Sunday, June 21, 2026
This was THE MOST EPIC day. Like, I have so many amazing photos that it’s ridiculous. I am terrible at narrowing things down (#foreverindecisive) so please brace for an onslaught of pictures. 😬
So far I can confidently say Zion now ranks in the very top of my favorite national parks.
Let’s run through the day!
Morning at the hotel: lovely free, hot breakfast, gorgeous patio views, a short swim for Ethan/ I soaked my legs in the hot tub:
Picked up e-bikes at 10 am:
Cool shot from the bike shop gift shop, courtesy of Asher:
Ready to go! E-bikes are awesome; it’s so little effort!
Biked to the park entrance:
Off on the Pa’rus Trail at the entrance:
Every single mile in the park is gorgeous. There is no single spot that doesn’t have killer views!
No cars allowed in the park in the summer except the shuttle buses, making it perfect for biking!!! Wide open roads.
Gorgeous scenery everywhere you look. Being on the bikes is such a unique experience because the mountains tower over you and you’re just immersed in it.
Also, the bikes are awesome because you can just stop wherever you want. (Only other transport option is the shuttle but then if you just want to stop briefly, it’s kind of a production to stop and wait for another shuttle. On the bikes we can just stop for a few minutes and move on.)
Short walkway up to view Court of the Patriarchs:
Eventually made it to the Zion Lodge, the only lodging within the park. We dropped my mom here to hang out with a Diet Coke while we rode on just a few minutes to the Grotto trailhead to hike Scout Lookout!
Locked up our bikes- starting our hike!
Scout Lookout was marked “strenuous”, and it definitely was!!! Omg. ALL uphill… up and up and up… plus it was hot! 🥵
The views were insane the entire way though. It was really hard (in these conditions especially) but WORTH IT!
My dad did about half and then turned back out of caution. It was really intense honestly and our heart rates were getting sky high. The distance was fine, it was the elevation + heat combo! He got to see most of the views though so it was all good! 🙂 He did WAY more than most 75 year olds would ever do!!!
So beautiful
This is basically the hike! lol. Switchbacks for days.
Just incredible though:
Photos don’t capture it at all.
So many steep inclines:
I caught up with the boys and Ivan at the top.
Final set of like 30 switchbacks were brutal!
Whew made it! Amazing.
Okay turn to go back down… this was “easier” but ended up really hurting my right knee!!! It was tough on that steep incline down.
Love this:
Ethan and Asher ahead of me on a switchback:
Made it down, rode back to the lodge, met up with my parents and time to EAT!!! We were sweaty and thirsty and famished. My watch said I burned 880 calories hiking.
Downed 2 big glasses of water and ate a delicious chicken sandwich with avocado and Gouda cheese and 2 Arnold Palmers in the air conditioning. Ahhh much better.
After refueling, back on our bikes! We still had more of the park to see.
Funny shot of my mom on the back of Ivan’s bike, lol. We rented this “tandem” option for my mom because she was concerned her vertigo/balance issues would not work on an e-bike. Ivan was gracious enough to agree to be her “driver” all day. 😉
Group selfie – just realized I accidentally cut out my dad!
We hiked up to Weeping Rock which was a beautiful spot!! At the top water drips over the cliff and it’s like you’re behind a small waterfall/rain shower. Also felt great with the heat.
Rode all the way to the end of the park (Temple of Sinawava area), stopping at various lookouts along the way.
It was later afternoon by this point- 5:00 or so. Bikes due back by 6. The lighting in the park was amazing in that later hour. Everything was stunning. I absolutely adored this whole ride back.
We will gloss over about 1 hour of annoying chaos where my mom ended up “lost” on the shuttle (she decided to take the shuttle back instead of the bike, but there was a miscommunication about which stop she’d wait at… the boys and Ivan ended up back at the bike place ahead of us but didn’t have the car keys (I did…), my dad and I couldn’t find my mom and phone service was poor… we were hot and dehydrated by this point and everyone was crabby at each other!!! Finally we got my mom, the boys and Ivan ended up walking all the way back to the hotel and we all made it back in one piece to collapse in our air conditioned rooms. Hahaha. lol not every moment can be bliss! 😝
After cold drinks and some relaxing, we had a group conference and decided we would actually head back into the park for one more hike in the evening. (We really wanted to do the Canyon Overlook Trail – options were yesterday evening OR Monday morning; everyone decided we’d rather do the hike in the evening and then have a slow quiet Monday morning relaxing at the hotel.)
This ended up being a great choice. The park was absolutely gorgeous in the evening.
We drove ~20 min to the Canyon Overlook Trail (cars allowed in this portion).
This hike is a must do! Just beautiful. Definitely moderate with drop offs/some technically tricky spots for some people but no problem for us and the boys. It didn’t work for my mom.
The end is a vast viewpoint overlooking a canyon- lots of people were there waiting to watch the sun set behind the canyon wall.
Great family shots!
Magical.
Saw more bighorn sheep on the way out!
Cool spot along the trail:
Nearly dark on our way out of the park:
Most restaurants in Springdale close by 9! It was 8:50 on our way back into town; luckily we found a great place that seated until 9:30, a fun pizza and noodles place with a beer garden out back. It’s a 110 year old church remade into a restaurant!
Super cute place. Gorgeous warm evening (not hot just perfect). Delicious pizza. This was a wonderful endcap to our epic day!!
Back at the hotel, my mom and dad headed to crash. It was a long, full day!
Ivan, Ethan and I relaxed by the fire pit for a half hour or so. Loved this.
Whew what a day!! Sorry for the photo overload but as you can see, there are just SO many beautiful things to photograph here!
Now it’s Monday and we are enjoying a slow, relaxing morning at the hotel! Had a long, leisurely breakfast. Now sitting with my feet in hot tub typing this and about to jump in the pool- it’s heating up! We want to watch the Argentina game at 11 and then we (boys and Ivan and I) have the most iconic Zion hike (the Narrows) planned for this afternoon! 🙂
I’m loving this trip very much so far. 💕
GRATEFUL KAE 
Wow this looks amazing! I love all the pictures! You are definitely selling me on picking Zion as the NP to visit for our 10y anniversary trip. The e-bikes sounds super fun! I love getting around on bikes! My friend and I rented bikes when we were in the Banff region. We biked from Canmore where we stayed to Banff and it was so much fun! We stopped and took so many pictures and then the town of Banff has a free bike valet where you can park your bike. You guys will have to go to Banff on a family trip some day! It’s the only place I’ve been that rivals the beauty of New Zealand (New Zealand is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been but Banff is a close 2nd).
The tandem bike is funny – Ivan is Son-in-law of the year to be your mom’s guide/biker! All of the hikes look amazing but that night one looks especially great!
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Looks amazing!
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Oh my goodness this looks AMAZING! I love that you can ride so easily on the e-bikes on the roads and not have to worry about traffic. That’s incredible.
And those views are STUNNING! I would love to go there someday.
I know what you mean about how hard it is to narrow down photos. I say put them all in! I love a photo-heavy post.
I had to chuckle when I saw the Birks. My daughter did a short (but intense) hike in Slovenia in Birks and everyone was giving us looks as they walked by in their hiking boots with hiking poles, etc. Oops. We hadn’t planned to do the hike when we left our hotel, so I let her wear them for the. Definitely NOT ideal for hiking.
Food and drinks taste amazing after a hot, intense workout like that.
We’re watching the Argentina game right now (though it’s 7 PM in the UK, so we’re at different ends of our day).
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And I love getting to read about this trip! I enjoyed my trip to Red River Gorge, but those are just starter rocks. I can’t wait to go to Utah and check it out for myself.
I would have had a really tough time with the heat but I would have pushed myself to get those views!
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I AM SO GLAD YOU LOVE ZION! I mean, I figured you would based on your guys’ travel style/interests but omg isn’t it just such a mind blowingly cool national park?!? I love the e-bike idea; I think I told you this already but since my kids were a bit younger when we went, that wasn’t really an option I could look into. We did do a horseback ride which was very cool, though. Honestly, Zion is one of the few national parks where I am determined to re-visit someday so maybe we can do e-bikes then! I agree that the late afternoon/early evening is such a glorious time especially. We did both Scouts Lookout and the Canyon Overlook in that late afternoon hour (2 different days) and the light is just so beautiful. The switchbacks are killer especially “Walter’s Wiggles” at the end, but so worth it. I’m so excited you’re doing the Narrows today and can’t wait to see your pics! Also I am SUPER jealous of your bighorn sheep streak 🙂 We didn’t see any bighorn sheep in Zion at all (or anywhere in Utah!).I guess another reason I have to return…
Lisa, you should definitely go! I think it would be a great couples trip. Banff is 100% on my list too.
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Beautiful!
Wide open roads are the way to go with e-bikes (or any bikes) IMO. My husband signed us up for e-biking in Phinda South Africa, and it was hell. The “road” part was all sand and just deep wheel ruts, and then it was through the forest on narrow tiny twisty trails. I am NOT a technical rider, although I am in good shape, and this was just awful for me. The number of times I grazed a tree or went off the path and hit some other vegetation…well, it was a lot of times. NEVER AGAIN. I am only ever biking on solid pavement or gravel on a wide path.
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