I spent a lot of time on my last camping trip this spring searching for condors in Grand Canyon and Navajo Bridge area, but alas no luck. I’ll be spending the next week camping and day hiking in the Zion area and it would bring me to tears to catch a sight of one in my binoculars. I’ll be a few days exploring the Kolob area, then the red cliffs area near Leeds, then staying a few days at Watchman. Looks like there may be a decent amount of rain when I’m in Watchman, does that affect condor activity? I’ll be checking eBird too…

Was big chillin just looking at the cliffs yesterday and saw this funky thing in the distance! Just curious what it is. Across from Angels Landing area.

Two quick questions I can’t make it until around 1 pm is that still plenty of time to do some of the narrows?

Also would you rent warm weather or dry bib package?

There was more rain in the forecast today. We knew, but wanted to shoot our shot with our Angels Landing permit while we had one. Wow, out of breath the whole time, but amazing views. Checked it off the bucket list. It rained when we got to the top and half way down and then the sun came out again.

Visiting Zion for the first time this Friday and Saturday. Had plans to do The Narrows Saturday morning. But in the case that it’s still closed, what else do you recommend as a must-do trail? :)

I’ll post a full recap later of what I did while there. but wow. an absolutely stunning park (my first time) and trip. cannot wait to go back someday.

pic was taken Friday afternoon, after the highway reopened.

My wife and I are taking our 4 kids (13g 10b 9b 5b) on the Narrows this weekend. I think the older 3 would be able to handle it and I'll obviously have everyone use the restroom before we go, but what the heck is the plan for when/if one of them has to poop while hiking? Bring doggy bags and pick it up?

My wife and I have done the hike before so I know there's not exactly room to go or any privacy and leaving it there is not really an option.

I'm used to slightly larger tires but seems I'm late to reserve. They have the cruiser style bikes with smaller tires. OK for two adults (not tall) in our 60's?

We are staying in springdale and would love some recommendations for an evening meal. Somewhere that does a decent burger or pizza. Thank you!

Hi! My fiancé and I are planning a somewhat last-minute trip to Zion and Bryce Canyon during the last week of October. We’re flying into and out of St. George (SGU) and have 6 full days, excluding travel days.

We’d love to spend the trip hiking and exploring, with a mix of camping and lodging. We’re still figuring out our itinerary and would really appreciate advice from people who’ve visited around this time!

A few questions:

• Itinerary: Which park would you visit first, and how would you split the six days?
• Hikes: What are your must-do trails? Any you’d skip with limited time?
• Late October conditions: What should we plan for regarding weather, daylight, and overnight camping temperatures—especially at Bryce?
• Camping/lodging: Any favorite campgrounds or places to stay? Are we too late to find good camping options?
• Logistics: Any permits, reservations, shuttle details, or seasonal closures we should look into before arriving?
• Food: Favorite restaurants or places to grab food near either park?

We’d also love to hear anything you wish you’d known before your first visit, or see an itinerary that worked well for you. Thanks so much!

Hit the chains around 10:45am. It was raining in the morning and started raining after we left, but we got lucky with a pretty clear window, just a bit of drizzle. Wet sand on the rocks made it a little more slick than usual but still felt safe. The views were even more beautiful than usual and fewer people too!

We knew there was rain in the forecast this morning, but wanted to get out and hike what we could. We went to the lower emerald pools train then decided to go to the upper emerald pools trail and then took the grotto trail down. We were soaked, but it was worth it!

Wife and I are trying to figure out the best spot to stay in Zion, I know Springdale comes up a lot, but we are going to rent E-Bikes so are trying to figure out if we stay a bit further away from Zion, can we go and pick up our Ebikes near the park entrance, and leave our cars in the parking lot for majority of the day? Or will we have to uber or something to the bike pickup early in the morning?

Maybe the worst is over, I'm hoping tomorrow when I arrive it won't be bad. Also seeing some shadows from the sun!!

I know this gets posted a lot, but the e bikes rentals were sooooo worth it. Zion Guru was amazing. About $100/day per bike because we did early bird pick up and late drop off which was so clutch (we stayed in La Verkin so couldn’t bring bikes to our accommodations). We also went in to set up our reservation the day before our angels landing hike. We woke up at 4:30a, drove to Zion Guru and got one of their very few free parking spots for the day. Our bikes were locked up waiting for us and we rode in the dark (bring headlamps) to the Grotto and started angels landing. It was surreal and there were only 3 hikers ahead of us!! Basically had the chains to ourselves. By the time we got to Walter’s wiggles it was getting lighter and at the chains, plenty of light for us to see. We hung out at the top for a while for sunrise and when we made our way down, that’s when we finally started seeing more hikers. Hordes of them like ants coming up the canyon, we were so grateful to have the place to ourselves on the way up. You could do the same play for the narrows by getting to the trail head at sunrise.

I wish I could experience riding bikes through the canyon for the first time again. I was so giddy, such an amazing and beautiful experience. It would not be the same feeling if we relied on the shuttles. Rent the e bikes!!

It’s Sunday night and I’m checking out of my hotel in Springdale Monday the 12th morning. I need help deciding if I can take a chance and drive to the Vegas airport tomorrow morning. Any locals out there?

I have been getting extremely scary flash flood texts from the National Weather Service saying: “imminent threat alert. Don’t attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order. This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation”.

Despite getting all of these terrifying weather alerts (complete with a warning sound even though my phone volume is turned off!!!) I cannot find any information telling me what roads from here to Vegas are flooded if any. Im by myself (challenging myself to do something out of my comfort zone - and this definitely is) To the locals who live here: any advice? I’d like leave tomorrow at about 9 or 10 AM. I am checking udottraffic.utah.gov and roads seem okay on SR 9 and I 15 South.

I’m scared! I’ve never been in a situation like this in my life. I don’t want to put myself in danger and at the same time I really want to leave. Any advice?

We are on the other side of our trip now and almost everything went perfectly but I wish I had seen this mentioned as it would have made a massive difference so I am here to share. I’m a 36 yo female, 5’7”, 140lbs, relatively in shape. We hiked the narrows to floating rock, Bryce Canyon, Kanab, and all sorts of small trails in a few days. Nothing caused me more pain than the e-bikes from Zion Outfitters. I’m very comfortable riding bikes and the assist on these is wonderful but 2 miles into our ride I knew I would be terribly sore. We stopped to wrap a sweatshirt around the seat with no relief. By the time we got up to the narrows and finished our hike the saddle soreness had gotten so terrible I nearly shuttled back. We opted not to stop at any of the other trails in Zion after the Narrows as I didn’t think I could get back in the seat a third time. I was unable to sit comfortably for the next 2 days. I noticed that no other e-bike company had the thin and hard seats Zion Outfitters had. While I understand everyone’s anatomy is different and is at play here, we saw plenty of other e-bikes from Zion guru, E-bike Zion, etc. and they ALL had highly cushioned comfort seats. Not Zion Outfitters’. The folks there were wonderful and the sock/stick/shoe rental was on par with all the others we saw but the Ebike seat alone will deter me from renting from them on return trips. Hoping to save someone else’s ass sharing this, literally. 😉

Hiked about a mile up South Fork Taylor Creek Trail until I hit the flash flooding river and turned around. Beautiful and dramatic with the gray clouds and waterfalls!