Unlike the last 5 years wherein we have been traveling to Florida every end of the year, this time around we planned a trip to the West. While national parks are usually crowded and super packed spring to fall, winter is the time when they will attract less crowd and for some of us who are the last ones to look up lodge accommodations, winter is the easiest to land a stay inside the park. We planned to cover both Zion and Grand Canyon South Rim, starting Dec 25th and returning Jan 2nd.
Landed in Vegas on the 24th, spent a night in the gambling city, staying at our favorite place “The Venetian” and left for Zion the next morning. Of course prior to starting the trip we take our own sweet time picking a rental car, and this time around we got a white Toyota RAV XLE.
We were masked up during the flight, took all the precautions we could and be as responsible we could. In Vegas, did not miss to catch the free Bellagio fountain show and clicked a couple of touristy pictures inside the Venetian.
Drive from Vegas to Zion was beautiful, started early in the am to reach by 2PM without rushing and missing any nice views along the way. Right after reaching, we hit a local trail around the lodge called the Kayenta trail. It was an easy loop trail to get us up and moving. Did not take any pictures of the lodge itself but it was very well appointed and cozy for the stay. Wrapped up the day with a nice meal at the Red Rock Grill within the lodge, due to COVID and Christmas day they were only offering a buffet.
Next morning onwards the park and the rest of the trip blessed us with a lot of snow and along with it some more amazing views of the valley. The 26th we started the day off with a sumptuous breakfast early in the am.
Post breakfast, started off to the East Rim Trail and boy the snow capped Zion valley offerred such a mesmerizing view.
The 10.8-mile East Rim Trail traverses the eastern rim of Zion Canyon between a trailhead at the park’s east entrance and the Weeping Rock Trailhead in the canyon. The best parts of the long hike are the first few miles at either end of the trail, and since it had snowed heavily we only hiked 3 miles both ways. Definitely a first of experience for us to hike in the snow, beholding the view. End of the day we treated ourselves to Indian food from a restaurant in St. George and just like any other trip, throughout the drive, planned how we should move to that city. Planning for the next day, we also explored the Kolob Canyon Area where we wanted to hike next. Hop Valley Trail is what we settled on.
27th we woke up to some more snow and some more spectacular views of the lodge and the surrounding area and while we gobbled up our breakfast, we identified 10 reasons why we should not be doing the Angel’s Landing trail ;). We are adventurous but with limits!
Next came the moment which we cannot forget, even if wanted to. We hit the Hop Valley trail despite the fact that it was snow laden and there was only one more car at the trail head. 20 mins into the trail, walking and bantering around we saw a dead deer leg.. my heart skipped a beat and we turned around immediately.. thinking there is a mountain lion around.. lol. The 20 mins back to the trail head were the longest 20 mins of my life. While I was almost out of breath and about to faint,Ashish looked brave and most prepared if eventually we did encounter the carnivore ;).
After the crazy lion scare, we came back to the park visitor center area and hiked the beautiful watchman trail, which we should have done initially. The watchman trail is a 3.1 mile round trip easy trail, ending in amazing valley views.
The following morning, on the 28th, we drove from Zion via East Rim to Grand Canyons amid a snow storm reaching only hitting out destination at 7 PM in the evening. Definitely a drive to remember, with snow everywhere and traffic crawling. Before crashing for the night, at our beautiful Thunderbird Lodge on the South Rim, we picked pizza and some wings from “We Cook Pizza and Pasta” located in Tusayan. Tusayan is only closest town near the park, with a couple of good eating options one of which was a Mexican joint called Plaza Bonita and we loved it.
Day 1 at the Canyons hiked back and forth the Rim Trail, while making plans on when to hit the Bright Angels trail in whatever capacity we can. The whole Rim to Rim, looked quite impossible to do with the snow and also we weren’t prepared this time around. We will definitely be returning for the same.
The Rim trail however left us awestruck as well, which we hiked multiple days both sides first up to Yavapai Museum on one side and then until Hopi Point on the other. This is where we saw some wildlife and Ashish gave me a snow dunk. That night we grabbed dinner at El Tovar, wherein I was feeling romantic but Ashish was his usual 🙂
Last day at the Grand canyon on new years eve we hit the Bright Angels trail, roughly 3 miles both ways and finished the day by grabbing pizza and wings for our lovely dinner.
Finished the trip by returning to Vegas to catch our flight back home, clicking some more fun pictures along the way and watching the Bellagio fountain show to wrap up our amazing trip to the West!
Forgot to add, during this trip we learned two new card games. Go fish and Speed, I beat Sheesh hands down on both multiple times \o/. Also our lost room key from Grand Canyon was found in our pack of cards.. 😀
Travel Diaries 