by jutting red mountains. We were really lucky to get such a nice campsite; it was on a path, so we had to park a few hundred feet away and carry our stuff down. We did not mind at all since this meant that we were not very close to any other campers, or to the camp road. There were more campers out than we anticipated as well. It makes sense when you think about it: it’s unseasonably warm for fall, and summer has got to be horribly hot. We set up camp before heading out on a short walk behind the campsite. We didn’t finish the hike, as the sun was setting, but we were so impressed with the landscape that we had to check some of it out before settling into the campground.

We headed back to make dinner before we lost all of the sun. We had the last of our salad and huevos rancheros and were even able to sit outside to eat. The low for tonight was only 48! We love Utah so far (minus Provo)! No bear boxes, or raccoon problems at Zion. Without a campfire, the wind just cuts right through to your bones, so we took this as an opportunity to get to bed early and read the guidebooks. We were both so excited to check this area out that we wanted a good nights’ sleep.