How we saw Zion with kids
Visiting Zion National Park in the Fall is truly magnificent! We did a 2-night stay with our kids in mid-November of 2023, and this proved how amazing Fall is in the park. The leaves are changing, and the yellow and orange color against the red rocks is a spectacular sight. The air is cool and crisp, and the water in the river is flowing. Our November trip had nearly perfect weather conditions, which always helps make an experience great!
What we did each day
Day 1:
We drove to Zion from the Las Vegas area, which was only about 2.5 hours. We arrived on a Friday afternoon. The park seemed busy-ish, but not overcrowded. Our entry fee was covered with our America the Beautiful pass. (If you don’t have a National Park and Federal Recreational Land pass, check out the information here. I found this pass more than pays for itself if you have several trips planned per year to Federal recreational sites.)
We quicky checked out the Visitor Center and then hopped on the park shuttle bus. The shuttle is free. We took it out to the Riverside Walk trail at stop #9 on the shuttle map: Temple of Sinawava. It’s a paved trail, so it seemed doable for young kids and a good one to “get our feet wet” since we had just arrived. The end of the Riverside Walk is also the beginning of the Narrows trail, and while I knew we weren’t going to explore the Narrows with young kids, I did want to get a glimpse of what it looked like for a potential future trip. The Riverside Walk was gorgeous. It was busy but not crowded.
My kids had pent up energy from the car ride, so of course their behavior was erratic, and they were more interested in wildly running around than to listen and calmly explore.
I think we’ve all been there if you have kids, where you are in a situation or an environment with so much wonderful potential and then there you are policing every two minutes! It’s not my favorite situation. However, given their temperaments, we still enjoyed our hike and took it all in. Somehow nature provides!
At the end of the Riverside Trail and the trailhead of the Narrows, my kids played around on the rocks in the river. My oldest accidentally dunked is whole shoe in river, so caution if you let your kids play on the rocks. You will more than metaphorically “get your feet wet”! You may want to throw an extra pair of socks in the hiking bag! For us this was the signal that it was time to turn around and go back on the shuttle.
On the way back to the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop we chose to take a side trail by the river, seeking a little separation from the crowd. A little quiet is sometimes all you need, and I’m so glad we did. What a peaceful, beautiful sight to see. It was calm with very few people and allowed us some room to reset since were now constantly complaining about the wet shoe. Within 5 minutes, we were back to adventuring and exploring.
We took many photos on the Riverside Walk trail. I highly recommend this trail. Despite our kid’s chaotic energy and misadventure moments, this trail was one of my favorite memories from the trip. When we got back to the bus stop it was nearing sunset. The kids were eager to get dinner and check into our hotel.
The Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop is the farthest stop out on the shuttle route, so it’s a great spot to start the day with working your way back towards the visitor’s center or wherever you parked. The out and back walk/hike took about 1 to 1.5 hours and was about 2 miles round trip. We chose to do this stop with the half day that we had and then save the closer stops for the next full day.
Day 2:
We arrived at the Visitor Center, a little after 8am. We found that it was much more crowded than the afternoon before. It was a Saturday, so this made sense, but there was not one parking spot to be found. So, for a quick plan B option we drove a little farther down the road to the Nature Center and South Campground to look for parking. Luckily, the lot was not full yet, so we parked there.
Since we now weren’t directly at the shuttle bus access spot, we decided to explore the Pa’rus Trail that runs behind the Nature Center and connects over to the Visitor Center. The trail is paved and runs alongside the river. We walked on this trail for a good while and then decided to have a snack at the picnic tables in the South Campground. We figured we could take a break, fuel up, and then head to the shuttle bus stop to hit some other stops in the park.
At almost 10am in the day we had to wait a long time to board the shuttle bus. In my opinion this is the bottleneck of the park. If you visit Zion you should strategically plan around the shuttle bus system! (I’ll list my takeaways and recommendations at the bottom of the page). When we finally boarded, we took the shuttle bus to the Zion Lodge, where we then decided (after all of that waiting and convincing our kids to be patient) that we needed lunch and a beer at the Zion Lodge before starting further exploration. It was perfect. It was fairly priced with like burger and deli options. We sat outside and enjoyed a calm moment together in the most amazing scenery.
After lunch we took the Grotto Trail, which connects the Zion Lodge shuttle stop to the Grotto stop.
From the Grotto stop we crossed the street and hiked out on the West Rim Trail. This section of the hiking is where you’d access some really strenuous areas (like Angel’s Landing where you’d need a permit), but the West Rim trail itself was easy, in my opinion, and appropriate for our kids. There was a beautiful view of the river again, and you could see some rock climbers from afar. It was entertaining and majestic.
After the West Rim Trail we headed back to our car and grabbed dinner in Springdale to end the day.
The next day we headed back to Las Vegas.
Quick Summary of Trails hiked and logistics:
1. Riverside Trail (Shuttle Bus Stop #9 Temple of Sinawava) is about 2 miles round trip.
2. Pa’rus Trail (Access at Visitor Center or Shuttle stop #2 Museum). Paved 3.5 mile trail, but we only walked a portion of it.
3. Grotto Trail (Trail connects Shuttle stop #5 Zion Lodge to Shuttle Stop #6 The Grotto) is about 1 mile.
4. West Rim Trail (Access at Shuttle stop #6 The Grotto), which is a very long trail, 14-16 miles one way, but we only hiked a portion of it.
Recommendations and lessons learned when visiting Zion with kids:
1. I highly recommend visiting Zion National Park in the Fall. There is water in the river, temperatures are amazing, and the leaves are beautiful. It’s less crowded than the summer during school breaks. I’m sure other seasons are great too, but the Fall was fantastic. In the spring you may have snow melt, so keep in mind the river would be at a different flow. Trails like the Narrows may be inaccessible.
2. I highly recommend the Riverside Walk Trail. The view is very quintessential Zion. It’s calm and easy for families with kids. There is shade for the warmer months.
3. I highly recommend getting to the Visitor Center before it opens to secure a parking space and getting on the bus early. Waiting for a shuttle bus was painful, and we weren’t even there in the most crowded times of the year.
Also, you’ll find that when you leave hiking stops to come back to the Visitor Center it’s bottlenecked by the shuttles. The shuttle buses are full to capacity from a stop farther up. They send “extra” buses to help manage the flow, so don’t panic too much, but knowing this may help you plan which stops to do first.
I saw many people using e-bikes to get around. It looked like there was a rental shop right outside of the park entrance and elsewhere in Springdale, so that may be a fun option to avoid the shuttle bus headache. If I had older kids, I might consider this option and plus I’m sure it adds to the whole experience!
4. We initially tried to stay in Springdale, but a water pipe burst at our locale, so we were relocated to Virgin, about 10 mins away. We still had a great experience, but I’d recommend staying as close to the entrance as you can. In this scenario, you could walk to the shuttle bus stop or catch a shuttle outside the park. Avoiding the parking situation is a benefit! Also, being able to walk to dinner after your day is over would be an added plus.
Happy Trails!
