Traveling in its restored, Subaru-powered, 1991 VW Westfalia, the Coastal Campfires team spent an epic 23 nights on the road this past summer, hitting Yosemite, Sequoia, King’s Canyon, Valley of Fire SP, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Capital Reef National Parks. In all, it was an extraordinary experience that merely reinforced Coastal Campfires’ commitment to supporting 1% For the Planet and the National Parks Foundation.
We arrived at Zion with three nights reserved at the Watchman Campground, just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. It was busy and with limited NP staff on hand, it was admittedly a bit of a gong show. The drive into the Park was spectacular and keeping focused on the road and the hairpin turns while taking in the surrounding beauty proved to be a tad challenging. With temperatures climbing into the high nineties, we welcomed the shade of the campsite, if for no other reason, to keep our erstwhile travel companion Obi, the wonder dog, cooler.
As we have now checked off all five of Utah’s National Parks, we can attest that they are decidedly different with respect to geology and geography and each offers a wide variety of different hiking and exploring experiences. While having Obi limited our ability to take on such challenges as Angel’s Landing and the Narrows, simply waking up in the presence of the Watchman and surrounding beauty was at times overwhelming, but in a good way.
The Watchman campground was clean, well-managed and relatively well appointed, (sans showers) and was a good base to explore from. At around 4000 feet in elevation, the air was thinner than on the coast but manageable. The campground is within easy walking distance to the Visitor’s Centre and Park shuttles which are mandatory to get to the most popular viewpoints and trailheads as personal vehicles are effectively prohibited on the scenic drive from March through November. A round trip with stops at all the major viewpoints takes approximately 1.5 hours to complete. If you want to exit the shuttle at any stop, hang out and explore/hike, you just reboard the next available one to head back to the Visitor’s Centre.
As noted, the surrounding views from the valley floor are simply breathtaking with the colors changing throughout the day with the varying sunlight. Sunsets add a whole new level of beauty. Within easy walking distance from the Park gates is Springdale, a town basically catering to the Park visitors – everything from pubs and pints to fresh grub is available, including Zion Outfitters which can outfit visitors with everything they might need to safely take on the Narrows or Angels Landing and even offers clean, hot showers (for a fee) to rinse off the red dust after a day of adventuring.
