We SCREWED UP at Zion! | e116 | The Joslyn Journey

WHERE WE STAYED🛻⛺:

Watchman Campground, Zion National Park (Springdale, UT)

We stayed in the park the entire time we were at Zion. Watchman is the only campground that is open during the winter.

While it was odd to be in a campground after boondocking for such a long time, I’m glad we did. We didn’t have to worry about waiting to get into the park (which was an issue typically mid-day). It was $30/night to stay at Watchman campground and surprisingly no other fees – we were charged $210 for the 7 days we were there! We stayed at Site B058, which was towards the back of the campground.

Note that there are non-electric sites available for $20/night but you do have to be 19 ft or less (we’re 25′). But an extra $10 for electricity near freezing temps seemed to be a great deal!

WHERE WE PLAYED:🐟🛶🚴‍♀️🥾

Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel Drive

What a way to get yourself an overview of the park while being completely overwhelmed with the sheer beauty of this park! When we went in mid-February, the shuttle was not running so we had the opportunity to drive the entire area.

If you are planning to drive this section when the shuttles aren’t running, we’d suggest that you get there in the morning. We saw this section of the park closed 3-4 times coming back from hikes. Since the parking areas are so small they limit the number of people entering the area, which we thought made a ton of sense.

Weeping Rock Trail

After driving the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel to the east entrance and back, we decided we needed to get out and stretch our legs a little. This trail was the perfect solution – a 0.5-mile hike to a pretty cool overlook.

We brought our shoe chains since we read on AllTrails that several trails in the park are pretty iced over. I’m glad we did since there was quite a bit of ice on this short path.

Sand Bench Trail

This was our first longer trail in Zion. In typical Joslyn fashion, we combined a few trails into one large loop trail!

This trail is a very good introduction into what you may find in Zion. There are some steep inclines, snow & ice (if you come in the winter like us), and amazing views on every turn.

Beginning of the Sand Bench trail – lots of photographers just to the left of this bridge the times we were there

Some pretty amazing 360-degree views at the top of this trail!

Mid-morning sun hitting those mountains~!

This is at the beginning of the “northern loop” of our trail

WHERE WE ATE: 🍽️🥩🍹🍺🍽️

Oscar’s Cafe (Springdale, UT)

After checking out the rental gear at Zion Guru, we decided to grab some lunch at Oscar’s Cafe in town. We were hoping that going in town vs eating at some of the restaurants in the park would have been cheaper. Nope! For $26, we got this with a soda and a hot tea (I needed that with the chill in the air). It was ok, but left me feeling like we should have grabbed a sandwich in our camper for that price. Ah well…

Avocado chip burger with sweet potato fries at Oscar’s Cafe

Our Camping Locations

If you’re interested in seeing all of the places we’ve stayed, I’m keeping a (mostly) updated list on Google Maps by Month. Enjoy!