Zion in Winter – Dan Leeth

Off to Zion

And we’re off again, this time taking the Subaru on our annual winter pilgrimage to Zion National Park.

The nice thing about winter in Zion is that we can drive where we want and not have to take these damn shuttle busses around.

First stop on the drive was for lunch at Mom’s Café in Salina, Utah.

We first stopped here years ago and were unimpressed with the menu at the time. This year, we opted for conventional road food. I enjoyed a double bacon cheeseburger that was pretty damn good.

We turned down U.S. 89 and entered the park on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. A herd of bighorn sheep greeted us at a roadside potty stop.

It was late afternoon by the time we approached the Virgin River Canyon with the nearby cliffs blushing in the late afternoon sunlight.

We turned up the canyon to the lodge where we got keys to our cabin where we would bunk for the next four nights.

We had two full-size beds, a gas fireplace, a small desk and unlike a few years ago, the cabins now have decent Wi-Fi coverage.

Best of all, the view from our cabin was delightful.

Hike to Emerald Pools

Our first hike on this trip was one we’ve done on previous winter visits to Zion. We would walk to the three Emerald Pools. The trailhead lies across the river from the lodge.

It’s a relatively easy hike with most of the route on a paved trail.

There are three pools. We began with Lower Emerald Pool, which had a bit of snow and ice around it.

Next came Middle Emerald Pool, it’s surface mirroring the cliffs across the river.

And finally, we reached Upper Emerald Pool.

That night at dinner, I kept hoping that Jesus would stop by and turn this into wine, but that didn’t happen.

Lazy Day

The next day, we did little more than drive out on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway to Checkerboard Mesa.

…and photograph the moon between a knobs on a distant cliff from the South Campground.

The Watchman

Our final day in Zion, we decided to do something new and hike the Watchman Trail, which begins at the visitor center.

It offers a scenic route up the cliffs behind the visitor center…

…with nice views of the cliffs across the valley.

The trail was well maintained, complete with steps…

And retaining walls.

The trail topped out, offering view of the Watchman.

All good things must finally come to an end. We had two routes we could take to get home. One would have involved around 350 miles of freeway driving. The other would take us on a scenic drive through familiar Southeast Utah backcountry.

We, of course, chose the backcountry. Our first stop was in the town of Mt. Carmel Junction where we had breakfast at the Thunderbird Restaurant. Over the years, I’ve stopped here with every one of my wives and handful of girlfriends, but never together.