Zion National Park, Utah, USA 14th June 2023

We stayed for three nights in a cabin in Zion Lodge inside the national park.  It was a short two hour drive through beautiful landscape from Bryce Canyon so we had time to savour the views en route.  We made good use of the park shuttle bus to get us to the trailheads for a couple of uphill hikes and a flatter hike along the river.

The park was very busy as you would expect which meant that we would be walking with other people.  On one of the hikes, the Watchman Trail, we were following a family, and the father pointed to the top of a ridge saying that's where we're going.  Sue thought he was joking but 90 minutes later we were standing at the top.

Zion is another dark sky area with low light pollution so once again stunning views of the night sky.

In front of the main lodge building was a large grassy area with an enormous tree.  During the day this was thronging with people with picnics but once the day visitors left, they were replaced by four mule deer who came to graze.  Two of the deer were radio collared.  This area was surrounded by benches and a good place to sit and sample the local beers.

The weather in Zion was generally sunny with clear skies but would change rapidly.  One afternoon from nowhere came a "big wind", gale force, which blew through the canyon for about half hour and then just as quickly disappeared.  Also another afternoon we had to curtail a walk when the sunny sky suddenly turned dark blue/grey and we had to hurry back to avoid getting caught in the ensuing thunderstorm.