While staying in Las Vegas, a day trip to Zion National Park in Utah can easily be added to your itinerary.
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For my mother-in-law’s 50th birthday, she wanted to take the family to Las Vegas. We booked the hotel, flights, rental car, and everything we would need. This included Tyler going to stay with my parents since we weren’t bringing a one-year-old to Las Vegas with us.
During the planning phase of this trip, Justin had seen information about Zion National Park day trips from Vegas. When we researched it a bit further, we found the park is only about a 2-hour drive from where we were staying. The photos looked gorgeous, and I’d heard of some of the famous hikes such as Angels Landing and The Zion Narrows. We knew we wouldn’t be doing those big hikes on a day trip, but we wanted to see the towering canyon walls, rock formations, waterfalls, and a few lookout locations.
Originally, we wanted to plan a full day in the park, but a few circumstances changed that for us. First, I fell pregnant with Ryan in July, so while I wasn’t showing the pregnancy, my body was already feeling the effects. Two, we were all more tired than we thought we would be from staying out late the night before on the Vegas Strip. But, even with these challenges, we still made the road trip to the park to follow our one-day Zion National Park itinerary.
Getting There
Zion National Park is in southern Utah near the border with Nevada and Arizona in the western portion of the United States. The park is near the town of Springdale, St. George, and Hurricane in Utah. Zion Canyon was formed by the Virgin River cutting a path through the canyon.
Welcome to Utah roadsign
Best Time to Go
Peak season in Zion National Park is in the summer months when kids are out of school. Since we went in mid-August, many had already returned to school, although the park was still crowded. During this time of the year, the only parking lot in the park that’s open is at the visitor center near the main entrance. From there, you must get on the Zion shuttle system to go down Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. The best times to go are in April and May or October and November. It won’t be as hot and the crowds will be much more manageable that time of year.
Day One
Leave Las Vegas Hotel
We didn’t get a very early start like we should have, but we left our hotel at about 10 AM to head towards Zion National Park. From our hotel, we had about a 2-hour drive that took us from Las Vegas through the northwest corner of Arizona into southwest Utah to the south entrance of Zion.
Stop for a Geocache in Arizona
Along the way, we found a geocache to find and log off of Interstate 15 in Arizona. We didn’t do anything else there, so I don’t count us as visiting that state, but my brother-in-law, who also geocaches, and I wanted to get the badge for finding a cache in Arizona. I checked and the geocache that we found has been archived, but there are a few others that are available in the Virgin River Gorge and Virgin River Canyon area.
Virgin River Gorge
Photo together after finding the geocache
Zion National Park Entrance & Visitor Center
Our first stop was at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center at the main entrance from Springdale, Utah. We stopped in to use the restroom, get a park map and brochure, and talk with the park rangers about the best things to do on a day tour of the park. They explained a little bit about the most popular hikes in the park and how the shuttle bus works. The visitor center is the first stop, and from there you take the bus up to the north end of Zion Canyon on the main road with 8 more stops on the way to the end at the Temple of Sinawava.
Always stop at the visitor center when you get to a park, especially one prone to flash floods like Zion. Talk with the rangers about the weather outlook for the day and any trail closures due to weather or rock slides. They can tell you the best hikes to take that day.
Emerald Pools Trail
Since private vehicles aren’t allowed on the main section of the road through the park, we used the shuttle service and got off at the Zion Lodge shuttle stop. From here, we walked along the Lower Emerald Pool Trail and then went to the Middle Emerald Pool Trail. This was about a 2-mile round trip hike. We wanted to continue on to the Upper Emerald Pools Trail, but a 2-mile hike was about all I was able to handle at that elevation while pregnant.
Small creek at the trailhead
Pretty rocks
Stephanie & Justin on the trail
The Lower Emerald Pool
Looking out from under the overhang on the trail
Zion Canyon walls
Lower Emerald Pool
Shuttle Bus to the End
After walking 2 miles roundtrip, we decided the best way to see the rest of the park was on the shuttle bus. We took the first shuttle going north, further into the park, all the way to the end. This was a great way to see the rest of the park without overexerting myself. If I wasn’t pregnant, we would have gotten off the bus to do a few shorter hikes such as The Grotto Trail, Pa’Rus Trail, or Weeping Wall. But just being among the towering sandstone cliffs was worth so much time driving to and from the park.
Leave Zion National Park
We left Zion at about 5 PM, just after the visitor center was closed. The restrooms are still accessible, though, so we made a stop there before hitting the road back to Las Vegas. We arrived back in Las Vegas at about 7 PM, just in time to watch the sun setting over the Las Vegas Strip and get to our hotel before it was dark out.
Day One Map
Zion National Park Visitor Centers
Zion Canyon Visitor Center
The Zion Canyon Visitors Center is located near the South Entrance to Zion National Park. It is the best place to start your trip because you can speak to park rangers, pick up a park map and brochure, get a Junior Ranger book, add a stamp to your Passport Book, view the outdoor exhibits, acquire any permits needed for your trip, and catch the Zion Canyon Shuttle route.
The Zion Canyon building is “like a tree”. It was built and designed to be as natural as possible, using many energy-saving features such as cooling towers, natural light, and outdoor exhibits.
Kolob Canyons Visitor Center
The Kolob Canyons Visitor Center is located at the West Entrance of Zion National Park in the Kolob Canyons area. Kolob Canyon and Zion Canyon are only connected by the West Rim Trail. To drive between the two, visitors have to leave one area and drive around to the entrance for the other area.
Itinerary Options
- Add on other hikes such as the Canyon Overlook Trail, West Rim Trail, Riverside Walk, or Weeping Wall.
- This itinerary only gives you time to explore the Zion Canyon area. Add a day, or get an early start, to fit in the Kolob Canyons area of the park.
- If you want to do one of the permit hikes, such as Angel’s Landing or The Narrows, plan an extra day for that strenuous hike.
- Drive through the famous Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, see Checkerboard Mesa, and spend a night in a town outside of the east entrance, such as Mt. Carmel, Orderville, or Glendale then continue on to Bryce Canyon National Park the next day.
- Or, instead of going to Bryce Canyon, head south into Arizona to visit Grand Canyon National Park on your second day.
- Instead of staying in Las Vegas, make that your first stop on the way to see all of the Utah Mighty Five parks: Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park.