Personal Narrative Essay: Camping At Zion River Resort

If you don’t have religion you may find it in Zion. Whatever you believe, Zion offers proof that there is a larger spirit at work. It doesn’t matter if there is a grand architect or gods and goddesses who built a fortress of sanctuary but the sheer cliff faces and green vegetation will take your breath away. The road to Zion twists and turns through the highland before the decent into the canyon. The last thing you see before you enter into the National Park is a farm which happens to be raising buffalo. I don’t know about you but there is something about a buffalo that takes me back in time. They always remind me of the old west and thanks to Lieutenant John Dunbar I can only refer to them as tatonka.
After you enter the park my companions and I quickly became distracted by the change from prairie to

It would seem that the ideal time is around 7am-9am – any later and you risk not getting a spot in the park. There are three campsites: The Watchman campground which is for reservations only, south campground (where we stayed) which is first come first serve, and Lava Point which is a primitive campsite and closes in October. Fear not if there is no camping available in the park there are several other locations that would be happy to accommodate. The first night we arrived later than we liked but stayed at Zion River Resort in Virgin, UT.
My issues with Zion: the park was terribly over crowded. Even in the off season my three companions and I had to squeeze into a stinky shuttle to each location. As we hiked to each location from the shuttle stops we felt rather like cattle. Instead of enjoying the scenery and spectacular views – you were too busy dodging slow walkers or being caught up in a sea of fellow sight seers. In the parks defense several of the harder hikes were closed due to the un-seasonal monsoons from the previous nights. We would have attempted Angel’s Landing had the trail not been