Some days go as planned and others are like today! We had hoped to get to Zion National Park fairly early in the day … well, that didn’t happen. Between a sleepy wife who didn’t want to get up this morning, motorhome speeds and a time change (not in our favor!) it was after 2 pm by the time we got there! The views along Highway 9 were great, however, as we got closer to the park.
Going through Springdale, Utah didn’t help. There are signs everywhere about no RVs in the park and there are paid parking lots with free shuttles into the park. They wanted $40 to park the RV for the day and most of them were full!! (that’s more than lots of campgrounds!) We did the loop through town a couple times before just going to the park entrance and feigning ignorance. It worked in our favor. The ranger was great and said they have oversized parking at the visitor’s center for RVs and we were in luck – there were two empty spaces. After parking we had a quick lunch then caught one of the shuttle buses in the park to tour the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. (There no RVs are allowed on the road and limited cars.)
We rode to the last stop (9) and took the Riverside Walk at Temple of Sinawava. The trail is paved and follows the Virgin River into a deep canyon. The park was packed and every trail we went on was busy.
At the end of Riverside Walk you can continue onto The Narrows. The Narrows hike is up to 9.5 miles depending on how far you want to go. We saw lots of folks coming out. They all had on water-type shoes, waterproof pants and tops and hiking poles since you cross the river multiple times. Maybe another time – when the temperature is above 50 and the wind isn’t blowing so hard! We opted to turn around here and head back. Roundtrip was a 2.25 mile hike.
We stopped at Big Bend to get a look at Angels Landing. (stop 8)
In the panorama view you can see all of the formations.
We were on to Shuttle Stop 5 near the Zion Lodge. We hiked to the Lower Emerald Pool (1.2 miles). 
While the trail is paved, there are steep drop offs along the way and I am not fond of heights, so I made Tobey walk on the outside!
It was the wrong time of day to actually see the emerald color of the pool because there wasn’t enough sun. It was still an amazing view. The trail does go behind the small waterfall and yes, we did get a little wet.
We had a beautiful view back at the trail on the west side of the Virgin River.
It was already past 5pm, so we decided not to hike anymore, but stopped at Court of the Patriarchs for a photo. There is a small trail up the hill across the road which gave us a nice view. 
From left to right, they are Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and the white one on the far right back is Jacob Peak. The peaks were named after three towering figures from the Old Testament. In 1916, a Methodist minister, Frederick Vining Fisher, gave the religious names to the peaks. Today it isn’t hard to imagine how the grandeur of the view could inspire such reverence. Each of them are over 6,800 feet in elevation.
We arrived back to the RV after 6pm and both decided that Zion deserves more time for a visit, but we would both like warmer temperatures.
We drove about 30 minutes to our camping spot for the night. We are again on BLM land near I-15 and Toquerville, Utah. The wind is still blowing but we are blocked a little by the cedar trees so we hope to have a calmer night.
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