Zion National Park: A Day Trip to the Emerald Pools

Zion National Park

Dwayne and I had the opportunity to visit Zion National Park for a day trip this past weekend. We've been wanting to see the park since we arrived in Las Vegas, but we also wanted to be able to access the park's trails while not wading through several feet of snow. We wanted to try out at least one hiking trail, depending on time and the weather. Since it snowed part of the time we were there, we didn't get to do all of the hikes we were hoping to. We did, however, hike to the Lower and Upper Emerald Pools. This time of year, the "emerald" part of the pools required some imagination.

We left Las Vegas around 7:30 in the morning and started the almost 3 hour drive to the park. The drive is mostly in Interstate 15, which had some amazing scenery in Arizona. This video is of the Virgin River Gorge, the same river that created the Zion canyon.

We had read on the website that cars could go through the scenic route through the canyon until April 1st, but they started early this year. Fortunately, Springdale, which is right outside the park, has a great shuttle system that takes you from any one of 9 stops along Hwy 9 to the pedestrian entrance of the park. Parking still cost $25 at stop #6, which was better than the $40 parking fee we saw at stop #2, so be aware that there are some more cost-effective options if you look for them. The posted wait for the cars trying to drive through the canyon was almost two hours. Taking the free shuttle was very easy and we were inside the park about 30 minutes after we parked. I was surprised that this early in the season it was as packed as it was. All of the hikes we did there were a lot of people and several times we had to wait until others had passed.

A short walk from the pedestrian entrance takes you to the Zion shuttles. They were running about every 10-15 minutes. A few of the hikes, such as the Narrows, were closed due to the weather and in the case of the Narrows, due to the volume of water from the snow pack melting. The towering cliffs and vibrant colors were truly magnificent.

We ended up going to the Lower and Upper Emerald pools for our hike. I was trying out my new trekking poles and I have to say, I loved them. Especially for helping balance going up and down the rocks and through the pools of water. I have some numbness in my right foot from a disc injury in my back, so the added help was greatly appreciated. The walk to the lower pool is a pretty easy, mostly paved route. Once you get to the pools, the waterfalls do make some of the way fairly slippery mud. It's not too bad as long as you take your time getting there, and we did - about 30 minutes mostly because I kept stopping to look at things. The waterfalls were gorgeous and I loved that you walked behind them to access the trail to the Middle and Upper Pools.

The hike to the Upper Pool was much more strenuous than the lower pool and by this time was fairly crowded. We had to wait at several points for people to pass, or those in front of us to move forward. The Emerald Pools trails have had more hikers fall to their deaths than any other trail in Zion. There are no railings or any kind of barrier to keep you from falling, so patience while waiting for your turn is a must. Just look around while you are waiting because the views are spectacular.

The upper pool was beautiful. There were a couple of spots you could cross the water and only get minimally wet feet, and it was worth getting a better view of the pool and waterfall. Did I mention it was cold? After 350 feet of elevation gain and the freezing cold water of the falls, it quickly became downright cold.

We didn't get to do all of the trails we wanted because it started snowing and we were chilled through. Waiting later in the day to drive up the switchbacks to the tunnel and back again made our wait very short to drive into the park. Dwayne managed to get a great picture of the arch on our drive up the switchbacks. We also had a 3 hour drive back to Las Vegas. All in all, it was a fantastic day and I would absolutely go back to Zion National Park.