113.56 Miles | 3:01 Riding Time

It’s Friday, May 17, 2024, and it’s Day 37 of my cross country motorcycle trip.

It was a straight, and uneventful ride from Panguitch down to the eastern entrance to Zion National Park. Coming off RT 89, I turned on to RT 8, and headed west into the park. There was some construction and I got a little mixed up at one point. I wondered out loud into my helmet, “should I have taken that turn back there?” When around the next turn was the entrance gate to the park.

I hadn’t seen a ton of wildlife in the parks (cows don’t count), so I was surprised when after a couple of turns, there were about a half-dozen bighorn sheep hanging out on the left side of the road and on the rocks. They seemed to be posing for pictures, and the humans were more than happy to oblige.

There are two tunnels on this route. The first is very short and just carved into the rock. The second is much longer and they had it going only one way at a time, so there was a bit of a wait. It was worth the wait. Exiting the tunnel, you are in the canyon. There are about 5-6 switchbacks on the road that get you down to the valley.

That’s what I found unique about Zion. With most parks, you’re on the rim, looking down into the canyon. At Zion, you’re in the canyon looking up at these vast, towering walls.

Zion is so heavily visited that you can’t take the scenic road in your own vehicle. You have to take the shuttle. With no place to store my riding gear, I didn’t want to sit on a hot bus for several hours in full gear. So my visit was limited to the east entrance road and visitors center (and, the 30 minutes it took to find a place to park…there is motorcycle parking, but I didn’t see it until I was on the way out). Even so, I wasn’t the least bit disappointed. Those view coming in were well worth it.

I exited the park by the south entrance, which is built-up and looks like a typical ski town. There are lots of souvenir shops, camping outfitters and restaurants.

Made my way down to St. George, UT and my hotel. A late lunch at the Cracker Barrel (it’s not a road trip without one stop at a Cracker Barrel), and a nap were in order. Then, I spent some time planning the ride to Las Vegas tomorrow.

The Route