>>794758That's insane. I was just literally talkin to this chick on Bumble (some dating app... i know, i know) about national parks. I've been traveling the last year and have been to 23 NPs. She's a pro photographer. She messages me first and asks what my fav NP was. I say Yellowstone because I was there early and it wasn't crowded and the wildlife is unprecedented. She says, "HAH! Yellowstone? Hilarious." My other 2 favs were Glacier and Capitol Reef.
I ask hers and her first one is Zion.... Dropped.
When I went to Zion it was the exact same thing. I wanted to drive up to the trails/sites I wanted to visit. They had it all shut down. I forget the name of the little artsty fartsy tourist town in the valley of Zion, but it was literally shuttles that had 10-15 stops within 5 or so miles going up into the canyons. FUCK. THAT.
I loved the drive through the mountainside on the way in, but I rolled in and was checking things out.... I noped out. Drove around the backside and did some offroading and camping. Surprisingly enough, there is a backside entrance that is part Zion/part NF/part private land that has some great roads on it. I'd have to look it up again to find it, I just drove.
tl;dr: FUCK ZION (at least during the semi-busy season.) Gorgeous I'm sure, but I've got better places to spend my time if it's that pathetically run.
