I don’t have one decent photo to share of our Zion experience. This is from my phone shot from from inside the shuttle.
Do you know that saying that squirrels are rats with a good publicist? That’s what came to mind when I woke up in Zion for the first time. Why isn’t this place as popular as Yosemite and why doesn’t it get more attention? I’m not saying Yosemite is like a rat — I just really couldn’t believe that Zion was so stunning. The pictures don’t do it justice. It also lacks iconic landmarks like El Capitan or Half Dome that make it recognizable. But whoa, she’s a showstopper. Definitely go! But sadly, I just don’t think Zion is child-friendly for young kids. I didn’t see any other families with small kids … and now I know why:
It definitely seems suited for the serious outdoorsy active types. People are fit. And they all had hiking sticks. Most of the trails are also long and challenging. There’s not a plethora of easy family friendly hikes.
They don’t allow cars into the main valley of the park. This is great for the environment! But it does not make it convenient. The wait for the shuttle was about an hour. You need a ticket and for the love, just getting a ticket was a lot of work with precise advanced planning (EDIT: As of late 2021, I read they no longer require shuttle tickets). The shuttle itself is sort of a long experience — “long” in kid language. It was about a 30 minute ride start-to-finish from the que to the end of the line. So 90 minutes of waiting just to get to the start of the adventure. You can’t see much from the shuttle — all of the stunning scenery is on the hikes. And they are advanced hikes, I might add. How do people get around in the winter when the shuttles aren’t running?
While I was on the shuttle I thought “Oh, we could just ride bikes here next time.” Nope. There’s no bike path. And barely any extra space for cyclist to ride on the road. I closed my eyes every time our shuttle passed someone on a bike. Attaching a bike seat to your bike would be scary, and forget about your kid riding their own bike on this road.
Then there were the laughable dangers — harmful algae, deadly deer and flash flood warnings. I could not make this up.
5. The algae situation took a lot of my time. I read up about it, talked to other moms who had been there, and then made a bold decision that we would risk it. But then three different Rangers at the park told us there’s just not enough research to know how the algae would affect kids. Yes, a dog died. Swimming was definitely out of the question. They definitely shouldn’t get anything in their mouth or put their head under water. But we wanted to hike The Narrows (it’s the top of my bucket list). If they were to get splashed in the face or slip and fall where their head went under water, there could be some serious issues that develop. Ha! All kids do it slip and fall. We decided not to risk it.
6. They don’t allow campfires! (EDIT: This seems to change depending on the drought and fire danger, and I recently read they are allowing them in 2022). For the love of God, you’ve got to be kidding me. I respect the fire danger and drought but campfires are the best thing ever for camping kids. No smores?!?! This is when we decided to bail on Zion, leave early and head to our next destination.
Overall it’s very clean and gorgeously maintained — modern without losing its national park vibe. The Watchman campground is gorgeous. I really want to go back to do the Overlook Trail but there’s zero parking there (and I don’t think they offer a shuttle?)
So, do you disagree? Did I get this wrong? Please tell me why or what I’m missing because I’d love to go back before my kids are teens or tweens.
