Our final day of the tour started with breakfast and a quick meeting with Joe. We were given options on how to spend the morning before heading back to Salt Lake City. Option 1 – Head back to the park to do the 1.5 hour Riverside Walk. Option 2 Explore the hills around Springdale with Joe in the Van. Option 3 – Chill at the hotel until check-out time of 11 am. Craig and I chose the Riverside Walk along with Barb, Gus and Enid. Jan opted for the tour with Joe and the others chose to relax at the hotel.
Zion National Park – Riverside Walk
Joe drove us back to the park and we agreed to meet him at the Zion Canyon Village at 10:45 am.
We caught the shuttle at the Visitors Centre and headed up to Stop #9 Temple of Sinawava (we had visited the day before). The next 1.5 hours was spent following the path along the Virgin River to the area called The Narrows with 3,000 ft canyon walls all along the way. It was a pleasant walk at tolerable temperatures at 8 am when we started.
We reached the start of the Narrows where the Virgin River travels through a 15km slot canyon. The river was running quite low and many, many hikers were embarking on the trek in the river. You can rent shoes and hiking poles at the Visitor Centre as the rocks at the bottom of the river can be quite slippery. Hikers are warned that flash floods can occur through the Narrows. Although we paddled in the river water, we were not undertaking a hike through the canyon most due to a lack of time.
Many red and yellow rental shoes and walking sticks 
The walk back to the shuttle was lovely. We walked along the path and saw hanging gardens and along the river for different views.
Talk about living walls! 
Hanging Gardens 
At the shuttle stop #9 
We caught the shuttle for a last view of the park as we headed to the Visitor Centre stop. From there it was a quick 10 minute walk to the Canyon Village (outside of the park) to meet Joe for the ride back to the hotel. He mentioned that he had just received a flash flood warning for Zion. Yikes! I don’t think it materialized though.
Once we were back, we quickly packed up and boarded the van for the 6-hour, relatively uneventful drive back to Salt Lake City. I was a bit sad that this adventure was over.
Thoughts about our tour
- South West Adventure Tours was amazing and our guide Joe provided lots of customization and options for all the guests on the tour. Accommodation was excellent and all provided meals were very good. I highly recommend this company…and Joe! Would love to do a tour of Yosemite in the future.
- If an opportunity arises I would definitely love to spend more time in Arches, Canyonlands and Bryce (my personal favourite). I’ve also discovered many other spots that would be amazing to visit in Utah. As always, there is so much to see and returning from a trip feeling like you would love to go back is a good thing!
- Love, love, love small group tours. Don’t think I could ever do a big bus tour (like some we saw on our trip). I love the flexibility, personalization and opportunity to get to know our fellow travelers.
Thanks for reading my posts. Would love to hear your comments.
Stay tuned for a post on our visit to Northern Nevada for my grandniece’s graduation and our time spent in Salt Lake City.