Zion, as always, did not disappoint. It was our last stop on our 99-day cross-country sojourn (cue tears for missing 100 by a day) and we went big on our final 24 hours. Ellie surprised Daniel with a Via Ferrata experience on the east side of Zion Canyon. A Via Ferrata is essentially an extended iron rung trail that scales the side of a cliff. Our experience with iron rungs in Acadia was such a hit that it seemed like an obvious choice to mark the end of our trip with a similar activity. The “hike” itself involved climbing three stretches of iron rungs directly up a 1000ft cliff and then three different rappels (one of which was 300ft) to go back down. During our hike, our guide explained tha Via Ferratas gained prominence in World War I when Italians began to use them as a means to get troops across the Dolomites. We cannot recommend this activity enough!

We celebrated our epic ascent with lunch and Ho-made pies (restaurant verbiage, not commentary on the chef) at Thunderbird Lodge. We followed this up with a brief but beautiful hike to an overlook spot as we made our way back through the gorgeous canyon:

After picking Winnie up from Canyon Paws (a fantastic local doggy daycare), we enjoyed a pizza dinner in downtown Springdale with this incredible backdrop to enjoy in between bites:

We wrapped up the night - and our trip - with stargazing while eating delicious dessert on our back patio. We spent this time reflecting on our trip and musing about all there was to look forward to upon our return. As expected, Zion was an epic last destination and we would return in a heartbeat.

• How likely we are to visit again: 9/10. We will absolutely return, but we may visit other unexplored National Parks in Utah first.
• How likely we would be to live here: 2/10. Love Zion but it is hot as Hades and you couldn’t pay us to live here.