Zion National Park in October

Zion is one of those parks where the best way to see it changes completely depending on what you're willing to do to earn the view. We gave it two full days in October - one on rental bikes cruising the canyon floor, and one wading up the Virgin River into The Narrows. Both days delivered in totally different ways. Watch the video below, then read on for the details.

Basing Out of Hurricane, Utah

We flew into Las Vegas and spent the first night at the Luxor before making the drive out to Zion. Rather than book lodging right at the park, we stayed in a town called Hurricane, about 20 minutes away - it saves a lot of money over staying right outside the entrance. There are good places to eat nearby too. Stage Coach Grille is solid for dinner, River Rock Roasting Company is the spot for coffee, and Cafe Soleil - right in the park - is worth stopping at for lunch. We grabbed wraps and paninis there and they were excellent.

Rental Bikes Are the Way to See the Canyon

Instead of relying entirely on the shuttle, we rented bikes and rode straight into Zion Canyon. It's genuinely the best way to experience it - on the shuttle you're stuck looking through a window and can only get off at designated stops, but on a bike you hear the stream running alongside the road, feel the 70-degree air, and can stop wherever you want. You do have to yield to the shuttle buses since bikes and shuttles are the only vehicles allowed on the canyon road, but that's a small trade-off. A park ranger we talked to along the way was almost jealous - he pointed out we were from Florida and got to see all this for the first time. If you don't want to pedal the whole way, electric bikes are available too.

Emerald Pools Trail

We hopped off the bikes partway through to hike the Emerald Pools Trail out to the lower pool - about a mile up and a mile back, with plenty of shade along the way. It's a really nice trail: you cross a bridge, follow the canyon in, and eventually reach a waterfall spilling over the edge above you. You get a little wet walking through it and the spray is cold, but it's a great way to cool off. The trail eventually stops where a rockslide - boulders the size of a house - came down and buried the path. Along the way we spotted deer with big ears and a grayish coat, wild turkeys right along the trail, lizards, and some strikingly bright bluebirds. It was busy, but well worth the stop.

To the Back of the Canyon

The ride to the very back of the canyon road is mostly a gradual uphill climb, which sneaks up on you - it never looks steep, but by the halfway point you feel it. You can always flag down a shuttle and load your bike on if you need a break, but once you crest the halfway point there's enough downhill to carry you the rest of the way. At the back, near Angels Landing, the canyon walls close in around you on all sides. Rangers posted there with binoculars pointed out condors nesting in the cliffs above - a nice payoff for making it that far. The ride back out was the opposite of the ride in: almost entirely downhill and over in a fraction of the time it took to get there.

Gearing Up for The Narrows

Day two was a completely different kind of hike - The Narrows, where the trail is the Virgin River itself. We rented waterproof pants and neoprene socks, which made a big difference since the water stays chilly even when the air is comfortable. We waded upstream for about two and a half hours against a steady current, with the walls narrowing overhead until you can barely see the sky, and turned around once we reached the "Wall Street" section - by then our thighs were feeling the current from two and a half hours of fighting it. The walk back downstream was noticeably easier and faster than the push upstream.

Know Before You Go

Stay in Hurricane to save money and still be about 20 minutes from the park entrance. Rent bikes for the canyon road - it beats the shuttle for freedom and pace, just remember you have to yield to buses, and electric bikes are an option if you'd rather save your legs. Budget time for the Emerald Pools Trail (roughly two miles round trip) if you want a break from the bike. And if you plan to hike The Narrows, rent the waterproof pants and neoprene socks - the river current is stronger than it looks, and the gear makes hours of wading genuinely enjoyable instead of miserable.