How to make the most of one night at the Lodge?
First, I KNOW that one day is not enough to fully experience ZNP. I get it. Please don't answer if you're just going to lecture me on that point. One day is not enough, understood. But one day is what we have. Moving on.
We're doing a road trip along the Utah/Arizona border in June. Yes, it's a lot of driving but we're used to it.
- Day 1 - Fly from New York to Vegas in the morning, drive to and visit Pipe Spring National Monument. Drive to Zion National Park Lodge and spend the night.
- Day 2 - Zion National Park all day. Staying in St. George that night. Hoping to grab a second night at the Lodge if it opens up.
- Day 3 - Church in the morning. Drive to and visit Cedar Breaks. Stay in Brian Head.
- Day 4 - Drive to and visit Bryce Canyon National Park all day. Stay in Brian Head.
- Day 5 - Drive from Brian Head to Page. Nothing planned for the day besides the drive.
- Day 6 - Flightseeing tour over Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge.
- Day 7 - Navajo National Monument
- Day 8 - Drive from Page back to Vegas
- Day 9 - Fly home
My question for this group is how to best take advantage of the fact that we're staying at the Lodge the night before our Zion day. We have no problem waking up as early as needed to beat the crowds, but I'm having a hard time envisioning the size of the park and the logistics of the shuttle system. It sounds like the shuttle that comes to the Lodge is coming FROM the VC, so it'll already be full first thing in the morning? If that's the case is it even possible to beat the crowds?
We will have young kids in our party so we will not be doing Angel's Landing or The Narrows, but they can handle Moderate hikes up to ~5 miles on a single hike or ~7 miles in a single day split over multiple hikes.