The Hot Mess of Zion National Park in 2022

“Thirty five years?”

“Thirty fives years.”

Bernd Messerer was catching his breath as we stood side-by-side overlooking the series of steep switchbacks he had just climbed in Bryce Canyon National Park on the Navajo Trail. “I have been dreaming of seeing Bryce Canyon in the snow since I was last here, thirty-five years ago.” Bernd told me he was from a small village in the southwest corner of Germany, at the southern tip of the Black Forest. His home sits three-hundred yards from the Swiss border, and three miles from France. He had flown all the way to Utah to see Bryce Canyon in the snow, and Utah had delivered. It was actually snowing on us as we were speaking.

Bernd Messerer climbing the Navajo Trail switchbacks in Bryce Canyon, Utah.

Only minutes before, I had just hiked up these very same switch backs. Looking back down, I was thrilled to be standing here myself. I couldn’t believe how a series of unlucky events led us to be here at Bryce on this snowy morning.

Back in February, one of my friends teenage son and I were talking about traveling and visiting National Parks. I told him I’d take him anywhere, anytime. By the end of that conversation, we were making plans to visit Zion National Park. A week later, he and his friend were both confirmed and the three of us were planning out whirlwind trip to Zion. The day before our snowy morning in Bryce, we had flown from the Bay Area in California to Las Vegas. We hopped in a rental car and drove the two hours to Springdale in Utah, Zion’s gate.

I always love returning to Zion. Upon entering Springdale, which is a very small tourism town with shops, hotels, and restaurants, I noticed something was a bit different than any other time I had driven this same road. I noticed that people were scrambling for parking at the west end of Springdale, which is three miles to the gate and the main parking lot. This concerned me a little, because if people are struggling to find parking in Springdale, then Zion is absolutely packed. And a packed National Park is miserable.

In 2019, my family and I spent a few days in Zion during the fall. It was sparsely crowded. No lines for the shuttles, which is the only way to visit the park unless you walk or bike. No waiting at restaurants. Reasonable hotel rates. Pretty normal shoulder or off-season experience. We returned during the national lock-down and it was very crowded, but the shuttle system required reservations, which helped cut the numbers in the park down. When I was last in Zion in the fall of 2021, the park was averagely busy.

But this year…spring 2022, it was absolutely insane. It’s honestly making me question whether or not Zion will continue to be part of my normal National Park rotation, or if it’s time to find something else. Lines for the shuttle were wrapped around buildings and comparable to Disneyland. We visited several restaurants and each one had an over two-hour wait. Parking was a hot mess everywhere we went. I kept apologizing to the teenagers who were along, because this wasn’t the National Park experience I told them about. This wasn’t a communion with nature. This was a theme park.

We pulled out car into the main lot and waited, sitting in the car until someone left. We then ran to the shuttles and waited to get on. We went to the very bottom of the canyon to the river and walked around a bit before heading back up and out. We ended up bailing on the crowd and going to Grafton, a small ghost town outside of Zion. Like I promised, we found some quiet and solitude as we explored the graveyard and abandoned town. We stayed through sunset, and went back to our hotel in Virgin.

The next morning, we were up well before the sunrise to head to the Canyon Overlook Trail, a short and epic hike towards east Zion. We arrived in the dark to hike the trail and be at the overlook as the sun rises. This is one of my favorite experiences in any National Park. Only when we arrived, we saw the parking lot was blocked off and the trail was closed. Apparently there had been some issues they were addressing, and had closed the trail. So no-go there.

My plan for the day had been simple. Canyon Overlook, then off to a slot canyon I knew about outside the park, then onto Zion Ponderosa, where we had shuttle reservations to take us to the Observation Point trailhead where we would hike an 8-mile roundtrip to Observation Point. But here we were in the dark, with the entire morning pulled out from under us.

“Have you guys ever heard of Bryce Canyon?” I asked. They had not. I told them it was about an hour and a half away, but if we booked it there now, we could get there during the beautiful morning light, and hopefully smaller crowds than Zion and Springdale. We hopped in the car and took off.

About halfway to Bryce, we hit a snow storm. I was excited. I was hopeful that it would be snowing in Bryce. By the time we got to the park, the sun was attempting to break through the scattered clouds, with it’s golden light coming and going, casting shadows on the canyon. We parked at Sunrise Point and walked along the ridge to Sunset Point. When we got to Sunset Point, we immediately headed down Wall Street and into the canyon. As we worked our way down, the sun broke through with its intense light. We headed out of the canyon up the Navajo Trail, where we met Bernd. After this hike, we headed back to the car and made it to Zion Ponderosa in time for our shuttle to the trailhead.

The hike to Observation Point was easy, although long. But the payoff at the end was absolutely amazing. Of all the times I had been to Zion, I had never seen the canyon from this vantage point. As I stared into the canyon, I couldn’t help but notice the overcrowded canyon. Angels Landing, one of the most popular hikes in America, looked comparable to the line at Space Mountain in Disneyland. How is that even enjoyable? Thankfully the crowds in east Zion, including Observation Point, were nothing like the city of Springdale or Zion Canyon.

When we returned from the hike, we watched the sunset on The Watchman, something I’ve seen numerous times. It never gets old. The next morning, we headed back to Las Vegas, making a brief morning stop in the Valley of Fire. Then it was the flight home.

So here’s the thing. The National Park experience, which is something I’ve been passionate about my entire adult life, is slowly becoming a mainstream attraction. Some parks are handling the growing crowds better than others. I can’t even handle the anxiety in thinking about traveling to Arches National Park. Zion is quickly becoming just as bad. Luckily there are dozens of National Parks, but over time I fear they too will become burdened by the number of visitors making the pilgrimage to take part in America’s Best Idea. I absolutely love that people are visiting the parks more and more. They are healing. They are communal. They are wild.

But I hope our National Parks systems can scale with the people. Right now, I don’t feel like things are scaling well. Like much of American infrastructure, the National Park system is crumbing with age and antiquated systems. This doesn’t mean things are bleak and hopeless. It means there is room for improvement. There is room for preservation. And hopefully, there will always be room for you and I.