By Kirk Kern
Self-quarantining restriction have lightened up, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe to go out in public. Do you want to be trapped on an airplane with a bunch of people you don’t know for a couple of hours? Not me. How about staying a a big hotel with thousands of guests? Again, that would be a no.
But there are still vacation options, particularly for those residing in Southern Nevada. A good, relatively safe place to visit is Zion National Park. First off, it’s a quick and easy drive up the Interstate 15 into Utah.
Second, almost all activities available at this destination are outdoors. Outdoor activities are probably the safest during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also a pretty attractive option for those who have been trapped in their homes for the past couple of months as well.
I’ve lived in Southern Nevada for more than 20 years (in two different stints), but had never made it up to Zion. Not sure exactly why, as a number of people have told me what a beautiful place it is. But I’m not a big hiker and after a back surgery and some nerve damage in my leg four years ago, hiking became even less enticing.
Still, when my wife threw out the option of a three-day getaway at the end of June, I thought, “Well, that sounds interesting … and safe.” Plus, I’ve been walking the dog an hour a day for the past few years, so some easy hikes wouldn’t be a problem.
So I started doing a little research about the park and then booked a hotel room at the Fairfield by Marriott Virgin Zion National Park hotel. It was about seven miles away from the park’s entrance, but still close enough. The hotel was very clean and located right along the Virgin River.
We didn’t notice until our last day there that you could go tubing down the Virgin River with a lot of people finishing their route next to the hotel.
We lucked out a bit because the park resumed its shuttle service the day we were there. For $1 apiece, you can ride the shuttle from the visitor’s center at the parks entry to a number of different trails. Since you can’t really drive though much of the park, this is the way to go.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, each shuttle was limited to only 33 passengers per shuttle, down from its usual 85. On our trip, we made sure to wear our masks on the shuttle, as did most of the passengers.
On the trails, masks were a little more sporadic. We didn’t wear them while walking, but tried to maintain social distancing. We went on two trails that day, the Riverside Walk and the Grotto Walk. Both were designated as “easy.”
The Riverside Walk started at Shuttle Stop 9 (the last stop), designated Temple of Sinawava. It’s about 2.2 miles and takes about an hour and a half. It’s flat ground on the trail, but (as with the whole park) provides some spectacular views along the Virgin River.
The second hike we took was the Grotto Trail, which started at the Zion Lodge and followed the main road about a mile (30 minutes) to shuttle stop No. 6 (or vice versa). It was pretty easy.
As we’re not regular hikers, that was pretty much a good day for us. However, even more fun was taking a drive from the visitor’s center into the park and then over to the east entrance. It’s slow driving and a winding road, perfect for driving with the top down. There is also a 1.1 mile tunnel you have to drive though.
We capped that afternoon with a nice meal in Springdale at a place called Oscars (recommended by a friend).
That day, there were about 7,000 visitors to the park, with about 3,400 using the shuttle.
The next day, we checked out of the hotel and went back to Springdale to check out the shops. There are quite a few curio shops in the town, all requiring masks for entry. Then we headed back to Nevada.
All in all, it was a very nice, stressless trip. The drive was easy (with the exception of a couple of bottlenecks near Mesquite), the hotel was priced right ($99/per night) and entry in the park and shuttle didn’t break the bank either (park entry was $35 per car and shuttle was $1 each).
We will go back for sure. Next time we’ll do the Upper Emerald Pool Trail, designated as moderate with a roundtrip of one mile and estimated at one hour. From what I’ve been told, the Emerald Pool is a must-see. When we went in July, the easy Lower Emerald Pool Trail was closed.