There are two campgrounds in Zion National Park. One takes reservations and the other is strictly first come, first serve. Over the years I've never had a problem getting a campsite so long as I arrived in the morning. That changed this year. I was surprised at the long lines just getting into the park. At the entrance station a sign there said that both campgrounds were already full. I tend not to believe those signs although the ranger said "Good Luck" in finding a spot.
You can see most of the first come, first serve, campground as soon as you enter the park. Usually there are trailers, campers, motor homes, tent trailers and a few tents there. This time I was surprised to see that it almost all tents. As we pulled in we didn't get far as there was a long line of cars waiting for spots to open up. We parked at the end of the line and began to wait to see how fast it was moving. While waiting we discovered that we had arrived at the same time as college students on spring break, hence all the tents. It didn't take long for us to realize that the line wasn't moving at all. After a while, two hours maybe, the volunteer ranger came down the line to let us know that there was no chance of us getting a spot in the campground that night. Fortunately, the commercial RV park just down from the park entrance had room for us. We decided to stay there a few nights and then check to see if the college students would have headed out. Sure enough, a couple of days later, we got a spot between the students leaving and those arriving from colleges with later spring break periods.
An advantage of arriving when we did was that the shuttles had started which meant there were no cars to deal with on the valley road, great for bicycling. Another advantage is since schools, except colleges, were still in session, the park was not as crowded as during the tourist season. Also the weather is usually sunny but not too hot, great for bicycling.
While in National Park we will hike a couple of the popular trails. Then we like to see if there are trails less traveled that we can explore. This year we were fortunate that some of Mona's friends, who sometimes snowbird in the area, suggested a hike up a valley they referred to as "Many Ponds".
There is no trail up the valley and the valley itself is a bit difficult to find. After one false start we did find it. It was amazing! I'm sure that whenever we visit Zion we are going to hike this valley. After a good rain when the water is really flowing it must be pretty spectacular.
Another fascinating area in the park is up the Kolob Terrace Road. It starts outside the park in the town of Virgin and winds up to the area above the main canyon in Zion. It is a short bushwhack hike to the area pictured above. The layering of the terrain is really interesting with several hoodoo type structures scattered around. This was my second time to this spot and both times no one else was to be seen.
Another spot a short distance off the Kolob Terrace Road.
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