Recently, Tracy and I, (I’m Tracy’s sister, Dianna Fast), hiked in Zion National Park, Utah, USA. Taking a couple of days to relax, recreate and get away “from it all” was actually a good way to concentrate on the “Wellness” part of our lives, which can so often be neglected. It’s easy to remember to exercise and eat healthy, but are we remembering to take care of our mind and soul? Taking a break from regular routine and mixing things up a little is really good for you, so when Tracy suggested a little hike in the Zions, I was on board!
The Itinerary
I thought you might be interested in knowing what we did, so I’m including our itinerary, complete with the places we stayed. Both Tracy and I highly recommend experiencing Zion, so if you have the opportunity to do something like this, do it. Your self will thank you.
Day One – Tracy met me at Vancouver International Airport, BC, and we flew on Air Canada to McCarran Las Vegas Airport in the US. We took a car rental shuttle to McCarran Car Rental Lot and rented a nice little Honda Civic from Dollar Rental Car. We actually used Carrental.com to find and book our rental car for our trip.
We drove to MGM Grand and stayed one night at their hotel/resort. The sun was out, so we took a little time to enjoy the pool, well until that very drunk girl threw up near us…well, then we went to a different pool! As Tracy teaches, EVERYTHING IN MODERATION, well let’s just say, this lady overdid it with the alcohol…
We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and they sell a really nice big salad with grilled chicken breast – delicious! It was my first time there and for a fast food place, I was impressed. They had it dialed in for sure. There are always healthy options out there, you just have to look.
Day Two – We picked up some egg bites and yogurt from Starbucks and headed to St. George, Utah. It’s only a 2 hour drive, which is very doable. Once we hit St. George, Utah, (which, by the way is a very clean, lovely little town), we headed directly out to Snow Canyon for a little hiking and exploring. Hydrating is very important in these hot, arid areas, so a camel back filled with ice water sure came in handy. There is a $15 fee for non-residents to use the park and they only take cash, so keep that in mind when visiting. That evening we stayed at an Airbnb in St. George. It was wonderful and included two pools, so we jumped in as soon as we got there to help cool off.
Day Three – We went out for breakfast to a place called Farmstead, which was really, really great! Everything is homemade, fresh and delicious AND the coffee was even good. Out of our entire trip, this was our favorite place. After breakfast we decided to rent E-Bikes at Snow Canyon eBike Rentals and ride around Snow Canyon, which was an excellent choice for riding through and seeing all of Snow Canyon. Click here for our route. We rode the loop clockwise, which was the best way because of the way the hills are situated. Once we were done our ride, we ate lunch (not great and therefore not in this itinerary) and then drove to Hurricane, Utah, which is only about a 25 minute drive further East from St. George. We picked up some dinner from the grocery store and settled in for a relaxing evening at another Airbnb and this one was so nice! It’s a brand new place, built in March 2022, so everything is new and nice and well, we loved it. Here is the link to the Airbnb in Hurricane. It is also situated only about a half hour drive from the entrance to Zion National Park, so again not a lot of driving required, which is always a win for me.
Day Four – After filling up our camel backs with icy water and packing a lunch, we drove out to Zion, which is a very beautiful drive. You want to get there early to avoid crowds and the heat, which is what we did. This time of year the park opens at 6am and we arrived at 7:15am, which was a great time to get there. Earlier might have even been better, but come on, we were on vacation!
It cost us $35 US for a one week park entrance pass. There are buses that take you into the park with 9 stops. Each stop has some sort of visitor highlight. We stopped at the two most popular stops, The Grotto, which has the infamous Angel’s Landing and the stop called Temple of Sinawava where you can walk The Narrows. Our first hike was Scout’s Landing, which is the first part of Angel’s Landing. Basically, you hike up to the Scout’s Landing and then if you’re brave (and a little crazy) you can purchase a permit at the base of the hike to ascend the peak, which is the part known as Angel’s Landing. According to the ‘world wide web’ , 17-20 people have fallen to their death climbing the Angel’s Landing Peak, so we didn’t do that part needless to say! Scout’s Landing is perfectly safe with a paved route most of the way up. You could push a stroller up for an extra workout even.
Our second activity was The Narrows. You definitely need a good pair of shoes that can get wet for this one and a walking stick is very, very helpful. We lucked out and found walking sticks at the start of the water part of the hike, but I could see a lot of people had rented sticks. Some people even rented footwear, but that’s totally unnecessary. A pair of runners tied well is great. In the Narrows, you walk up the river, in the river. Usually the water is below your knee, but sometimes it’s up to your waist. With the typical warm temperatures in Zion, you won’t mind getting and keeping wet whilst you walk, in fact, my feet felt better in the water – nice and cool.
Day Five – Time to head home. After a wonderful, short, active trip, we headed home. One thing I will tell you though, should you decide to do this trip and you haven’t been before, the McCarran Car Rental place is described as Las Vegas Rental Cars on the road signs heading south back into the airport area. We learned that the hard way!
I love doing trips like this. You get a little taste of other environments, cultures, and communities. In Utah, we saw cacti, condors, multi colored orange flat top mountains. We went to restaurants that didn’t serve alcohol and we tasted custard icecream, which was pretty good and I don’t even like custard! We met friendly people and learned about zero landscaping which made everything look clean and tidy. So, plan a trip to Zion National Park already!
