What good will the unfathomed land be without the warmth of the serene ocher mountains that is tonic for vehemence and hidden harmony!

Zion is one of the most visited national parks in the United States of America located near the city of Springdale in the state of Utah. Zion stretches 15 miles (24 Km) and up to half a mile (800 m) deep. Zion is inundated with extraordinary views of rock formations and pine trees speck the Zion in clusters. Zion will leave your eyes spangled whether you are looking for a provocative hike or the more relaxed visit. (Tip: Since there is no network in the Zion, if you are using your phone for navigation, make sure that you download offline map of the area)

This is the continuation of our Grand Canyon trip during thanksgiving weekend 2017 and instead of heading back to Vegas and driving 4 hours 40 minutes from lower Antelope Canyon, we decided to en route Utah. After driving for 1 hour 35 minutes we stayed overnight in Kanab, a city in Utah. Next day after filling breakfast and a cup of coffee we started our drive to Zion, 30 miles from Kanab. (Tip: All visitors are required to pay an entrance fee of $25 per vehicle. If you are planning to stay longer or visiting other National Parks in a year, then purchasing an Annual Pass is a good idea to save some money, the pass costs $80 and you are covered for one year to all lands owned by the National Park Service (NPS), Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Since we did already pay $30 for visiting Grand Canyon, we paid $50 more and purchased the annual pass).

No video or the pictures that we clicked can do justice to the jaw-dropping beauty of Zion, one needs to experience the magic of this place. But it won’t be justice either not to include some of the photos from my journey. With whatever we experienced, I can keep on going about Zion as its rightly said by Oliver Wendell Holmes “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” but I will let the photos speak a bit and on you to experience the magic.

Based on what I could gather from my friends for other seasons, one has to be prepared for crowd no matter what day of the week you arrive with some flexibility between the months of November and March and you can drive and park for free in any of the parking lots but if you are visiting Zion from April to October, cars are not permitted to drive through Zion, there is shuttle service that is free, fast and easy. Since we visited in the month of November, we were able to drive without restrictions.

We really only hit the highlights because of the time constraint but I heard from the local sources that Red mountains trail is the best and there are other trails and panoramic viewpoints like angels landing, The narrows, Emerald pool trails. There are lots of campgrounds nearby Zion as well and if you plan on camping, make sure to book your site as well. Then we started our 2 hours 45 minutes journey to Las Vegas. (Tip: if you are heading to Vegas, make sure that you exit the zion from the other end that is Springdale city, it will save you 40 minutes of time)

Read about my Las Vegas trip on my other blog that is coming soon!!

DISCLAIMER: ALL PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG POST WERE TAKEN AND EDITED BY MY TRAVEL PARTNERS AND ME.