Zion National Park’s Hidden Jewels – Off the Beaten Path in an RV!

December 2017 – Last year we took our RV to Zion National Park during the incredible fall foliage season in late October, and we were blown away by the beauty. We had visited Zion National Park several times before, but never when the leaves were turning.

We published two posts with pics and stories of our travel adventures at the time (here and here), and I had photos all ready to go for a third post, but by the time I was able to sit down and turn those photos into a blog post, it was January and our other more recent travel adventures were taking precedence.

But I’ve got a window of time now, so here are our photos from “Hidden Zion,” the back roads that wander through the lesser known parts of Zion National Park and the surrounding area.

The “front side” of Zion National Park is accessible from the village of Springdale and is visited by massive numbers of tourists every year. 4.3 million people jammed themselves into Zion Canyon in 2016, a 50% increase over 2014 which had been the busiest year until then. 2017 is surpassing that record by another 5%!!

Zion Canyon — the major canyon in Zion National Park — is without doubt the most dramatic part of the Park, but isn’t all there is to see…

As I noted a few weeks back, just stopping the car along Route 9 on the east side of Zion National Park and walking 100 yards in from the highway can be a fabulous experience (blog post here).

Over on the west side of the Zion National Park lies “Kolob Canyon,” a wonderful area full of towering red rocks and home to a few excellent (and little traveled) hiking trails.

There are roads leading towards the Park from several directions, and we poked our truck’s nose down a few to see what we’d find. After climbing for a long way, we were suddenly in the middle of an aspen grove.

The yellow trees were shedding their leaves in showers of gold, and we walked down a small road deep into the heart of the aspen grove, bewitched by the leaves swirling in the autumn breezes around us.

We love aspen trees. There’s something about the way the leaves shimmer on the branches and the the way the white trunks grow in thick crowds, many adorned with little eyes, that we find very endearing.

What better time for a selfie?!

We roamed around some more and came across an unexpected pond. The sky was alive with fantastic patterns of clouds high above.

We started back down again and were enchanted by the golden glow of the fields of gently swaying grass.

We passed a rancher on horseback moving among his cattle. What a place to graze your herd!!

In the late afternoon light, the Kolob Canyon views were truly jaw dropping. I was very busy in the passenger’s seat snapping pics!

Every bend in the road yielded another stunning image.

Zion National Park is one of those places that offers layer upon layer of wonder and is worthy of much leisurely wandering.

We thought we’d “been there and done that” years ago on a tent camping trip when we zipped through Zion on our way from Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon. On our next visit during our first year of full-timing we saw just a little bit more. Finally, on our RV trip to Zion last year, we hung around the area long enough to start exploring the nooks and crannies in depth.

Yet we still haven’t done any of the iconic hikes that make Zion National Park so famous, so it is still rock solid in its position at the top of our bucket list of “must see” places!!

When I was in Paris a few months ago, a new friend asked me if we still find new places to go even after ten years of traveling around North America full-time. I had to laugh because we still feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface of seeing anything.

What a beautiful life we are blessed to be living that we can go back to a place like Zion National Park again and again and still find ourselves awe-struck by the scenery and curious to find out what lies around the next bend.

More info about Zion National Park:

• Zion National Park Official Website – National Park Service
• Zion National Park Official Maps – Scroll down to see them all
• Zion National Park Shuttle System – An overview
• Springdale Shuttle System – An overview
• Parking Map for the Springdale Shuttle – Parking is easiest to the south
• Zion National Park Campgrounds Inside the Park – Two in Zion Canyon and one in Kolob Canyon
• More RV Park Options – RV Park Reviews
• Watchman Campground, South Campground & Zion Lodge – Interactive Google Maps

Blog posts from our RV trips to Zion National Park:

• Zion National Park “West” RV Trip – Gorgeous Kolob Canyons! 12/22/16
• Zion National Park RV Trip – One AWESOME Canyon! 12/15/16
• Zion NP, Kodachrome Basin & Snow Canyon, UT – Great Red Rocks! 10/31/07

Blog posts from the area near Zion National Park:

• Best Friends Animal Sanctuary & Southwest Wildlife Foundation in Utah 09/15/08
• Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park – Shape Shifting in the Sand! 11/08/17
• Johnson Canyon Movie Set – A Spooky Ghost Town – Happy Halloween! 10/27/17
• Kanab – Hub for the National Parks + Gorgeous Canyons Nearby! 11/12/17
• Kanab & Alton, UT – Whoa!!! 09/29/08
• Sand Hollow State Park, Utah – An Oasis in the Desert! 11/21/17
• Zion National Park “West” RV Trip – Gorgeous Kolob Canyons! 12/22/16

Blog posts from all our travels to National Parks and UNESCO World Heritage Sites in North America

Our most recent posts:

• Beehive Trail in Arizona – A “Mini Wave” hike by Lake Powell 07/19/24
• Reese Goose Box Review: 20K Gen 3 TESTED + How to Hitch 06/27/24
• Lake Powell – Heart of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 05/10/24
• Quick Release Pull Pins for Fifth Wheel Landing Jacks – YES! 05/03/24
• Sheep May Safely Graze (in the Mountains with Dogs!) 04/26/24

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