Just absolutely breathtaking out here. Such a wonderful difference from the other nearby parks…read morewhich are more like dry rocks. So much greenery and a gorgeous river that runs through. Perfect for a walk in some cooler weather on the hotter summer days. Put your feet in the freezing cold river for a refresher. It didn't look very big to me from the map view but it's a good size to drive around before picking a good spot. Parking is cash only put in an envelope outside the park. Watch out for snakes! If you are in the area and are unsure of going, this is your sign saying to go. I almost didn't and now that I know what it's like out there, I would have regretted it sooo bad if I didn't go. It's truly so beautiful and peaceful.

Not too far outside of the St. George area, you'll find an entirely different terrain-no longer the…read morered rocks and dirt, but tall, lush trees, a stream and a respectable sized reservoir. This is Pine Valley-located in Dixie National Forest (yes, there's a fee-$8 per vehicle). There are picnic areas and space for fishing. At the guard station, there's a handwritten sign telling visitors not to be a "fishnicker"....I inquired about this new word and learned that it's a person who comes to fish but parks their vehicle in a picnic spot, making it unavailable for people who want to picnic there. Makes sense-if you're here to fish, park in the fishing area and leave the picnic tables to people who will use them. There are several walking/hiking trails and they are beautiful! We did the Santa Clara River Walkway which was an easy walk through the trees with pretty views. There's plenty of available parking at the trailhead and clean bathrooms before you start your hike.

Tracy was great! The food did take a little while to come out but the restaurant was slammed and I…read morethink I only saw one lady in the back grinding away. Food was really good, the club was amazing and we got the pork chop as well which did not disappoint. Nice little spot.

Do NOT order a steak here…read more We stopped by on Friday on our way to a weekend trip and had a good experience. We were happy with our burger and the service was friendly so we decided to stop by again on our way back into town. The meal was disappointing. The service was still excellent, however the food was not good. Our second experience started with us overhearing the cook be extremely rude toward the server and I wish we would have taken that as a sign to get out of there. We ordered and had to wait almost an entire hour for our food. We considered leaving after waiting about 40 minutes for the food and again, wish we would have. We ordered the local favorite, the sirloin steak and eggs. They were out of the sirloin so we had to upgrade to the ribeye for an extra $6, just for the steak to come out way overdone. We were starving by the time the food came and even still barely ate our food. The eggs were slimy and overcooked and then the steak that we ordered medium rare came out well done.

Friendliest camp hosts ever! Really quiet, clean & much…read morecooler than Vegas in the summer. Highly recommend reservations. As of this post NO campfires & 50% water restriction due to the local surrounding fires. *water levels waaay low in general the last few years. Not a swimming place, no beach either. This is much "slower" type camping. No night life either. Great R & R.

My partner booked us a camping spot in Bryce Canyon Pines Store & Campground…read more Booking was super easy online, we were able to get a spot with less than a week and a half notice. So happy we got a spot very close to Bryce Canyon National Park. Email access was helpful, it is a little farther down the road than the GPS guides you to. Camp site was clean, you weren't on top of one another. To note: campers in tents like us are a little on the closer side to the road but once I fell asleep it didn't wake us. The stars are breathtaking, customer service was kind, helpful and patient on the phone. Would love to come back! Plus it was dog friendly.

Pros: Comfortable beds with light comforters. Plenty of…read morePlush towels. Great TV. Nice quiet grounds with beautiful pool. Nice lobby with friendly staff. Small fridge, microwave and coffee maker. Great water pressure and hot water. Nice toiletries. Excellent flat-screen TV. Cons: Rug was spotted and not very clean. AC worked sort of and was loud and rattled barely maintaining a comfortable room temp. Lighting is poor. I would classify this as a budget motor inn ok for an overnight stay. Room needs new carpet and some lighting updates. All in all ok. Would not return.

Nice newer hip restaurant with a full bar, conveniently located…read more Service was prompt and efficient. I had a very good loaded French dip. My daughter had excellent carnitas tacos. Check it out.

I ordered the house bacon cheeseburger. The meat was well cooked, and the sauce was great. I would…read morehave liked a bigger patty or a smaller bun. My friend had a similar experience with the french dip: tasted great, would have liked a little more meat. They have a decent variety on their menu compared to other "American eatery" style restaurants. It seems like a good place for a group with varied tastes. The staff were all very friendly and attentive, absolutely nothing negative to say there. Overall, it seems worth a visit, but I wouldn't place it among my favorites.

Great service and food! And it was fun to watch the birds fly into the outdoor seating area and…read moreland on the fans and take a spin around.

Amazing golf resort cafe. Huge portions. Friendly cook and great food. My egg sandwich with double…read morebacon on a homemade biscuit with cheese was amazing. My pup loved it too. Come on out for breakfast or lunch. Enjoy the food, see the red rocks, run with the jack rabbits or play a round of golf. The awesome views will entice you. Bring your camera and cash only at the cafe.

On our most recent trip to Springdale, I booked a canyoneering trip with Tyler, not doing any…read moreresearch at all. I had no prior knowledge about rappelling and did not know that I would be descending down 100+ goddam feet of canyon cliffs. On the day of our trip, not caring to read the confirmation e-mail, our party drove from Springdale to Hurricane, the address on their web page only to discover that the coordinates were incorrect. Calling Tyler and finding out the meeting place was in Springdale, I told him if he could wait and that I would be there in 25 minutest tops. That 25 minutes turned into an hour as the meeting place is at the opposite side of Zion National Park's entrance. You have to drive through the park, and because you are driving up canyons, you can only go 10-15 mph tops. In addition, the park rangers halt traffic for the dumbest things, aka a little dust cloud that was most likely kicked up by two kids. When we finally got to the meeting site, I expected Tyler and the waiting party to leave without us or stomp us out. However, they were extremely patient and friendly, and if they hated us, hid it quite well. After accepting our profuse rounds of apologies, we got into the car and drove to the hiking point. We had two tour guides that day, Tyler and Bruce. Bruce, driving the SUV, was extremely friendly and you could immediately see his passion for the great outdoors. He pointed out historic places along the drive and made us feel immediately at home. We quickly became friends with the guides and the other party. To be quite honest, I am not a hiker or even a lover of the outdoors. I like it in small doses but I am in now way a tree hugger. However, Tyler and Bruce made this 10 hour excursion really fun. The hike was strenuous and casualties were suffered - a mother suffered a strained calf and her two kids were too scared after rappel #3 and had to hike back. The weather was beautiful and the canyons were just majestic. The scenery was beautiful however, 10 hours of anything will make you despise it. Haha. The main part of the tour were the 10 rappels with the first being a 60 ft. drop. When I saw that, I nearly shat a brick. I am scared of heights, however, love the thrill of the feeling when you finish. However, the scariest part was just walking over the ledge. Tyler and Bruce were extremely patient and encouraged us and gave us the will. Let me tell you one thing - the will to survive is very strong. There were some thoughts of throwing in the white flag, however, once you are able to conquer the initial steps, the rest gets easy. Kudos to Bruce and Tyler enduring #1 rappel...it literally took an hour to get all of us down. The full tour has 10 rappels with the shortest being 20-30 ft. and the longest 100 ft. When you go down, you are literally shuffling down like a cockroach inch by inch. It is pretty pathetic when you re-watch your vides you shot. However, Tyler and Bruce just bound down the lines. Goddam them for showing us up. They make you feel very safe, however, this is not a sport for the high maintenance. You will get cut and scraped, muddied and have wet socks. Oh yah, Tyler has these cookies that will make you revert to cookie monster form. They were delicious and I hogged a bag of them, refusing to share which almost caused a debacle with KDer. Tyler had to hike the two kids and their mom back, leaving us with only Bruce. If they had reservations or concerns, they certainly hid it and even with one guide, we were able to complete our excursion. It actually got a lot easier. Our tour lasted about 10 hours and if you bring up my name, they will gleefully tell you the tale of woe. Tyler and Bruce's words exactly: "we never guided a tour like this...you guys were the slowest". Hahaha. After, we got dinner with them at Zion Pizza and Noodle and were able to dine as chums. Tyler owns the company while Bruce helps out. The first thing you will see is their passion. Bruce is more vocal about it and you can tell and will find that he lives, breathes, shits the outdoors. Tyler is more muted but it is a joy to see two individuals making a living of what they love. They both relish passing on their passion to you, explaining the wonders of Zion, taking 100+ pics of everyone, saving lives. They will also allow themselves to be used as a foothold in case you are in a precarious position and need footing. I am glad that I can call them friends and definitely recommend you book with them. They will become your friends and you and your party will bond in ways you cannot imagine. In addition, if you are a tourist, they will answer questions you have about Mormons, questions you have inside but are scared to ask in fear of being ignorant. cliffs: -most exhilarating, death defying, raddest trip ever -all you can eat (for me) cookies baked by Tyler's mother-in-law -all you can eat Gardettos -one chicken pasta sandwich -5 STARS

This review is actually about a year overdue, since we did our canyoneering trip in August 2011…read more But I have to come back and talk about it because of the wonderful experience we had. It is definitely something I'll never forget, because I always enjoy doing outdoor activities and the canyoneering sounded like a great way to take in the beautiful Utah scenery and try something new like rappelling. First we met the guides, Tyler and Bruce, at the lodge where we were staying just outside of Zion National Park. They told us a little bit about where we were going and what we were going to do that day and then we took off for an interesting drive with lots of off-road terrain in the bumpy desert. The four people in my family were paired up with a mom and two relatively young daughters, and I was a little bit worried about how they were going to do on this seemingly difficult trip. Tyler and Bruce instructed us on how to put on our harnesses and our helmets, then told us to follow them and we walked straight off into the desert brush. Along the walk they acted as our nature guides, pointing out the local plants, even offering a sniff of desert pine needles, which had an amazing scent. They also showed us this "living soil" stuff and told us to step around it because if we stepped on this black-looking crust on the ground it would kill all the microorganisms that were in it. They were obviously really passionate about nature and I really appreciated the extra knowledge that we got just on the short walk that we took. But enough about the walk, let's get to the rappelling, which I'd actually been anxiously waiting for. We came to the first site and we couldn't even see the landing spot about 70 ft. below. Tyler and Bruce gave us a thorough talk and Bruce went down first to demonstrate and also to help us at the bottom. The most important thing is that they keep talking to you, all the way down. Sometimes a person would get nervous and stop on the way down, but I always felt very safe, even while walking horizontally down a frickin' cliff! We stopped for sandwiches on the canyon floor and endured some smaller descents without ropes. I learned on every slope that there is the normal way down, and then there is Bruce's way down. Tyler made fun of him because Bruce always chose a different, and more daring path than the rest of us, but he is the expert for a reason! We even started calling him Spider-Bruce because he could grip the rock like nobody else. Everyone in our group, even the younger girls, made it through the trip just fine. I was even toting my huge digital camera the whole time! Kudos to Tyler and Bruce for making it probably the best day of our entire vacation. I felt a real high of adrenaline after conquering that canyon, and came out of it knowing what cryptobiotic soil is! They really deserve all five stars for their skills as guides, and the quality of the whole experience. I would 100% recommend these guys to anyone who wants an outdoor experience they will remember, and even brag about.

I'm a sucker for a tiny house, so when I saw these cute little vacation rentals, I was all about…read moreit! They are located along a main street, across from the Zion Canyon Hot Springs. It's the perfect location if you plan to visit the springs (which I also recommend). The space has everything you need to be comfortable and even prepare some small meals. It's lacking a dining table-you can either eat outside with the very small cocktail table or inside at the coffee table. There's a portable burner in place of a stove, which works ok for small things. There's a cool eco-friendly coffee maker. This area gets a ton of wind and is right off the highway, so it can be loud. The owners obviously anticipated this, since they provided earplugs for guests. There is extra bedding, but it's a thin blanket and in the winter months it can get a little chilly. The keyless door worked ok as long as you have one hand to pull the door handle tight and the other to punch in the code. Overall, it's a fun place to stay in a convenient location. The view of the canyon out back was my favorite part and watching the colors of the sunset was mesmerizing.

We had a great stay at the Dwellings! It has a wonderful proximity to Hurricane, Virgin, and La…read moreVerkin for you to run errands, get groceries, etc. Beautiful views, only 30 mins from the main entrance to Zion, and plenty of scenery while you drive around! We booked the "Amazing" view room. I also loved that there's a hike down to the. Virgin River that runs below the houses! The only two things I would say: 1. There was a built in cooktop pictured online. When we got there, it was only a plug-in single burner/hot plate, so just beware if you plan to cook a lot! 2. We booked our stay through the CapitalOne travel portal and used miles to pay for it. When we got there, on their end it showed up not being paid, so we never got an email with our check in information. This was of course not their fault, and we got it figured out, but just a warning for any CapitalOne cardholders, I would book this hotel through their website and not CapitalOne! Overall, we had a really great stay and I would definitely stay here again!