Trips With JamesOctober 2020

I am sorry for the delay in my short feature on Zion National Park in Utah. The final article is coming soon.

Online Virtual festival dealing with films that are about the Pandemic and its effects.

I have been taking care of the overwhelming response that my short film, Divorce During Pandemic has generated. In the last 3 weeks, my film has been accepted into 5 festivals and been invited into over 300 more. Now films have to pay a fee when you submit to a festival but when get accepted there the possibility of awards plus notice and the opportunity for other work if people like your film. So to be invited to over 300 festivals is very rewarding but also time consuming to read about each festival and decide to attend or not plus stay within the festival budget for a small film with no stars, just very good actors.

Famous festival based in La Jolla, California

The logos that you are seeing as part of this article are the laurels that you receive from a festival when your film is selected as an Official Selection. If you win an award, then you get another laurel stating what you won. The laurels may not seem like much but they are what the industry uses to let people know that this film is doing well or worth seeing. Many more films receive no laurels than get one.

Festival promoting film work in south Georgia, USA.

So this platform will return to travel related articles very soon, but as the progress of this film continues, we will also let you know about that as well.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Yet another festival in Istanbul, Turkey.

James Carey, Senior Writer,Tripswithjames.com and Director of Divorce During Pandemic.

I’ve lived in California for over 30 years and I have been to Las Vegas at least 25 times, yet I had no idea that Zion National Park was only 2 1/2 hours away from Vegas in south-western Utah. So it was with great excitement that I decided to travel to Zion National Park when my wanderlust had become overwhelming.

First, I stopped off in Las Vegas for an evening before driving all the way to Zion which turned into two days when I woke up the next morning with a bad case of food poisoning that of course made me think I was suffering from COVID-19. After spending the entire day in my room recovering, I woke up on the third day hungry and refreshed. Two and half hours later, as I drove across the desert out of Nevada and across the northwestern corner of Arizona, I entered Utah. I had not been in the state of Utah for 25 years, and I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful it is.

Turning off on Utah State Highway 9, I wandered through the towns of St. George and Hurricane and La Verkin and Virgin until I reached the gateway to Zion National Park which is Springdale, UT. I had started looking for a hotel to stay starting at La Verkin, and the prices increased exponentially the closer I got to the entrance to the park. I finally settled on a slightly rundown but comfortable hotel in La Verkin about 17 miles from Zion called the Hotel Zion Inn. The hotel had seen some hard times but had recently been taken over by an Indian family who was rebuilding it slowly. The hotel was a huge complex with four separate buildings but at the moment they only had about 50 rooms available. The beds were comfortable, the air conditioning was great, they had wonderful cable television and the hotel was clean if not a little dated. And the price was perfect if you weren’t looking for luxury at $34 a night. The price including tax was $117.00 off Hotels.com.

Hotel Zion Inn, 150 N State St, La Verkin, UT 84745, Phone: (435) 635-0965

Theories about the origin of La Verkin’s name suggest that it may be a corruption of the Spanish la virgen, after the nearby Virgin River, or possibly an error in the transcription of the term “beaver skin.”

The next morning after a simple breakfast at the hotel I drove the 17 miles to Zion. Along the way I passed through the very small-town Virgin, Utah. The first settlement at Virgin was in 1858. It’s also the name of the river that carved out the canyon that creates Zion National Park.

Very interesting rock on the Watchman Trail.

Arriving in Springdale you immediately become aware the town is set up completely to service the tourists that visit Zion National Park on a daily basis. The elevation is 3800 plus feet and the average hotel price in the town is around $230. There are several restaurants, bars and art galleries and other things to do both family related or otherwise in the town so there is a bit of a nightlife there.

Parking is quite easy in Springdale because there is a free shuttle that runs from the edge of town all the way up to the opening of Zion National Park. However there are a few peculiarities about the parking situation. Everything is based on a credit card and there are three choices. Parking is a dollar an hour in all areas and you can choose one hour, two hours or twelve hours and nothing in between. Those are the only choices. There is parking inside Zion but there is no driving in Zion. Everything is either by shuttle or hiking or by bicycle.

Vista from the end of the Watchman Trail

There is a shuttle inside the park which is a one dollar ticket, but you must (https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/zion-canyon-shuttle-tickets.htm) buy the ticket online the day before and have verification either with a paper print out or on your phone or iPad when you show up at the park. For those people who did not know how to get a ticket they start handing out free shuttle tickets on the day of on a first come first serve basis at 3:00 PM in the afternoon. The shuttle will take you deep into the park to Riverside Trail, the Emerald pools both lower an upper and to other trails. It is not recommended to hike to those places because some of them are literally 10 miles in one direction. So unless you’re going to stick around the entrance of the park the only way to see those other sites is either by renting a bicycle or taking the shuttle.

Around the entrance of Zion National Park are two trails one is the Watchman trail and the Pa’rus trail. Both are 3.5 miles round trip, but the Watchmen is a grade two trail that goes up the face of the Watchmen a singular tower of stone that kind of feels like the sentinel or guard for the park hence the name the Watchman.

Starting in between the Visitor Center and the South Campground, the Watchman Trail heads up to a viewpoint on top of the first layer of cliffs roughly 300 feet above the canyon floor. While the trail doesn’t actually take you to the top of the Watchman, you can still get a good view of the famous and photogenic peak to the south as well as a good bird’s eye view of the canyon and Springdale below. The trail is mostly family-friendly but keep a close eye on children as there are a few cliff edges to pay attention to. This trail is completely exposed to the sun, so during the hot summer months, this hike is best done on a cloudy day or in the morning when this side of the main canyon is still in the shade. The trail is not paved and there are lots of rocks and strenuous areas to get through. The view is worth the hike.

Part 2 of this three days In Zion National Park will focus on the Pa’rus Trail and trying to get to the Emerald Pools and the Riverside trail.

Part 3 will focus on the Kolob Reservoir on the backside of Zion National Park where there are really great trails away from the crowds and the commercialism at the entrance to the park.