Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Eleven hours from Denver. That is the drive. And I know what you are thinking. That sounds like a lot. But honestly, with a stop in Moab breaking it up, it is one of the more manageable road trips you can do from Colorado. Hayley and I would both tell you the same thing: give yourself ample time at both places. Moab alone deserves a full day minimum. Do not blow past it just to get to Zion faster. That is a mistake.
So the context here is that Hayley's sister is getting married in Vegas, and we turned the whole thing into a proper road trip. Denver to Moab, Moab down toward Kanab, Utah, then Zion, then Vegas. That is the loop. And the Zion leg of it is the one I want to talk about because I genuinely did not expect to feel what I felt driving into that park.
We stayed in Kanab, which is about 45 minutes from the east entrance of Zion. And I want to make a case for Kanab as your base. Way fewer people than Saint George. It actually felt like we were getting out there, not just relocating the crowd somewhere else. We got a two-bedroom Airbnb and it was great. The town itself has a real history. The Paiute people named it Kanab, which means willow tree, because of the water sources in the area. Then the Mormons came through, and it became this Wild West cattle trading outpost. So there is some actual character there, even if the breakfast spot we tried in the morning was, let's call it, Sysco-core. Local spot, good intentions, food out of a semi. We have all been there.
Now. The drive into Zion from the east portal.
I have been trying to put this into words and I keep landing on the same image: getting into a spaceship and going to another planet. The contrast of colors, the starkness of the rock formations, the way the landscape just asserts itself in a way that photographs genuinely cannot hold. You come through this tunnel, over a mile long, and there are these little windows carved into the rock along the way. Little glimpses of what is waiting for you on the other side. And then you come out and there it is.
Maybe the most miraculous view I have ever seen. I mean that with full sincerity.
I saw some TikToks recently bashing Zion, saying, how is this one of the most popular national parks in America? And look, if you can stand in that valley and ask yourself that question, you need a check. A medical check. Because that valley is one of the most extraordinary things this country has. We went to Vegas literally the day after this and the contrast between what nature built here and what humans built there, I mean, I will let you sit with that one.
So here is the thing about visiting Zion with dogs and an 18-month-old. Your options get narrowed down fast. Rocky Mountain National Park, for reference, basically tells you to leave your dog in the car. Zion gives you the Pa'rus Trail, which closely follows the Virgin River for 1.8 miles from the visitor center. Dog friendly. Stroller friendly. And honestly, once you are walking it, you stop mourning the Angel's Landing line and just enjoy where you are.
The Virgin River is the real draw on this trail. Clear water moving past you, canyon walls on either side. Our dogs were absolutely in heaven. And our 18-month-old found a spot by the river that we ended up at for a while, just letting her do her thing in the rocks and the water. There is something about that moment, the kids, the dogs, all of us just existing in this place, that gets at why national parks matter in the first place.
Side note, Hayley and I had a whole debate about whether it was the Mormons or the Native Americans who named it the Virgin River. Hayley guessed Mormons. I guessed Native Americans because it felt implied. Hayley was right. The Mormons named it. We were going to look it up after. We did. She won that round.
Coming in through the east portal in mid-March was also the right call, timing-wise. March 12th or so. About 70 degrees. No shuttle bus line. No summer madness. If you can swing a spring visit, that is the window.
After the trail we drove into Springdale and went to Onyx Wood Fire Pizza. And after that Sysco breakfast, we were ready. The pizza felt like you were eating inside the national park. Views, atmosphere, the whole thing delivered. Was it
Leaving Zion is genuinely strange. It feels like you are re-entering some lesser version of the world. Like you touched something that does not have an equivalent anywhere else, and now you have to go back to the highway and the gas prices and the group chats.
The name Zion, I keep thinking about how appropriate it is. There is something about standing by that river, surrounded by those walls, that pulls you back to something. The original version of yourself, maybe. The one that goes quiet when the view is big enough.
Once you go to Zion, you do not really leave it. You just carry it around.
And if you are in Denver and you have been putting this trip off because eleven hours sounds like a lot, stop doing that. Break it up in Moab, come in through the east entrance, stay in Kanab, walk the Pa'rus Trail with your dogs and your kids, and go get the