MONDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2025

(Springdale, UT)

I woke at 4.40am and didn’t get back to sleep, but our early night meant I’d had a reasonable amount of sleep. Andrew woke at 7.30, so I got up, made coffee and went for an amble outside. I was surprised to find it was quite breezy, and partly cloudy. Reporting back in, Andrew had checked the weather forecast and it called for a high of 21, with clouds. Based on this, we decided to head down the main canyon. After breakfast, we therefore headed for a shuttle stop, to catch the bus to the visitor centre, calling in at the outdoor shop along the way where Andrew got a new sun hat.

We crossed the bridge that takes you into the National Park, discovering that the admission booth was unmanned due to the US government shutdown. Fortunately, Utah state is covering some costs of keeping the park open, and volunteers were staffing the shuttle queue, not that there was a queue when we got there. We rode the shuttle all the way to the far end of the canyon, disembarking at the Temple of Sinawava, to do the riverside walk.

We knew it would be busy (it was) but we haven’t done this walk for a very long time, and the scenery was still beautiful.

Walking up river to the Narrows had become a very popular thing, and many people were headed into or out of the water, dressed in rented neoprene waders with large wooden sticks. We just admired the upstream view and then headed back.

On our return trip we passed a deer, and lots of hanging ferns, fed by water leaking from cracks in the rock.

Back at the shuttle stop, we caught a bus to the Grotto stop, from where we walked to the Zion Lodge, or at least we did just as soon as we managed to find the start of the trail, which appeared to be blocked by construction work. We found a bench in the shade in the Lodge garden to sit on and eat our snack bars.

After a brief rest we crossed the river and took the Sand Bench Trail to the Court of the Patriarchs. Or, as another hiker described it, the Sand Slog Trail… By this time, the temperature had risen beyond the predicted 21 degrees, and was somewhere around 26-27 degrees (depending on which source you believe). Combined with the very sandy trail, which is used by horses and so is very torn up, and it was hard going. Were took it slowly, drank lots and rested in the shade from time to time. The views along the way were very scenic though, so at least there was some reward for our effort. Eventually, we made it to the shuttle stop and didn’t have to wait long for the next bus.

Our original plan had been to walk the Pa’rus trail as well, but that was before the Sand Slog trail was a mile longer than advertised, and the temperature much higher. Instead we caught the shuttle to the visitor centre where we changed onto the town shuttle and were soon back at our hotel, for cold refreshments and showers, before we went to Pizza & Noodle again for dinner. The moon was rising as we set off. This time we managed to get a table out on the front deck. It was a lovely last evening in Springdale.

Videos of our 3 Zion hikes are now uploaded here:

Northgate Peaks: https://vimeo.com/1133339896

Riverside walk: https://vimeo.com/1133339897

Grotto to Court of the Patriarchs : https://vimeo.com/1133339892