Stop 1: Kolob Canyon (The Warm-Up)

We began our day at the Kolob Canyon section of the park. Leesa marched into the Visitor Center to flash our America the Beautiful pass and interrogate the staff. This area is mostly for hardcore hikers, but we decided to do the five-mile drive-thru option before backtracking to the main park entrance.

The ranger gave Leesa a grim status report: Zion’s main parking lot was completely full. However, they promised it usually thins out around 2:30 PM. We did some quick vacation math and realized that if we dragged our feet and drove through a few extra canyons, we would hit the main gate at the exact optimal moment.

We drove to the top of the Summit Road at the end of the five-mile stretch. I am pleased to report the views of the canyon from the top were absolutely spectacular—well worth the massive detour.

Stop 2: Kolob Terrace (The Lunch Detour)

To keep killing time until the magical 2:30 PM parking window, we drove 44 miles over to Kolob Terrace. We pulled over at the Kolob Terrace reservoir to devour the sandwiches Leesa had packed for us. After staring at the water and successfully burning through our time buffer, we backtracked another 30 miles to the main park entrance. [1]

Stop 3: Bypassing the Shuttle System

During peak season (which runs from early March through late November), Zion strictly bans normal human vehicles from the main canyon. You are supposed to line up like cattle and ride the official park shuttle buses, which takes about an hour and a half round trip.

We had a different plan. We rolled into the main Visitor Center with me rocking the wheelchair and the Firefly attachment fully deployed, figuring this gave us the absolute highest statistical probability of talking our way into a special driving permit.

When we reached the information desk, the Park Ranger was in the middle of swearing in five small children as official Junior Rangers. It was undeniably cute, but we had a heist to execute. Once the kids cleared out, we casually asked for a vehicle pass. The ranger didn’t even blink. She said, “Absolutely,” had Leesa sign a form, and then handed us the ultimate prize: the top-secret digital code to the canyon gate. She made us swear a blood oath never to disclose the code to another living soul, gave us driving directions, and sent us on our way.

Zion Canyon Scenic Drive: Look at Me, I’m the Shuttle Now

We rolled up to the restricted gate, Leesa punched in the secret sequence, the mechanical arm lifted, and boom—we were officially our own private shuttle bus.

Driving those seven to eight miles of empty scenic road felt completely illegal. The asphalt was entirely empty of cars, but it was absolutely crawling with swarms of electric bicycles. Half of these e-bikers were carrying identical wooden walking sticks with loop handles. We spent a good portion of the drive debating whether the park service loans those out or if there is a highly lucrative black-market stick-rental syndicate operating in Springdale.

We cruised deep into the canyon floor, with Leesa jumping out at every single scenic pull-out to snap photos of the massive rock walls looming over us. We made it past Big Bend, completely surrounded by towering walls of ancient sandstone.

Big Bend

The Temple of Sinawava: Melting at 102 Degrees

The road dead-ends at the Temple of Sinawava, where massive vertical rock formations envelope you on almost every side while a very muddy river churns past. It was a blistering 102 degrees out.

Leesa got out to scout the paved trail solo. A few minutes later, she jogged back to the car and started prodding me to get out, promising there was plenty of shade and it felt much cooler by the canyon wall. Sometimes I need a literal crowbar to get out of the passenger seat, but I relented. We hooked up the Firefly and hit the trail.

The path was beautifully paved and wonderfully flat for a surprisingly long distance. It was covered in thick layers of loose sand in a few spots—clearly the aftermath of the massive flash flooding that had ripped through the canyon a few days prior to our arrival.

Our streak of luck finally ran out when the trail hit a sharp 20-degree downhill pitch. Remembering my previous identity as an upside-down turtle in Las Vegas, I decided my off-road insurance policy had expired. Leesa walked a bit further down to scout the terrain, confirmed the path got way too sketchy for wheels, and we turned our traveling circus around.

The Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel: Twice for the Price of One

To exit the park, we jumped onto Scenic Bypass 9 heading northeast. This route takes you directly through the historic Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel, a 1.1-mile engineering marvel bored straight through solid sandstone. The coolest feature? They carved massive open-air “windows” into the side of the cliff face, giving you rapid-fire bursts of canyon views as you drive through the mountain.

The segment of the bypass immediately following the tunnel was a chaotic mess of heavy road construction. We crawled through the dust and kept driving until we officially exited the park boundaries.

We pulled over, opened Google Maps to plan our route back to our St. George condo, and discovered a hilarious logistical reality: returning home by backtracking through the park was significantly faster than driving a different loop around the mountains.

This meant we got the ultimate vacation bonus: turning the car around, braving the construction zone again, and experiencing the 1.1-mile mountain tunnel for a second time.

All in all, between the secret codes, empty roads, and lack of wheelchair crashes, it was a genuinely good day.

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