What to Wear Hiking: A Guide to Zion National Park

This year for Spring Break, Jill planned a very last-minute trip for her family (and one other) to Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. We flew in and out of Las Vegas, but spent the majority of our time in Zion National Park and Page, AZ.

Planning a trip like this can be overwhelming, especially in just a few weeks' time. Several of you reached out asking for our itinerary, and I'm happy to share it (see below)! We love to travel and I love to plan as much as possible in advance (especially what I'll be wearing) to make the trip go as smoothly as possible.

Zion National Park is on many of your bucket lists and with good reason. It's a fantastic vacation destination!! It's an easy 2-hour drive from Las Vegas and you could easily plan a weekend trip - or more - depending on your availability.

We allowed two full days in Zion and then headed to Page, Arizona for two days to explore that area.

Have you heard of TripIt? We’ve been using it for our trips for many years and we love the ease of planning our trips, recording all the information in one place, and being able to share our itineraries with others. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about TripIt.

We had a 7-day itinerary to work with and here is how we divided our time:

Day 1: FLY TO LAS VEGAS, visit Valley of Fire State Park, drive to Springdale, UT (ZION)

Day 2: Hike Angels Landing (Permit Required) & Emerald Pools - ZION

Day 3: Hike The Narrows - ZION

Day 4: DRIVE TO PAGE, AZ

Day 5: Kayak & Hike Antelope Island - PAGE, AZ

Day 5: UTV Tour of Vermillion Cliffs & Horseshoe Bend - PAGE, AZ

Day 6: DRIVE TO LAS VEGAS & Overnight at Paris Las Vegas 

Day 7: FLY HOME

 We stuck to our original plan pretty closely and once the trip was over, we all agreed that we would keep our general plan the same, however, we would have liked one more day in Zion and, if possible, we would have liked to add on a day or two in Bryce Canyon (which we have never visited).

At the end of our trip, we spent just under 24 hours in Las Vegas because 3 of us had never visited Vegas. While it was “something to see”, we all felt a little let down (and maybe a little sensory overload, but everyone in our group realized Vegas just isn’t our speed!)

 It’s hard to pick favorites from our trip, but I would have to say hiking Angels Landing (which is now only possible with a permit), hiking The Narrows, and kayaking to Antelope Island were three of the most memorable highlights of our trip. I wouldn’t change any of the excursions or hikes we planned. Feel free to reach out if you would like me to share our TripIt itinerary with you. It includes our accommodations and restaurants as well as our activities.

If you’d like to know what I packed in my carry-on for our trip, below is a packing list. For the latter half of our trip, we stayed in an AirBNB with accessible laundry. I generally packed for 4 days and planned to do laundry in the middle of the trip. It worked out perfectly and I would pack exactly the same again. 

I ended up wearing everything I packed except my rain jacket (thankfully). The days were cool in the mornings and evenings and warm in the afternoon, so layers were the key to getting dressed every day. As usual, I packed everything in our favorite packing cubes, which help keep everything neat and organized.

PACKING LIST FOR ZION NATIONAL PARK

SOCK/UNDERGARMENTS:

2 pair wool hiking socks

2 pair short socks for sneakers

2 pair other socks

6 underwear

4 sport bras

1 swimsuit

TOPS:

2 tank tops: here and here

2 short-sleeve tees: here and here

1 long-sleeve tee

1 Smartwool quarter zip

1 Rain jacket/windbreaker

BOTTOMS (all black):

1 Joggers

2 Lululemon leggings

SHOES:

Hiking boots

On Cloud running shoes

Chacos

OTHER:

Baseball hat

Warm hat

Mittens

Flat Iron

Toiletries

Backpack

Waterproof phone bag

Dry bag

PJs

This is the outfit I wore on my travel days to and from Vegas. I purchased hiking boots just prior to our trip and did not have time to break them in before we traveled and I was SO grateful they worked out well. I would highly recommend them as they are lightweight, breathable, and comfortable right out of the box. I estimate that I walked/hiked about 30 miles over the course of our trip.

If you have an opportunity to visit either of these beautiful areas, I highly recommend doing so! While our 17-year old daughter was only mildly excited about our trip prior to departure. Looking back, she has commented several times about how much fun she had. This type of trip is a great way to spend time as a family outdoors and explore some beautiful areas in the southwest.