Back in 2018, I stayed in the town of Springdale, the gateway community to the entrance of Zion National Park. It was this trip that solidified a future need to stay inside the park itself the next time around. At the end of 2019 I finalized my booking at the Zion Lodge, securing a cabin for Thanksgiving week 2020.
Then the Pandemic struck, priorities shifted, and plans became forgotten and put into cobwebbed recesses of the mind. October rolls around, and a reminder about my reservation shows up in my in box. How would Covid affect my time in Zion?
For starters, the restaurant was closed for in person dining, which didn’t bother me, but their pick up/take out menu was sorely lacking for options. My cabin didn’t have a kitchen area, and I didn’t want to leave the park repeatedly to go out to eat, so I was forced to choose the same meal over and over again.
The Lodge was jam packed with people. I thought that a pandemic would cause the park to be less crowded, but boy was I wrong. I turned into a hermit crab so that once I arrived in SLC to see family for Thanksgiving they didn’t need to worry about me being a virus spreader.
I also had plans to hike the Narrows, but scratched that off my “to do” list as well. WAY too many people. So for three days inside the park, I hiked lesser known trails down by the Virgin river, where only the deer reside. I ride my bike from one end of the canyon to the other, which is a great way to experience the park, especially when the only other vehicles allowed in on the park road are the Zion shuttle buses.
I find the peace and comfort that I was hoping for, although it wasn’t from the adventures I was hoping to do while here this time around.
