Day 6: Springdale to Bryce Canyon City

It was another early start for us today, with the alarm going off at 6am. Zion is in the top three most visited national parks in the USA and trying to park there can be a nightmare. We wanted to try and leave the car in the main car park at the visitor centre, which I'd read online often fills up shortly after 7am. If we couldn't find a space, we'd have to leave our car at the hotel and catch a shuttle bus from the town of Springdale into the park instead. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but a bit of extra hassle.

It looked like quite an overcast morning as we stepped outside and walked to the car.

The benefit of staying overnight in Springdale was that we only had a couple of miles to drive to get into the national park. We joined a column of other vehicles heading in the same direction. I was confused when, a couple of minutes into the journey, the cars in front of us ground to a halt. Not a very good photo below, but it turned out to be because a family of small deer was crossing the road

They weren't the only deer we saw; as we got closer to the visitor centre, another one ran down the road in front of us.

The good news was that we were in luck and we found a parking space with no problem It was a rather scenic car park.

Because Zion is so busy, you aren't allowed to drive along the main road through the canyon. Instead, there is a free shuttle bus service which runs from the visitor centre and stops at all the main starting points for hikes. We managed to get on a shuttle straight away and were soon on our way. The driver gave commentary about the park as we made our way down the canyon and even stopped for everyone to take photos of a group of wild turkeys by the roadside.

We got off the shuttle at the final stop. The road ends here as the canyon becomes increasingly narrow after this point.

Our plan was to follow a short trail called Riverside Walk.

As the name suggests, the trail follows the route of the Virgin River as it flows through the canyon.

Within a few minutes of walking we had our best wildlife encounter of the day, when we caught sight of a deer in the undergrowth just a few metres off the path.

Although it was still early in the morning, the path was reasonably busy as it leads to the starting point of one of Zion's most famous hikes: the Narrows.

That hike, which was definitely not on our bucket list, involves hiking for miles in the river itself through the narrowest part of the canyon. The water in the river can be waist-deep in places and the whole experience sounds absolutely terrifying to me. But there were lots of people passing us in waterproof gear, armed with big sticks to help them stay upright in the river, so it was clearly a very popular choice!

In the gaps between the shuttle-loads of hikers coming to do that, we were able to enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet on the trail.

The canyon walls are really very impressive here.

We had some lovely views of the river too.

It was a beautiful shade of light blue

After about a mile of walking we got to the point where the paved trail ends and the river effectively becomes the trail.

In the picture below, you'll be able to see hikers armed with big sticks and wearing special waterproof boots, ready to head into the river. There are stores in Springdale where you can rent equipment for the hike.

We definitely weren't going any further, so it was time for us to turn around and head back out through the canyon.

On the way we had some more beautiful views of the river

We took the shuttle back down to the visitor centre, where the car park was now completely full. We disappointed quite a few people when we went back to the car to stock up on water for our next hike; there were lots of vehicles circling round and hoping that a space would open up.

We weren't planning to leave the national park just yet, though. There was a second hike we wanted to try: the Watchman Trail.

I didn't know lots about it; just that it was about three miles and lead to a viewpoint. Three miles sounded like it ought to be manageable

The path was initially flat, leading alongside the river, before crossing over a road.

On the opposite side of the road we began to climb upwards via a series of steps.

It looked like the views were going to be fantastic.

Before too long we were able to see the peak of the Watchman mountain, from which the trail gets its name.

Our route led steadily uphill towards the viewpoint.

The higher we got, the more we could see of the canyon.

Although they're both canyons, visiting Zion is quite a different experience from visiting the Grand Canyon. At the Grand Canyon, you're at the top of the canyon looking down. At Zion, you're at the bottom of the canyon looking up.

The trail continued to wind uphill.

It was a bit rocky in places, otherwise not too difficult.

It's also one of the park's less popular hikes – which was part of the reason why I'd chosen it – so although we did meet other people, it didn't feel overly busy.

I'm finding it a bit harder to be impressed by normal cactuses after the amazing ones I saw at Saguaro National Park earlier in the week, but we passed plenty of them as we walked. This may be my favourite view of the day

This one was pretty cool too, though.

We passed a sign warning us not to roll rocks down onto people below us Hadn't even though about that as a potential hazard!

While it had been quite a dull morning and even rained slightly at one point when we were on the Riverside Walk, the sky was now looking really blue.

We'd come up quite a long way by this point and the visitor centre was far below us in the distance.

We weren't quite at the top yet, but we were nearly there.

Yep, there we were: Watchman Overlook.

What a great view

The view was great in all directions. In the distance we could see down to the little town of Springdale, where we'd spent the night.

In the other direction, we could look down to the road that winds its way through the canyon.

And we could look down to the trail we'd just climbed up too

The views of the Watchman were great, and I loved this little tree.

There were only a handful of other people at the top when we got there, so it was pretty quiet by Zion standards – if you do a Google image search for “overcrowding at Zion”, you'll see what I mean!

Once we'd finished admiring the views, it was time to start the hike back down.

Going down was a lot easier than going up, although it was after 11am by this point and the day was definitely starting to heat up.

Before too long, we were back down at ground level.

We walked back along the river to the visitor centre, then made someone's day by giving up our space in the car park.

We were starving by this point, so drove into Springdale where we shared a delicious pizza and some garlic bread at a local restaurant.

We parked the car back at the hotel we'd been staying in while we went to get food. The sky was looking a lot brighter than it had been when we'd checked out of there in the morning!

Tomorrow we are visiting a different canyon and a different national park, so after lunch it was time to leave Springdale behind and set off towards Bryce Canyon City. Our route took us back along the road we'd driven into the national park yesterday evening.

We had some more fantastic views ...

... as we made our way around corners ...

... and through tunnels.

The rocks here are so unusual.

Eventually we left the national park behind and began driving northeast through Utah.

The scenery seemed to change around every corner.

We drove through a place called Red Canyon.

The rocks here really were incredibly red ...

... and we even drove through a couple of little tunnels in the rock.

Eventually we made it to Bryce Canyon City, where we are staying for the next two nights. We've got a pretty standard hotel room, with two queen beds.