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Zion National Park |  |
Zion is just off the route between Las Vegas and the North Rim.
Getting to the North Rim from Las Vegas
- From Las Vegas, we took I-15 North through Mesquite (where we picked up a cooler,
ice, drinks, fruit, and snacks just in case we got stranded in the desert) to
St. George and Hurricane. Take the UT-9 exit, exit number 16, from I-15 to get to Hurricane.
- From Hurricane, the shortest route is south onto UT-59. But if you go north on UT-9 instead, you’ll get to see Zion National Park . It’s about an hour longer and cost $20 to drive through the park, but the scenery is truly spectacular.
(Note, once you head North on UT- 9 at Hurricane, you’re committed to paying the $20 since UT- 9 is the road through the park.)
- In either case, whether you go north on 9 or south on 59, you should veer south on US-89 ALT at Fredonia. Stay on US-89S to Jacob Lake, where you pick up 67 to the North Rim ($20
to enter – save your receipt and use it at the South Rim).
- NOTE: This route starts in Nevada, crosses briefly into Arizona, then up into Utah, then back down into
Arizona (both rims of the Grand Canyon are in Arizona).
We were surprised to lose an hour when we entered Utah. It turns out that Arizona, which uses Mountain Standard Time, does not go on Daylight Savings Time (DST). So it’s three hours earlier than Eastern Standard time during the DST months, instead of the normal two. We got the hour back, of course, as soon as we hit Arizona again.
Zion National Park
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From the National Park Service's web site: "Zion is an ancient Hebrew word meaning a place of refuge or sanctuary. Protected within the park's 229 square miles is a dramatic landscape of sculptured canyons and soaring cliffs." |
We only stopped to take photos, but Zion has thirty miles of paved roads and easy hiking trails and should be easy to explore. It has an in-park lodge, see How To Book.