View from the Watchman’s Trail in Zion National Park
Zion National Park is dotted with a lot of trails. Visitors are spoilt for choice here but if you are having somehow trouble deciding the which one to take, the Watchman’s Trail is a good place to start. It starts somewhere near the visitors center and it is easily accessible by walking. The trail is considered short at three miles round trip. I took this chance to go on the hike firstly because it was short, secondly, it was easy, and finally it was rather late in the afternoon and I won’t have time to go on a longer hike even if I wanted to.
View of the Zion National Park Visitor Center from the Watchman’s Overlook
The trail goes from somewhere near the visitor center and up the mountainside which overlooks the area of the visitor center. The trail is generally safe but there would be some parts which are a bit dodgy. I initially thought that the Watchman’s Trail will bring me to the top of the mountain but this wasn’t the case, fortunately. The trail ends at a loop at an overlook above where the visitor center is. The Watchman’s Overlook gives visitors a great view of the area around the visitors center. You can see the canyon that was carved out by the Virgin River over millennia.
Much as I wanted a bit more illumination of the mountains, the sun was already going down behind the mountains. The view was still great. There were some people on the overlook but it was mostly empty. I took my photos started to make my way down the trail. Since I saw that the sun had already gone down behind the mountains it won’t be long before it starts to get dark. I don’t have a headlamp with me so it would be best that I start making my way down the mountain.