The park is renowned for its excellent recreational opportunities: whitewater rafting, canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, fishing, hunting, bird watching, camping, picnicking, biking, and just enjoying the solitude the natural world.

We visited recently — only for a day and a half — and enjoyed the rafting, hiking and vistas across the gorge.

We started our trip at the northern end of the park, at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. It’s modern, informative, has short trails to overlooks of the bridge, and is a great place to start your visit.

The dominant man-made feature of the park is the New River Gorge Bridge. It’s the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere — the arch is 1,700 feet long, the bridge deck atop it is 3,030 feet, and it sits 876 feet above the New River. Constructed in 1977, it shortened the drive time from one side of the river to the other from 40 minutes to just 1 minute.

We took the Fayette Station Road driving tour (45 minutes) down one side of the gorge, across the old bridge, under the new bridge, and back up the other side of the gorge, listening to the free auto-tour recording that described the history of the road during the time when coal was king.

Midday we were in the Grandview section of the park. They call it the “grandview” for a reason — spectacular vistas from high up on the plateau looking down a long stretch of the New River, and a dramatic bend in the river that reminded us of our visit to Horseshoe Bend in Page AZ.

We walked the two-mile Grandview Rim trail out to Turkey Spur Overlook. The trail wound gently thru tall hardwood forests with a dense understory of rhododendron, and along the rim of the gorge.

The end of the trail climbs 160 steps to the Turkey Spur Overlook, which is really three newly built overlook platforms. The west-facing platform looks down on two different stretches of the river, one flowing east and the other flowing west (the river makes a hairpin turn just out of sight)!

Earlier in the day we had driven to the southern end of the park, to the Sandstone Visitor Center and the Sandstone Falls overlook. Have to say it was anticlimatic … the visitor center is nice but small, and the overlook’s view is overgrown with trees. Not worth the hour+ round-trip drive from other parts of the park.

And rafting … what a blast! Air temps in the upper-80s made the cool water (reportedly 75 degrees) feel refreshing. The trip down the Lower New River Gorge in a small 6-person boat was a high-energy run thru Class III and IV rapids with names like “Double Z”, “Keeney Brothers”, and “Frankenstein”. The 9-mile trip concluded right under the towering, iconic New River Gorge Bridge.1

Fun fact 1: the watershed for the New River starts in North Carolina, and includes much of western Virginia as well as the southern parts of West Virginia. And the water eventually flows thru the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of America.

Fun fact 2: the official park map is an A-format 1:6 unigrid, which is pretty unique. Most parks’ maps are the B-format 2:4, 2:6, sometimes 2:8. Learn more about the unigrid maps here. And be sure to ask for one when you visit a National Park, as we’ve heard that some/most parks are not handing them out to all visitors, but only upon request. The NPS prints up to 28 million brochures every year across the 400+ NPS-manages sites. One possible explanation: some of our fellow citizens have been grabbing handfuls, and reselling them on Ebay. :-(

There is NO FEE to enter New River Gorge National Park & Preserve. Enjoy your visit!

And this concludes our National Parks 2026 meander up the East Coast. We visited 3 of the 4 parks on our list — Great Smoky Mountains, Mammoth Cave, and now New River Gorge, but had to skip Congaree this time — while adding last-minute stops at four really cool National Monuments — Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas in St. Augustine FL, and Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie in Charleston SC.

Stay tuned for more posts, as we are signed up for an extended stay (two months!) in Grand Canyon National Park as campground hosts at Mather Campground in September and October.

We visited Mammoth Cave recently, taking the ranger-led, two-hour, 2+ mile Historic Tour. It was pretty awesome! The air in the cave was a cool and moist 55 degrees, perfect for this 90-degree day outside! Ranger Cameron provided excellent narration throughout. Here he is giving the introductory talk to our tour …

… just before we descend into the cave entrance.

Our tour explored the huge rooms that gave Mammoth Cave its name.

Understatement: It’s really dark down inside the cave. Here’s what it looked like when Ranger Cameron turned off the electric lights and lit an old-fashioned oil lamp, the type early cave explorers used.

The tour descended to much tighter places deep inside the cave, to places with names like Fat Man’s Misery and Tall Man’s Agony (there may have been some misery and agony experienced on my part, haha).

We went as deep as 330 feet below the surface then ascended what was essentially a metal “fire tower” constructed in one of the several large vertical shafts we encountered…

… before making our way back out the entrance.

The geology that led to the formation of Mammoth Cave is fascinating, and unique. Here, the limestone is capped by a layer of insoluble sandstone, which protects the eroding limestone caves below. Read more about the park’s geology, especially the Karst topography, here.

How does this compare to the sandstone in Utah’s Arches and Zion National Parks, you might ask. In those western parks, sandstone is the feature that is being eroded, to form arches, walls, fins and domes. Here in Mammoth Cave, limestone is the feature being eroded. [Nancy totally geeked-out in trying to understand why the western sandstone erodes while eastern sandstone “protects”. It’s a long story. But I am compelled to include it here, in this footnote1.]

After lunch in a wonderfully shaded and clean picnic area, we explored trails down to the nearby Green River.

On the trails Nancy noticed several “wolf trees” — trees significantly older and larger than the surrounding forest. These were likely mature trees in 1933 when this area was all cleared farmland. In that year, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) came to the newly created (in 1926) Mammoth Cave National Park to build trails, buildings, improve access in the caves, etc. They also planted 9 million trees across the former farm fields. Today, the mature trees of the 1930’s stand out above today’s forest canopy.

Here is one of several giant sycamore trees along the trails.

Can you spot me at the base of this tree? I’d estimate the trunk to be at least 10 feet in diameter!

We took the obligatory selfie at the entrance sign. I told Nancy to “look left” — so that both our eyes would be looking at the camera lens — and because she hangs on my every word, this is what we got.

Mammoth Cave National Park is 100 years old. While the cave system below has been forming for the past 10 million years or so, the visitor center, picnic areas, trails and other facilities we visited were modern, clean, well-cared for, with great information signage and engaging ranger guides … exactly what we should expect in our National Parks. Way to go, NPS!

This park should be on everyone’s bucket list.

1

Grok query: Give me a simple comparison why Mammoth Cave (KY) sandstone acts as a protective “roof,” while Utah sandstone is the main rock being sculpted into arches.

Answer:

Mammoth Cave Sandstone (Big Clifty Sandstone)

• Role: Caprock (protective top layer).

• Why it caps/roofs caves:

  • It sits on top of thick, soluble limestone layers.

  • Mostly insoluble (quartz-rich; doesn’t dissolve easily in acidic water).

  • Relatively resistant to erosion → protects the softer limestone below from wearing away quickly.

  • Allows slow water seepage through cracks/pores into the limestone, where the real cave-forming dissolution happens.

• Result: Preserves and helps create one of the world’s longest cave systems in the limestone underneath. Humid, vegetated Kentucky climate with surface erosion carving valleys through the caprock.

Utah Sandstone (e.g., Navajo or Entrada Sandstone)

• Role: The main rock forming the arches, cliffs, and canyons.

• Why it forms arches:

  • Thick, strong but erodible sandstone layers exposed directly to the elements.

  • Joints/fractures (from uplift and salt tectonics) + differential cementation + erosion by water, frost, and gravity create openings.

  • Arid/semi-arid climate preserves tall cliffs and allows selective erosion (softer spots or underlying layers erode faster, leaving arches).

• Result: Iconic freestanding arches, fins, and domes (e.g., Arches National Park). No major soluble limestone underneath driving cave formation—the sandstone itself is shaped.

Quick Side-by-Side

Bottom line: In Kentucky, the sandstone shields the cave-forming limestone. In Utah, the sandstone is the feature being carved by erosion into arches. Both are durable quartz sandstones, but their positions, associated rocks, and climates create very different landscapes.

Our drive began at the southern end, milepost 469, just inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The roadway climbs steadily at a fair grade thru mixed hardwood forests.

Several tunnels — Big Witch, Rattlesnake Mountain, and Sherrill Cove — appear in the first 20 miles or so, with the lowest at 10’6” height, so we were glad not to be towing the Airstream or have the roof-mounted bikes on the SuperDuty.

Being mid-May and at this elevation (up to 6,053 ft), many trees were just beginning to leaf out. The colorful buds made the canopy look like the fall leaf season in the northeast!

The ridges were starkly outlined against the valleys below the parkway.

We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the spectacular views at the rugged, exposed peak called Devils Courthouse (mp 422).

Of course, there were stunning new flowers blooming. Can you identify the azaleas, andromeda and rhododendrons?

The parkway is as advertised — an experience unlike any other: a slow-paced and relaxing drive revealing stunning long-range vistas and close-up views of the rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands.1 It’s not necessarily a fun drive in a 3/4-ton pickup; it’d be much more fun in a sports car or on a sport bike. Drive it if you have one of those!

We started the day with a quick stop by Mingo Falls, just a mile from our campground. It is actually on Eastern Cherokee tribal land, but just outside the park (and included in the Park’s waterfall brochure). We climbed 171 steps to a viewing platform where we could see the 120 ft waterfall - one of the tallest in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

We then went to Deep Creek area, and walked the 2.4 mile loop to see the Tom Branch Falls, the Indian Creek Falls, and the Juney Whank Falls. A beautiful hike! Which one is your favorite?

We had one final water hike to do! We drove the Newfound Gap Road which runs alongside the Oconaluftee River for awhile.

We hiked the 4 mile RT Kephardt Prong Trail, which starts with a bridge crossing the Oconaluftee, then 4 more “foot logs” (rustic log bridges with a railing on one side), up to a shelter for camping. (An aside, this is where we saw quite a bit of bear scat - so no interest from us to stay there long!)

There were also some cool Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, camp artifacts along the trail. As in many other National Parks formed around this time, the CCC built a great deal of infrastructure in Great Smoky Mountain from 1933 to 1942. This was one of 22 camps in the Park during that time.

Another wonderful day enjoying the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains!

These Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) butterflies were everywhere! On the roadways, in meadows, along streams. Here they were gathering in a small ditch for water or minerals …

This Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) butterfly …

… had iridescent under its wings …

Mr. Raven (genus Corvus) was scavenging in the Newfound Gap parking lot, and not at all afraid of humans…

Elk (Cervus canadensis) were returned to Great Smoky Mountains National Park starting in 2001 with an experimental release of 52 elk. By 2008 the herd was self-sustaining. The Smokies elk herd is considered a successful reintroduction with the current population estimated at 150.1 They were grazing along the roads every afternoon, oblivious to traffic and picture-taking visitors…

Fun fact: these are not the native Eastern elk (Cervus canadensis canadensis) that roamed the park into the 1700s, before being hunted to extinction. Rather, the reintroduced elk are Manitoban elk (Cervus canadensis manitobensis) transplanted from a national recreation area on the Kentucky-Tennessee border in 2001.

Flowers were blooming in every open meadow and along roadways, and even on trails deep in the understory of tall trees.

Can you find the buttercup, red clover, lyerleaf sage, yarrow, fleabane, dandelion, lousewort, wood betony, violet, cutleaf toothwort, azure bluets, Quaker ladies, star chickweed, Solomon’s plume, wild rose, painted trilium, Jack-in-the-pulpit, ferns, fire pink, honeysuckle, tulip poplar and mountain laurel?

Let’s end with one final note about animals. Specifically, the American black bear (Ursus americanus).

Don’t say the park didn’t warn visitors.

While we didn’t see any, we saw fresh scat on every trail we walked!

This is a large park (over 500,000 acres or 800 square miles) straddling the North Carolina-Tennessee border. The Smokies are popular, too — consistently the most visited of all National Parks, seeing 12 million visitors in 2024. For hiking, it’s superb, with over 800 miles of trails, including 74 miles of the Appalachian Trail.1 It’s also unique among major parks in that it does not have entrance booths that collect fees; rather, visitors are encouraged to purchase single- or multi-day parking passes allowing one to park at trailheads, view points, picnic areas, etc. We bought the 5-day pass for $15 for our visit. The red polygon shows the area we’ve explored on this visit.

We stopped by the Oconaluftee Visitor Center to get oriented, then took the Newfound Gap Road 23 miles (uphill all the way) to Kuwohi (pronounced koo-WHOA-hee, and formerly known as Clingmans Dome).

At 6,643 ft of elevation, Kuwohi is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. A paved but steep half-mile trail leads from the parking lot to the summit, where a spiraling ramp ascends a 1960’s-era concrete observation tower.

It offered magnificent 360-degree views, to Gatlinburg on the Tennessee side and Ashville on the North Carolina side.

There are three layers of forest in the Smokies … in the valleys, northern hardwoods thrive. A spruce-fir forest dominates the ridges and peaks. And in between, at 4,000-5,000 ft of elevation, they mix. Look for this in the pictures below.

At the nearby Newfound Gap, on the NC-TN border, we read about the founding of the park — NC, TN and the US gov’ts gave half, and John D. Rockefeller funded the other half!

Then we walked a mile or so on the AT towards Charlies Bunion (great name!), passing and (mostly) being passed by AT thru-hikers heading north to Mount Katahdin in Maine.

In talking with an NPS Volunteer, we learned that this is a great time to visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He called it a “lull”, after spring break and before public schools let out. We found the parking lots and trailheads pretty full, so its hard to imagine the mid-summer crowds. Here’s the lot at Newfound Gap midday, midweek, offseason!

And yes, we did take the obligatory snap at the park’s entrance sign coming in at Cherokee, just to prove we were actually here.

Located on an island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter is named after Thomas Sumter, a hero of the Revolutionary War. It gained historical fame as the site where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War on April 12, 1861.

Fort Moultrie, opposite Fort Sumter on the mainland, has defended Charleston across the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World Wars I and II!

Our day began with the 30 minute, NPS tour-operator boat from Patriot’s Point out to Fort Sumter.

The NPS Volunteer on the boat provided wonderful descriptions of the fort’s history and what we’d see when we arrived for our hour+ visit to the site.

Here’s Fort Sumter as our ferry arrived — while it may look modest to the modern eye, in its day it was very impressive, designed with 5-foot thick brick walls 50-feet high, holding 650 soldiers and sporting 135 cannons.

Here’s Nancy in the courtyard, with several cannons on display.

Fort Sumter changed hands several times — just as Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas in St. Augustine did — initially being held by a Union officer, then the Confederates for almost four years, then finally the Union Army retook Fort Sumter in February 1865.

Fort Moultrie sported big guns, too, but in more modern, WW I & II gun placements.

Preserved deep beneath the earthen mounds of Fort Moultrie are remnants of military equipment used during WW II. Here are pictures of the duty officer’s control room and the radio room.

Fort Sumter is visible out in the harbor, as seen from Fort Moultrie.

Why was Charleston so important, to the Confederacy and to the Union?

It was a fascinating day stepping through American history!

Fun facts:

1. Both forts contained a design feature called the Sally Port. You can see it in the center of the picture below. The sally port is a secure, controlled entry way to a fortification, where “sally” is a military maneuver, typically during a siege, made by a defending force to harass isolated or vulnerable attackers before retreating to their defenses. Note: the “sally port” is not to be confused with “sally forth”.

   

   Here’s Nancy photographing the inside of the Sally Port at Fort Moultrie. Can you imaging the defending American colonists massing here, ready to charge out at the attacking British in 1776?

   

2. Fort Moultrie began as a mere Palmetto log fort. And just like the coquina stones used to build Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, using local materials with special properties gave tactical military advantage. This palmetto log and sand construction absorbed much of the impact of enemy cannon fire!

Our first stop was in St. Augustine, FL, where we got to visit two National Monuments — Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas, Spanish built forts that guarded the city, beginning in 1695 and 1742, respectively. (National Monuments? I thought this is a National Parks blog! Hey, what’s in a name?1 )

Castillo de San Marcos guards the St. Augustine harbor, while Fort Matanzas guards the “back door”, or the southern entrance up the Matanzas River.

We took the self-guided tour of the larger Castillo de San Marcos, which is well preserved and has many displays showing how the fort was used over the years …

We also took the 5 minute boat ride to smaller Fort Matanzas and the ranger gave a good intro talk before letting us explore on our own …

These forts are the product of ongoing global warfare that lasted for hundreds of years. After the discovery of the Americas, Spain, Portugal, Holland, France and England all sought to claim and control the New World and its immense wealth. Spain built these two forts, and many others, to protect her global empire and maintain the trade routes back to Spain. St. Augustine was an ideal location to defend the Guld Stream route.

A couple of “fun facts” for you.

1. The forts were built using coquina, a local shellstone that was easy to quarry and remarkably effective at absorbing cannon fire rather than shattering. Unlike hard stone that would shatter, the porous coquina absorbed and “swallowed” cannonballs, making the walls virtually impenetrable to 18th-century artillery. The coquina stone saved St. Augustine, and may have changed the course of world history, too!

   

2. Fort Matanzas takes its name, which is Spanish for “slaughters”, from the events of 1565. The French had established an outpost in present day Jacksonville, which angered the Spanish, who sent troops to protect their investments in the present-day Caribbean. The Spanish ships landed to the south of Jacksonville, in present-day St. Augustine. 600 French soldiers sought to attack first, but a hurricane blew their attacking boats far to the south, eventually wrecking in present-day Daytona Beach. So the hungry, ship-wrecked French walked north, only to be captured by the Spanish at the site of what would become Fort Matanzas. The Spanish executed 111 Frenchmen, sparing only 16 Catholics and stone masons. Two weeks later, another group of ship-wrecked Frenchmen appeared, and 134 were massacred. And you thought you had a hard day?!

3. The Spanish were clearly advanced military planners of their time, as the placement of these forts yielded a clear tactical military advantage. Fort Matanzas sits almost a mile inland along the Matanzas Inlet, and the waters are shallow. Thus, only small ships, with small guns could enter. But the 5-pound and 8-pound cannons at Fort Matanzas had longer range, and could fire on approaching ships long before they could return fire. Castillo de San Marcos also sits inland on the deeper St. Augustine Inlet. But approaching large ships, with large guns, could not turn broadside in the narrow channel in order to fire on the fort, while being fired upon by the guns of Castille de San Marcos.

   

Many beautiful southern live oak trees can be seen in and around St. Augustine. The unique southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) sculpts itself in response to the salty air blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The long, twisting limbs host lichens, ferns and air plants.

Finally, a Pro Tip … Ladies, watch what you wear when visiting Fort Matanzas. A steep ladder leads thru a small hole in the roof to the observation deck. That small hole creates quite the updraft at all times of the day, given the prevailing easterly winds! Here’s a picture of the ladder, looking from the observation deck back down.

We won’t include any pictures that may or may not have been taken from the second floor looking up, as the ladies ahead of us showed more, much more, than they intended haha! (Hint: wear shorts or pants, not skirts.)

Even better, on our travel to/from these parks and during our off-time while in Arches and Zion, we had the opportunity to visit, explore and adventure in 8 other National Parks nearby!

As we traveled from FL to UT to start our assignment in Arches, we stopped in Guadalupe Mountains National Park …

… and Carlsbad Caverns National Park …

While in Arches, we did day trips to Canyonlands National Park, both Island in the Sky and The Needles sections …

While in Zion, we did overnight trips to Bryce Canyon National Park …

… Capitol Reef National Park …

… Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim …

… and Death Valley National Park …

Just yesterday we were in Great Basin National Park …

Click here if you want to explore opportunities to volunteer in our national parks.

While we’re heading east now to spend the summer in the Adirondack Park in northern NY, our national parks “adventure” is not over.

Check back later to see where we visit, or maybe volunteer!

We made the focus of our hike the Wheeler Peak bristlecone pine grove, the most accessible of three groves in the park, located just below Wheeler Peak, in the northeast portion of the park.

The trail climbed steadily thru mixed conifers …

.. and along rocky slopes …

… before reaching the grove of bristlecone pines on the appropriately-named Bristlecone Pine Loop trail. Check out these beautiful trees …

Bristlecone pines live in the subalpine forest, at the timberline, between 9,000 and 11,500 feet. They grow at high altitudes on dry slopes with nutrient-poor soils. During their short growing season they receive little moisture. They grow slowly, adding on average only an inch to their girth every hundred years. This makes their wood very hard and dense, finely grained and resinous — resistant to insects, fungi, and rot.1

Adversity - This tree (pictured below) grew on a site where nutrients were scarce. Its growth was slow and difficult, and it struggled desperately for 1,500 years. The annual rings are narrow; the wood is compact and resistant to decay. Thus its ability to stand for centuries after death is directly related to the adversity of life. Born 100 BC. Died 1400 AD.2

Not only do Bristlecones grow slowly, they also die slowly. Parts of a tree can remain alive with only one or two living roots, connected with a thin strip of bark to a living branches. Bristlecone pine needles can live up to 40 years, much longer than the two or three years of most other pines.

Instead of rotting when finally completely dead, these trees are eroded and polished by the elements. They may remain standing for thousands of years.

Resilience - This 3,000 year old remnant (pictured below) has been dead for 250 years. It has two buttresses. The one on the left dies about 1100 BC, while the other continued growing for six more centuries. The great reluctance to die is common amon bristlecone pines. They may cling to life for centuries after reaching old age. Born 1300 BC. Died 1700 AD.

The factor that contributes most to the death of the bristlecones is loss of the soil itself. The steep, rocky hillsides are very susceptible to erosion, exposing a bristlecone’s roots to the dry mountain air. The exposed roots dry out, and the tree eventually dies and falls.

How do we know these tree are really that old? Dendrochronology is the scientific method of dating trees by counting their annual growth rings. And you don’t have to cut the tree down to count the rings; an increment borer is a special, hollow bit used to drill into the center of a tree, allowing researchers to extract a thin core of wood showing all the rings. The increment borer does not endanger the life of the tree; its hole becomes sealed with pitch within a few hours.

Bristlecone pines reach maturity at a height of 12-20ft after a few hundred years. The branches are large, with dense, short pine needles. It grows both seed cones (female) and pollen cones (male). Gravity pulls down the largest branches, and strong winds further distort the tree. Slowly, the bristlecone assumes its iconic shape.

Slow Grower - A core was removed from this tree (pictured below) at four feet above ground. The innermost growth ring has been dated at 1126 BC, therefore the tree was about four feet tall in that year. It may have taken as long as 200 years to reach that height; therefore, the tree is between 3,200 and 3,300 year old, and born ~950-1100 BC!

Here’s a “baby” tree, only a few feet tall. But it might be a few hundred years old, too!

The Hollow Tree - In some ways, this tree (pictured below) had an easier time than many of its neighbors. It grew relatively fast due to favorable site conditions. But this also made the tree more susceptible to decay because of its softer wood. Center rot eliminated the possibility of precisely dating the birth of this tree. A careful study of the solid wood and existing growth rings puts its age at 2,100 years, or born ~100 BC!

What about forest fires? Bristlecones tend to grow on rocky soils with little ground cover, providing little fuel for forest fires. The greatest fire threat to bristlecones is from fires ignited in mixed conifer forests below and progressing as crown fires into the bristlecone stands.

The Survivor - This tree (pictured below; the tree, not me) is 3,200 years old — born ~1230 BC — and still living. It was necessary to take five cores from different sides of the tree to obtain a complete sequence of its growth rings.

*****

CODA

First, why the name Great Basin? At the visitor center last evening, we got acquainted with the park and learned that it’s the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. So all the rain and snowmelt here runs to the bottom of the basin, where it evaporates or just becomes groundwater. It’s not just one basin, but between 150-200 distinct basins. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and California. It’s also a cold desert, meaning the majority of precipitation falls as snow due to the high elevations and northerly lattitude, and the Sierra Nevada Range to the west catching all the mositure …

Second, the park has stunning mountain peaks. We took the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive, climing from 5300 ft elevation at the Visitor Center in Baker NV to up above 10,000 ft elevation to the trailhead for today’s hike. Glad we had the SuperDuty’s PowerStroke engine braking for the way downhill!

Third, after we spent the morning hiking below Wheeler Peak (13,063 ft) …

… on the Bristlecone Grove trail (see above), we also walked the very nice 3 mile Alpine Lakes Loop trail, which passed by peaceful babbling brooks …

… and the beautiful Stella Lake …

… and Lake Theresa …

We’ve enjoyed our time as Watchman Campground hosts, helping campers and visitors get the most out of their park experience. And in our off time, we were fortunate to be able to experience Zion in a deeper way — seeing it in the morning and at night, in all sorts of weather, and hiking (almost) all the day-hike trails.

We hosted guests, and got to experience anew the splendor of the park through their eyes.

As campground hosts, we’ve come to appreciate the friendship, comraderie and support we found working with 8 other volunteer hosts over the past 3 months.

Yes, Zion is crowded at times (visitations up 10%, to 590,000 in May 2025 vs May 2022) …

… which only increased our appreciation of the less crowded spaces and trails, e.g. East Zion washes …

… the newly found 9-to-6 trail, the Observation Point via East Mesa trail, the West Rim trail, the Northgate trail on Kolob Terrace, bike rides up the Scenic Drive in Zion Canyon early in the morning, and the Watchman trail in the evening.

Zion National Park remains a national treasure, and we still love volunteering with the NPS.

We’re leaving, having completed our 2 month assignment as campground hosts. Zion will always have a special place in our memories.

Take a ride with us, and let’s explore this engineering marvel. (The NPS has a nice writeup on the history of the tunnel here.)

The East side road is 20 miles long from US-89 in Mount Carmel Junction to the Tunnel. The first half runs straight through this high plateau and you’ll see trees before the road begins twisting and turning thru the sandstone mesas …

Before the main Tunnel, there’s a smaller “short tunnel” (sometimes called the “smaller tunnel” or “2nd tunnel”), only a few hundred feet long, cut through a rock spur …

Another mile or so of twists and turns …

And we arrive at the Tunnel East entrance, where traffic backs up for a few minutes during one-way tunnel operations to allow large RVs to pass …

The 5,613 feet (1.1 mile) tunnel slopes down at a 3.3% grade. It’s dark, with natural lighting and ventilation provided by 5 “windows” or openings (seen on the right) in the rock cliff face …

Exiting the thru Tunnel West …

We head downhill on a 3.6 mile series of 5 switchback turns stacked on top of themselves in less than a 1/4-mile area. This is turn #5 — named Spring Bend for the spring frmo which water was piped to the contractor’s camp in 1928-29 …

Turn #4 — named the Nevada Switchback for the tunnel contractor …

Turn #3 — named Sandwich Rock for a huge boulder of like appearance …

Turn #2 — named Carl’s Bend for Carl Bergdahl, the job supervisor …

Turn #1 — just called the Skinny Bend …

And finally the turn over the Pine Creek Bridge at the bottom of the canyon …

The 20th century was certainly a different time. This 25 miles of road and a mile-long tunnel cut thru the face of cliff, went from concept in 1920, to engineering study in 1923, to funding by Congress in 1926, to contracting and construction start in 1927 to completion in less than 3 years, on July 4th, 1930. The tunnel cost $503,000, and the contractor’s profit was $30,000 (8%). The switchbacks cost $937,000, and the contractor’s profit was $9,000 (3%).1

The tunnel was built almost 100 years ago, in an age when vehicles were smaller. A 1987 study by the Federal Highway Administration found that large vehicles could not negotiate the turns inside the tunnel without crossing the center line. So since then, oversized vehicles require a permit to drive the tunnel, and park rangers stop traffic during the daytime hours and allow just one-way traffic for oversized vehicles to pass.

Are you planning a future trip to Zion? BEWARE — Starting in 2026, UDOT says …

… which is kinda ironic, since the tunnel was originally built to *promote* tourists driving from Bryce Canyon to Zion to Grand Canyon. This change will add 65 miles and increase the drive time from Bryce to Zion from 1:45 hrs to 2:30 hrs for large vehicles, camper-vans, trailers and motorhomes.

… reaching as high as 108 !! Here’s how the park’s morning report showed it …

The park warns visitors about heat exhaustion and to stay hydrated …

… provides plenty of fill stations, both modern …

… and old-school …

… and tells employees to stop outside work when it reaches 105.

We use these approaches to beat the heat:

First, it’s siesta time 2-5pm on hot days. We are fortunate to have the Airstream’s two, 50-amp-powered Dometic heatpumps on the roof cranking out 33,000 BTUs of cool air …

Second, we try to get our campground host duties done bedore 2pm and after 7pm, and we wear the dorky but effective wide-brimmed NPS volunteer hats to keep the sun off our heads …

Third, we drink, alot, especially water, iced tea, lemonade, and did I mention water. Yes, a responsible adult beverage gets into the mix from time to time, but never when we’re working. On hiking days, we’ll carry a liter of water per person per hour. So we have alot of water bottles …

The nice thing is that every day the sun sets over the West Temple mesa, casting shade on the campground starting around 7pm …

At that moment, it feels like the temperature instantly drops 10 degrees, and the rest of the evening is pleasant.

It was going to be a hot day (fcst high 104 degrees), so we got an early start, crossing the bridge over the Virgin River at the Grotto while it was still in the shade cast by the east canyon walls …

… yet looking up to the now fully illuminated Angels Landing …

The trail follows the west bank of the Virgin River before ascending a series of switchbacks …

… with nice views looking back down Zion Canyon …

Refridgerator Canyon is a little hidden gem, carved deep into the cliffs below Angels Landing, where it receives little sunlight and is noticably cooler …

Here’s the start, looking back to Zion Canyon …

Exiting the Refridgerator Canyon we start on Walter’s Wiggles, a series of 21 steep (19% grade) switchbacks …

You can see all the switchbacks on our route from Strava …

When we were done “wigglin’”, we emerged at Scout Lookout. Lots of folks milling about here, but rangers only allow those with permits to continue on the last half-mile to Angels Landing itself …

We continued on West Rim trail, heading north, climbing slickrock …

And eventually looking back and down on the folks on Angels Landing …

… and at Big Bend (shuttle stop 8) …

… and at the Temple of Sinawava (shuttle stop 9) and Riverside Walk …

We found a nice quiet shaded spot under a pine tree for lunch…

… where we enjoyed condors soaring overhead [CORRECTION: A bird-spotting volunteer corrected us that this bird was really a common turkey vulture, not a condor. Ugh, oh well, we were still excited to see it. Here’s how to tell the difference between a condor and a turkey vulture.] …

… a daytime moonset …

… and views from this high perch …

If you go on a hot day like we did, plan to start early and take plenty of water; we carried 3 liters each, and drank almost all of it!

Takeoff! We’re flying over the Virgin River and UT-9, looking east out over the towns of Virgin, Rockville, Springdale and into Zion …

Here’s the route we flew …

This is West Temple (7,800 ft) on the left, one of the most prominent mesas that can be seen from Zion’s south entrance and its Watchman Campground; the town of Springdale is in seen in the center …

We turned east at Canyon Junction. These are the six hairpin turns on the road leading up to the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel’s west entrance …

This is the aforementioned Tunnel West entrance; you can see a white RV approaching the tunnel …

We looped out over East Zion. This is taken over the east entrance to the park, looking back to the west. Checkerboard Mesa is prominent, with the Tunnel East entrance in the distance, and the main Zion Canyon beyond that …

Next we turned north heading up the main Zion Canyon. Angels Landing is so prominent …

Looping around now and looking back down the canyon, Angels Landing is still prominent in the foreground of this picture …

This is Big Bend (shuttle stop 8) …

And this is the Watchman Campground, where we’re staying. Can you pick out our Airstream? …

It’s great to reconnect with old friends, and sweetened when they treat you to a fly-over of one of America’s most beautiful National Parks!

Photo credit: MG

Or, the lizard on the left could be a Lesser Earless Lizard (Holbrookia maculata), and perhaps the lizard on the right is a Common Side-blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana) … Dr. Google Image Search is a little unsure haha.

All I know is that these sorts of lizards eat insects and other arthroposds like spiders and scorpions. They are generally harmless to humans. And they’re everywhere in Zion National Park.

And my friend took this photo, which is pretty cool!

We were fortunate to have old (and new!) friends visiting us recently, and got to enjoy this moderate trail with them. It’s located on the east side of Zion National Park, just outside the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, where parking is limited so go early.

Here’s the overlook, as seen from one of the hairpin turns below in Pine Creek Canyon …

The trailhead is just yards from the east entrance to the tunnel, and the trail climbs quickly up and away from the road …

There are plenty of steep drop-offs as the trail hugs the rock walls of a small canyon …

A 40-foot span of catwalk (also known to Adirondack hikers as “Hitch-up, Matildas”) takes us around one vertical rock wall section …

… where the trail then passes under a massive and impressive rock overhang …

Stunning views abound from the overlook! Here you can see the six hairpin turns in the road as it climbs from the canyon floor up to the west entrance of the tunnel. It’s especially beautiful when hiked in the morning hours, so that the sun is behind you and fully illuminating the Zion Canyon walls to the west. …

West Temple looms behind us. (We’re not really that close to the edge, haha) …

A white sandstone mesa to the north is dotted with pines. And our family may recognize this as the viewpoint on the infamous Overlook Overlook Trail …

These are the other prominent features of the lower Zion Canyon’s west wall. This is the obviously-named Alter of Sacrifice …

… and The Streaked Wall …

… and The Sentinel …

The happy hiking party …

This bird frequents the Watchman Campground, and is not fearful of humans, approaching me to within 5 feet yesterday …

But it does move fast when it wants to go …

This bird can be distinguished from the other Roadrunner species because it is not being chased by Wile E. Coyote …

BEEP-BEEP!