Best Zions NP Camping

[Wookie]

What is the best campground in/around Zion NP to do some family camping. I'll have my 4 year old, and plan to do some shorter day hikes/sightseeing. I'd also appreciate some recommendations for hikes for a toddler. Thanks!

[Pelon1]

There is a bank called Zions, not sure about a national park though?

[accadacca]

Hey man, he's a wookie, give him a break. :lol8:

[Pelon1]

Sorry its just tiresome:nod: Watchman is the campground in Zion and the best hikes for tikes is Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock, IMO:mrgreen:

[Wookie]

Zion. I'm not sure my daughter cares how it's spelled though. Just looking for the best spot to take her. Thanks for trolling the thread though. I'll look elsewhere. Heard the folks at Bogley were allright. Guess I heard wrong.

[accadacca]

If you can't take a joke, you won't last long around here. It's all in good fun.

[Scott P]

It's all in good fun.


Be careful. It is a well known fact that a wookies have been known to tear your arms off when they lose. Don't mess with a wookie.

Anyway, watchman capground is OK, but it can be very windy in late spring. It doesn't seem to be as windy in early spring.

Quail Creek State Park (with a lake) has a very nice campground and it's great for kids. Nearby (and cheaper) is the Red Cliffs Campground.

You can or could camp for free at Mosquito Cove, which is closer to Zion NP, but it does close periodically and sometimes can be a bit dirty or noisy.

If you go late season, say late May or June, I like Lava Point more than Watchman, but it will still be covered in snow now.

There are nice hikes around Red Cliffs. In Zion National Park, Emerald Pools, Gateway to the Narrows, Weeping Rock and the Pine Creek Overlook are all good. If your kids are in reasonable shape, they should be able to get to lower Hidden Canyon and explore it.

[trackrunner]

You can or could camp for free at Mosquito Cove, which is closer to Zion NP, but it does close periodically and sometimes can be a bit dirty or noisy.

it's closed since the December flooding damage. I had heard the BLM had been debating of closing it for a while.

edit: just saw somewhere else that they saw campers there last weekend but they parked on the road and hiked in. possibility you could be ticketed.

[Deathcricket]

Be careful. It is a well known fact that a wookies have been known to tear your arms off when they lose. Don't mess with a wookie.

Anyway, watchman capground is OK, but it can be very windy in late spring. It doesn't seem to be as windy in early spring.

Quail Creek State Park (with a lake) has a very nice campground and it's great for kids. Nearby (and cheaper) is the Red Cliffs Campground.

You can or could camp for free at Mosquito Cove, which is closer to Zion NP, but it does close periodically and sometimes can be a bit dirty or noisy.

If you go late season, say late May or June, I like Lava Point more than Watchman, but it will still be covered in snow now.

There are nice hikes around Red Cliffs. In Zion National Park, Emerald Pools, Gateway to the Narrows, Weeping Rock and the Pine Creek Overlook are all good. If your kids are in reasonable shape, they should be able to get to lower Hidden Canyon and explore it.

x2. Great advice. Here is also a TR I did from Hidden canyon with lots of pics. But all the hikes be mentioned are perfect for my 4 year old. :2thumbs:

http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?41055-Hidden-Canyon-with-kids

[oldno7]

Don't get too upset wookie, at least you didn't come on here posting a trip report in Zion's, doing a canyon with no helmets......

Now that would have raised a couple more eyebrows. You need to stick around enough to learn something about us, Pelon1 is a great guy, you just mis-understood the humor.

[Scott Card]

Hey Wookie. Welcome. The information above is good information.

As for this group, it is made up of a bunch of different folks with different beliefs, senses of humor, family and/or marital status, jobs...etc. But we all share a common interest, and with some of us a common passion. That is we love being outside. We love doing stuff outdoors. When we are not outdoors we are wishing we were so we come to this site for a bit of a break in an otherwise hectic day. We come here to joke, kid, have fun, plan, get information, look at pretty pictures and trip reports...etc. Seriously, all the people I have met here are decent folk. Perhaps we didn't look at your post count. Had we done so we may have recognized the need for a warm up period before the kidding starts. Just know that good information on a wide variety of outdoor topics can be found here. Also a bit of fun and diversion can be had here, too. That is why this middle aged canyoneer (with four kids) continues to check out this site. So relax and have fun with the rest of us. Hint: You may want to avoid the political section if you don't have the constitution for being challenged though. It can get ugly down there at times. :haha:

[Wookie]

I actually have a good sense of humor. If the first few responses included some useful information, I would have taken it differently. Anyway, I was just looking for the inside scoop on some of the best camping and hiking around Zion NP.

Let me just add, the campsites should be Wookie-freindly. FYI: I am a male Wookie, and it is the female Wookies that are agressive if provoked (they have been known to tear off a limb or two).

[accadacca]

Let me just add, the campsites should be Wookie-freindly. FYI: I am a male Wookie, and it is the female Wookies that are agressive if provoked (they have been known to tear off a limb or two).
Good to know. :lol8:


Now THIS is scary. :scared: :haha:

43447

[blueeyes]

Be careful. It is a well known fact that a wookies have been known to tear your arms off when they lose. Don't mess with a wookie.

:roflol::roflol::roflol::roflol: Scott I am busting a gut here.

Wookie welcome to the forum. These guys are great but will be a bit brutal when you miss spell anything to do with canyoneering. Zions happens to be a pet peeve.


There are first come first serve camp sites in the Red Cliffs reserve and that looks to be a very Wookie friendly campsite. With an excellent hike for small kids. I believe there are a few TR on that trail here on Bogley.

[jman]

These guys are great but will be a bit brutal when you mis spell anything to do with canyoneering. Zions happens to be a pet peeve.

It's true....We can be a bit brutal. Especially me. It's just weird to hear Zionssss. Case in point: do you hear anyone calling it Moabs, or Cedar Mesas, or Bryce's National Park, or Yosemites? I dunno why it bugs me (and us) so much...I guess it's like having CAPS LOCK ON THE ENTRE TIME LOL LOL.

I live in Kaysvilles. I live in St. Georges. I live in Provos. Haha. Sorry, can't help myself...

I'll stop being a smart ass now (at least in this thread). Hehe

[jdgibney]

Welcome, Wookie!
43461
Let the Wookie Win!

[Don]

Wook, that Zions, Zion's, Zions' thing is an old joke on Bogley. Not really something you could have known without being around awhile, but the 's' with Zion will always provoke a similar response here. :roll:

(That eye roll emoticon is dishonest though 'cause I've made fun of people for saying it too. :haha: )

Pelon nailed the advice though with "Watchman is the campground in Zion and the best hikes for tikes is Emerald Pools and Weeping Rock" you might also want to walk the paved trail up the narrows to where it ends. Maybe even dip your toes while there... Have fun! :2thumbs:

[asdf]

The Emerald pools and Weeping rock are the lamest hikes I have ever been on. I think my kids cared more about the shuttle ride and walking across the foot bridge. Watchman CG also sucks...

yeah I'm a negative Nancy tonight.

[blueeyes]

Summit you go on some amazing adventures! So those would be lame in comparison to what is your usual cup of tea, for others they are not so lame. But I agree with you about Watchman it sucks!

[ststephen]

4 years-old is tough age. Most kids don't walk very far and it's getting pretty hard to carry them. The other way to go is to head up and through the tunnel and then park anywhere along the road on the other side and just explore wherever and as far as they want. Let them decide which wash to follow and which rock to climb up instead of having an itinerary to reach destination X in N miles down trail Y.

[Scott Card]

My experience with 4 year olds is that that are little sponges and easily entertained. It is all in the delivery, meaning that if you make it cool it is. Don't worry how you appear to other adults. If you pick up a rock and describe it well and make it cool, the kid will put it in his/her pocket as a treasure. My little kids loved playing follow the leader jumping from rock to rock, going under fallen logs or between large boulders. It could be in the parking lot for all they cared. The weeping rock hike can be a blast to a 4 year old if you make it fun and describe the rocks weeping and stand under the tears. Tell them the rock is so happy that spring is finally here it is crying tears of joy. Anything is fun for a 4 year old if you make it fun. 4 years old is a fun age. 16 on the other hand can be a challenge. Keep it fast paced, and positive. Make stuff up. I used to name roots that would trip kids "tripamus rootamus' the latin name for that tripping root. Tripamus rockamus, the name of the type of rock that trips you. etc. Have the kids name stuff and describe stuff. They have great little imaginations. They also see stuff differently which is refreshing. i know some of this sounds lame but at least for my 4 kids, it worked. :2thumbs:

[ststephen]

Totally agree. We went looking for the pirates that had stolen the emeralds out of the emerald pools.

[Scott P]

4 years-old is tough age. Most kids don't walk very far and it's getting pretty hard to carry them.


My experience is completely different. At age four, my son could walk 14 miles in a day. My daughter could do 11 miles in a day by age 4. It just takes a bit of practice (and patience). :mrgreen:

If interested, here is my son's climbing album from age 4:

http://www.summitpost.org/kessler-s-climbing-album-age-4/192142

He did a lot of cool things then. Some of them are the Hance Grandview Loop (the Hance is one of the hardest trails in the Grand Canyon); Grand Gulch-Kane to Bullet Canyon; Windom Peak, one of the harder 14ers in Colorado; Sleepy Cat Ridge (Class 3); 5.6 climbing routes in Dinosaur NM; Hatch-Fiddler Cove Canyons; just to name a few. He was also doing winter ascents of mountains by then.

At age 3 our daughter hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back. At age 4, she was doing long hikes in the canyons, doing class 3 ascents, snowshoeing in sub-zero temperatures, and had climbed several dozen mountains.

As mentioned, it can be done with patience. Here are some of the places we took our children, but I haven't updated the article in several years now:

http://www.summitpost.org/hiking-and-climbing-with-children/192264

[uintahiker]

Bryce's National Park

Jman, you should know better than that! It's Bryces National Parks. In case you missed it- there's no apostrophe betweeen the Bryce and the s. Also it's a National Parks instead of a national park without the s.

Wookster- The Red Cliffs Campground to me looks pretty sweet for a 4 year old. It would be my 1st choice even though it's a further drive.