Trip Up North – Zion National Park Photos & Experience Review
September 15-30th 2018 we went on a road trip up the 15 freeway from Lynwood, CA. Laura (wife), Amelia (2 year old), Olivia (6 month old) and I visited Zion National Park, Wasatch National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Grand Canyon Nation Park. We set up camp a total of 5 times and stayed at two airbnb’s throughout our trip. 3000 miles later these are some of our photos and recommendations.
First up was Zion National Park.
If you decide to stay at the campsites inside the park, reserve immediately within the 14 day reservation period. I managed to snag the last available campsite for the weekend of September 16th around midnight on Sunday September 2nd. I completely forgot that Utah’s timezone was 1 hour ahead and was a day late for what we needed, but I still managed to get the last site for Sunday and Monday. There are two campsites inside of Zion, South Campground and Watchman Campground. Both offer amazing views of the canyon, have restrooms, potable water and are literally about a block away from Springdale, Zions West entrance to the park. Springdale offers a few small convenience stores, clothing stores with showers and laundry rooms, great restaurants, private campsites and some other accommodations to experience Zion. Temperature around Mid September was pleasant, High 80°’s during the day and High 60°’s at night.
Once you pay the $35.00 entrance fee and are inside Zion you’ll have to ditch your car and hop on the shuttle to visit the ten or so destinations the Park is known for. If you’re like me and like to wander, you’ll probably skip the park pamphlet and drive straight through to the south entrance of the park. Driving to the south entrance you’ll go through the long Mt Carmel Tunnel and experience some amazing views of the canyon.
We stayed at the South Campground inside the park and the spaces are decently spaced out. They offer bathrooms with toilets, pissers, a small sink, potable water and plenty of wildlife walking through your campsite. We immediately saw a few deer wandering around. They also had a standard picnic table a decent space to park your car, rv or trailer. I did notice right away a few hikers passing through the campsite to get to trails or shuttle stops, not a big deal once you plot out all the local shuttle stops and trails. The camp hosts were friendly and helpful. They offered any extra gear we may have forgotten and were always on top of their registration game. I did encounter a two inch brown recluse spider as I was putting some solar powered string lights around our tree’s. Would definitely stay there again in the future! If you have any questions or need some advice e-mail me @ rolandoemora@gmail.com.
