As we planned out our road trip from Las Vegas to Phoenix we wanted to visit as many places between as we could fit in. Originally our first stop after Vegas was going to be Page, Arizona (read more here on that trip). But after checking our route we decided we could also squeeze in Zion National Park between the two. I will start by saying there is no way at all that one day in Zion with kids will ever be enough time. You could easily spend more time here exploring. This National Park is simply incredible.
Parking and Logistics of Zion with Kids
I am wondering if this is something I will say about many other National Parks around the country. The drive into the park and through the park is simply amazing. Before you even park the car, get out and start your hike you are surrounded with absolute beauty.
We visited Zion with kids in November, but it was during Thanksgiving week. I had no idea how busy this place would be – we could barely find parking. You have to park in a lot and take a shuttle to get deeper into the park to access many trail heads. Luckily my husband never gives up when parking and we lucked out with a spot pretty close to a shuttle spot. The shuttles come every 15 minutes or so and had plenty of room for us to jump on. We took the shuttle to the very last stop, Temple of Sinawava. Again, riding on this shuttle was an attraction in itself! The views were out of this world. Our favorite part was the rock climbers that we could spot high up on the cliffs on the mountains.
Kid Friendly Hikes in Zion National Park
Because of our lack of time, we only were able to do one hike on our visit. But there are many different options of kid friendly hikes in Zion National Park.
Riverside Walk (Gateway to the Narrows)
We chose this hike because it was the perfect length for our afternoon. It was also a kid friendly hike in Zion. Not only was it kid friendly but really it was perfect for all abilities. The one mile out path is mostly paved and is fairly flat. It follows along the Virgin River, which when we were visiting was extremely low. There were even some sections where you could jet off the trail and get right up to the trickling river. Now from what we heard, this river is not always this low, and is a common scene for flash flooding when it rains.
I will say that this kid friendly hike in Zion even made my biggest complaining kid happy. This was the first time she said she enjoyed hiking. Was it because it was incredibly easy? Who knows… but we ate it up! She was even the leader in our family walking ahead of us the whole time. Her favorite part was where you had to duck under a rock hanging overhead.
When you get to the end of the Riverside Walk, you have actually arrived at the start of The Narrows trail. In order to continue on this hike you would be required to walk in the river. As we walked on the Riverside Walk we could see people returning from the river journey. They mostly had on special pants and shoes. We would love to return to do this once our kids are little bigger. Also it was a bit cold for us on this trip to pull it off, so next trip must be planned in warmer months ;).
More Kid Friendly Hikes in Zion National Parks
Check out some of these blog posts I found with great info on additional kid friendly hikes in Zion.
Spend a Day in Zion National Park with Kids
Top Stops for Families in Zion National Park
Zion National Parks Best Hikes
We can’t wait to return to Zion with kids so we can do it proper justice. But we haven’t seen any thing else in the state of Utah so we have a lot of exploring left to do.
Hi there! My name is Amanda, and I have a real passion for exploring with my family. There is nothing I want more than my kids to see as much of the world as we can show them before they grow up! I created this blog as a way to showcase our travels, in hopes of encouraging other families to get out there and create some everlasting experiences and memories.
This is so great!! I am pinning this for later as we are really trying to get here in the spring!! Thanks for the tips!
Oh great!! You guys will really love it there =)
The overhanging rock is enormous, I should visit this place one day
It sure was – my husband had to duck underneath!!
Great post! We loved the drive around here as well, but didn’t get to stop! Gotta do a return trip!
Oh yeah you’ll have to plan a trip back!!
I’m encouraged by the kid friendly hikes for my kids that tend to complain at times
Oh yeah I agree – they are totally perfect for getting them accustomed to hiking 🙂
We LOVE Zion! It is breathtaking and unreal. This is actually the only Utah NP that we didn’t take our kids to, because we wanted to do some of the more intense hikes, and I am so glad we left them home 😉 But these are great kid friendly hike suggestions! Beautiful pics btw!
I cannot wait to visit Zion and the other Utah parks. They are on our list. Hoping to go within the next 5 years.
Great post! We LOVE Zion! We haven’t been back since having our baby, but we plan to!
This will be so helpful in planning our trip to Zion this year!
Oh good – it is truly stunning!
You know I’m dying to take my kids here, so I’m definitely pinning this for later! So glad you had a chance to stop!
Yay!!
Such a helpful article! We hope to visit Zion soon!
Great post and beautiful pictures! Can’t wait to get my girls to Zion one day! So helpful!
The picture in this post are beautiful. Easy hiking with the kids definitely makes for an easy day out!
Coulnd’t agree more 😉
Looks gorgeous. You certainly had a perfect day for pictures!
It was perfect!!
Isn’t Zion amazing?! It was raining the day we went in March but we still really enjoyed it. The Narrows hike was closed that day but we did the Riverside walk as well and loved it too!
Oh that sucks it was raining. I want to go back to this park so bad and do the narrows!!!