Ten Hours in Zion National Park: A Non-Rev Adventure

One of the highly valued perks about being a Flight Attendant is the ability to fly for free, or “Non-Rev” (non- revenue passenger). This entails placing yourself (and/ or your guest) on a standby list. Once the plane is boarded with paying customers, the hope is that there will be enough room on the plane for you. Additionally, there may be other non-revers who are also on the standby list, and there is a ranking system applied based on factors such as mainline vs regional, active vs retired, etc. After all things are considered, if there is still room on the plane, the Gate Agent will clear you, and give you a boarding pass to ride the plane. It is always a great feeling to get cleared!

My husband and I decided we’d like to non-rev somewhere cool for a couple of days, but we were not exactly sure where. We threw around ideas, looked into rental car and lodging prices. My husband discovered some very good rental car deals in Las Vegas. I logged onto the Non-Rev travel booking website, and quickly realized that indeed, flight loads to non-rev to Las Vegas would be very favorable, meaning there would be plenty of open seats. While visiting Las Vegas did not especially appeal to me, I looked a bit closer to see what enticing adventures might be near Las Vegas.

“Joe! What about Zion National Park? It’s only about a 2 hour drive from Las Vegas” I said. He loved the idea. He added that we should at least stay the first night in Las Vegas so I could experience it. Just like that, our plan was in motion.

We ended up flying on American Airlines (without any problems getting cleared!) from RSW to CLT, and CLT to LAS. The first evening we stayed in Las Vegas (at Bally’s Las Vegas), and in the morning, we took an Uber to pick up our car at Ace Car Rental . Then we drove to Hurricane, Utah, to check in to our lodging.

Gooseberry Lodges

I was thrilled with our choice of lodging! We stayed at Gooseberry Lodges in Apple Valley, about 17 miles from Zion National Park. These brand new tiny cabins were quite affordable at about $60 a night, and provided a clean, comfortable “glamping” experience, and a gorgeous mountain view in the middle of nowhere (imagine the stars in the sky at night!). Each small cabin provides a twin mattress, a full futon, clean comfortable bedding, air conditioning, refrigerator, microwave, table with chairs, towels, a fire pit, a grill, and a picnic table. There are shared shower units and a bathroom in a separate building. Some of the cabins are a bit bigger with additional amenities. There is a welcome center that is open 24/7, and from there you can borrow all kinds of things you may need such as pots, pans, toasters, utensils, aluminum foil, can openers, camping chairs, lighter fuel, charcoal, etc. You can also easily purchase s’more kits and firewood. The staff was so easy going and kind, and they wanted to make sure all guests felt welcome. We found it to be very clean and quiet at night. Our first evening there, we stopped at a grocery store in Hurricane, and bought tortilla chips, chicken strips, cheese, salsa, beans, and sour cream. We made nachos on the grill for dinner which proved to be an affordable and tasty meal while watching the sun set over the mountains and drinking ice cold beer.

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River Rock Roasting Company

Wednesday morning we were ready and out by 6:30 am, and started driving from Gooseberry Lodges towards Zion National Park. On the route, there is a cafe called River Rock Roasting Company. Joe and I both agree, this may be the coolest local coffee shop we have ever been to. The prices are incredibly reasonable , the fresh hot coffee is roasted to perfection, and the food is excellent and generous ( The breakfast bagel sandwiches were so filling we didn’t eat lunch). But what really makes River Rock Coffee Company so highly favored in our opinion, is the spectacular view from the back seating area overlooking the Virgin River and scenic mountain view. Inside the walls are adorned with local artwork, and the staff were genuinely friendly. We came back the following morning as well. I highly recommend this spot for breakfast if you are visiting Zion National Park.

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Zion National Park

After breakfast we made our way to Springdale, UT which is the little town right outside Zion National Park. We had visited the evening before to scope out the parking, the bike rentals, and what was around the entrance to ZNP. Typically, I understand that parking is a big problem when visiting the park, but during Covid 19 it was not an issue for us when we arrived at 8am on a Wednesday. We were able to park in the closet parking lot for the day for $25. Otherwise I understand the city of Springdale has a shuttle you can ride in on from further parking lots. A very important thing to know about your visit to ZNP is that you will need to book Zion Canyon Shuttle tickets (they cost $1 each) the morning prior at 9am (more information here). These shuttles take you all throughout the park, and they are what allow you to cover more ground than by foot alone, however each ticket is assigned for a 1 hour window the day before, so pre-planning must be involved, and it can inhibit spontaneity The shuttles also allow bikes to be hauled on them, which is great if you plan to keep a bike with you all day.

The day we went to ZNP happened to be a surprise free day! All of the National Parks gave free admission that day to celebrate a grant passing. Usually it would be $20 a person.

We rented smooth riding, lightweight, cruiser style bikes from Zion Outfitters, located right near the entry to the park. You can rent the bikes for a full day (til 8pm) for $35+ tax, or for a half day (4 hours) for $25 +tax. In hindsight we were glad we paid the extra $10 to keep them all day because trying to keep to a set time frame would have impeded our enjoyment of the spontaneous adventure that unfolded as the day progressed. These bikes allowed us to cover ground we could not have covered otherwise in our one day, ten hour visit.

Here is a link to a description of the various trails available to hike at ZNP. Below I will elaborate on how we spent our day there.

Pa’rus Trail

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After renting out bikes, we chose to start with the Pa’rus trail which is the only paved bike trail ( it is also the only walking trail that allows pets) in the park. Classified as an “easy hike” at 3.5 miles roundtrip, it was a delightful introduction to the beauty of the red mountains and gleaming river.

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Watchman’s Trail

Once we finished our bike trail, we decided our next goal would be to hike an intermediate trail called “Watchman Trail”. You may be wondering, what did we do with the rental bikes? Well the rental bike lenders are very easy going, and all you need to do is put down the kickstand and leave it (unlocked) near the start of the hike. “Nobody bothers the bikes”, they said. Sure enough, nobody did. As my husband said, “this is not NYC”.

Watchman Trail is 3.3 miles roundtrip, with a 368 foot elevation that switchbacks up the mountain. It was simply beautiful, and challenging enough to feel proud when we were finished, but not so difficult that we felt stressed about it at any time. This is a trail that would be suitable for most people with a decent fitness level. We took our time (2. 5 hours), stopping to sit on rocks in the shade and each peaches at one time, and stopping to watch rams at another time. We were not alone, as others were always not far ahead or behind us, but we did not feel overwhelmed with too many hikers, so it was quite enjoyable.

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The Narrows

After we finished hiking Watchman Trail, we rode our bikes out of ZNP and into the town of Springdale to rest and rehydrate at a gift shop / convenience store. We also used this time to think about our next activity. We had 3pm shuttle tickets, so we decided we would load our bikes on the shuttle and take it to the last stop in the park, about 8 miles out from the entry. Originally we thought we would just ride our bikes on the paved road to the last stop, but I cannot emphasize enough how thankful we were that we did not choose to do that because it would have been a rigorous uphill ride. Mounting our bikes on the rack on the front of the bus, and riding the bus was definitely the right option for us! Besides, can you imagine the fun we had riding those bikes downhill for 8 miles on the way back? Exhilarating fun that was! We hardly peddled. A welcome relief after 8 hours of hiking.

The reason we wanted to shuttle out to the last stop in the park? That is where you hike the Riverside Walk for about 1 mile, to the entrance of The Narrows. This is one of the better known hikes at ZNP. This is a beautiful hike, categorized as strenuous, that takes place mostly in cold running water over slippery rocks. The full length of this hike 9.4 miles roundtrip, however the lovely thing about this trail is you can do as much or as little of it as you desire. Joe and I did only a quarter of a mile. Can you rent neoprene socks, hiking boots, and walking sticks for this hike? Absolutely. But we did not do that. I was wearing Nike Free running shoes with normal sports socks, and Joe was wearing water shoes. We found an abandoned hiking stick to use. For our purposes, this lack of higher grade equipment was perfectly suitable. Keep in mind, it was in the mid to upper 90’s during our visit so my shoes and socks fully dried very quickly.

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Main Street Cafe

We wrapped up at ZNP, and drove back towards Gooseberry Lodges. Hurricane, UT does not have much to choose from as far as restaurants, but we were fortunate to stumble upon this local restaurant, Main Street Cafe. We ate outside under the pergola, and enjoyed resting after 10 hours in ZNP. I had a Cobb salad, and Joe had a burger cooked outside on the grill just a few steps away from our table. This restaurant had a cute local feel to it, however Joe was not especially pleased (he wanted to make sure I said that, because he did not care for his food and lack of beer!), however I was delighted by my salad.

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Our trip concluded the next morning, driving back to Las Vegas, dropping off the rental car at Ace, and riding their shuttle back to the airport. On the journey home we non-reved Las to DFW, and DFW to RSW, returning home around 10 pm. Once again there were no problems getting cleared from the standby lists.

We dreamed up this trip only three days before going on it, and I am so glad we did it. It was a spontaneous adventure, and a whirlwind, but it will have lasting memories for many years to come.

GlampingGooseberry LodgesNon Rev travelUtahZion National Park