4/12 Drive Into Zion National Park from East Tunnel Entrance

Most people take the easy route into Zion through the south entrance and the town of Springdale.  That's an OK way to enter the park, but the most scenic entrance is through the Zion Tunnel on the east side of the park.  It has incredible scenery, and though the wait to go through the tunnel will take a while, it is more than worth it.

One warning, however, is that the tunnel is old and rounded on the top, which means that larger RVs must pay a fee and drive through while traffic is held on the other end.  And there are size limits to being able to go through the tunnel at all:  height must be under 13', length must be under 40' for a single vehicle and 50' for a towed vehicle total, and width must be less than 7' 10".  My motorhome fits within the limits, but it's size means I must pay a $15 fee for a special permit and must go through the tunnel right down the middle while traffic is held at the other end.  Details are here:  https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/the-zion-mount-carmel-tunnel.htm  

Here are some of the photos I took driving the several miles from the entrance booth, to and through the tunnel, and down the switchbacks that get you to the main road in the valley. 

 

 

There was about a mile, very slow line of cars to get through the single lane and only one ranger at the entrance booth. 

 

 

Note the snow on the mountains and in patches in the forest floor. 

 

 

And even more snow at the base of Checkerboard Mesa.

 

 

You can tell that all of these mesas were once sand dunes.  

 

 

Not a good photo, but this young bighorn sheep looked a little young to be on his or her own. Traffic slowed down to almost a stop to avoid him. 

 

 

I was lucky a couple of times to find a big enough pullover to park so I could get out and take photos.  This was probably because there were more vehicles leaving than entering the park. 

 

Lots of patterns in the sand dune rocks!  

 

 

This is just a small tunnel, not the big one. 

 

 

This is the Zion tunnel.  I like the measurements on the edges and in the middle.  Before they started letting bigger vehicles go down the middle of the tunnel, there were a lot of RVs that had roof damage on the right-hand side.  My motorhome is about 12' high, by the way, so it is important that I don't wander over to the side. 

And a few years ago, one big semi-truck ignored all the warning signs and tried to sneak through the tunnel in the middle of the night.  Had to close the tunnel for several hours while they got him out.

 

 

Once you get through the tunnel, there are several steep switchbacks before you get down to the valley where the main park road is located. 

 

 

Made it to my campsite with a view!!  

Today, I spent a lot of time resting up from my long drive and cleaning and organizing my motorhome.  I have 12 more days to spend here, so lots of time to ride the shuttles and sightsee, which is one of the advantages of being a full-time motor-homer!!