Over July 4th weekend, a few of my girlfriends and I went on a girls trip to go to Zion National Park! Now I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself and “outdoorsy” type of girl, but this trip was a blast. It was a weekend filled with good food, catching up and lots of hiking. To be quite honest, I’m not sure how we settled on Zion as our trip but it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Luckily for us, one of my girlfriends (and bridesmaids), Sabrina, is an avid hiker so she was our go-to person for all things hiking. Plus she had visited Zion National Park previously so we knew we were in good hands.

Day 1

Since the four of us now live all over the country (think Texas, California, Arizona and Minneapolis), we decided that Vegas would be a great meeting point for all of us before driving to Zion for the rest of the weekend. We all flew into McCarran International Airport on July 4th. Thankfully I had enough Chase Reward Points to get a free flight!

Once we all arrived in Vegas, the four of us drove to our hotel on The Strip, Aria Hotel. We decided to spend one night in Vegas before driving out to Zion so we wouldn’t feel too rushed on our first day of traveling. Plus we really wanted to try this ramen restaurant called Momofuku. We went family style and tried a good variety of foods, including their hearts of palm and avacado, hozon rice cakes and ginger scallion noodles. After dinner we headed next door to milk bar and stuffed our faces with one of each cookie, crack pie and birthday cake.

Day 2

The next morning we headed to Eggslut to grab our bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches. I’ve always seen pictures of these sandwiches on Instagram so I was very happy to finally get my hands on one. It did not disappoint! Once we were done with breakfast, we started our trek to Zion. Because we were staying at an Airbnb house rather than camping, we had the luxury of being able to cook our food for our trip. We stopped by Target to grab some “glamping” essentials: watermelon, PB&J ingredients, and lots of snacks.

The house we stayed at was super cute and the perfect place for us to stay. There were enough beds for each of us to have our own and a full kitchen for all of our yummy meals. To our surprise, we found a fresh baked loaf of bread that the owners left for us with a cute “thank you” note. Once we got settled in, we decided to cook dinner. Casey took care of the pasta, Sabrina handled the watermelon salad (my new fave) and Sharon and I prepped the appetizers.

We ended the night watching The Kissing Booth and doing face masks to relax before our big day of hiking The Narrows the next day.

Day 3

We started this day bright and early to pack our things and make our lunches. We put together bagel PB&J sandwiches, ruffles, grapes, fig bars and TONS of water. The last time I hiked I almost passed out from dehydration (I told you I’m not an outdoor person) so I wanted to make sure I had enough water for this day. We each packed about five bottles of water each and headed to the park.

Before we got to the park, we did some research and everyone said to rent water shoes, water socks and a walking stick for hiking the narrows. I am so happy we did! We stopped by Zion Adventure Company and got their footwear package for our hike. We switched into those and drove into the park.

I guess we must have left a little late because we waited for about 30 minutes to just get to the front entrance to pay, only to be told the visitor parking lot was full so we would have to turn around. At that point we were tired of waiting and found the closest public parking lot and paid the extra $30 so we could start our hike. To our unpleasant surprise, we found out that we had to wait in line for a bus to make it to the start of The Narrows hiking trail. Another 45 minutes later, we finally made it onto the bus and 30 minutes after that, we were finally at the start of the trail, Temple of Sinawava.

The long-lines and bus ride was worth the wait because the views were absolutely amazing! The start of the trail was all on dry land. Every turn we had was picturesque and I found myself pulling my phone out for almost every view. Thankfully my girlfriends appreciate the importance of taking a good picture so they were very patient!

After about 30-40 minutes of hiking on dry land, we finally made it to the Virgin River, the start of our hike through The Narrows. We decided to do the “Bottom Up” hike and walked upstream on the river. Since we were in the narrowest part of Zion Canyon with walls that were thousands of feet tall on either side of us, we were in the shade for most of the hike. There were areas that had sun exposure, but the water kept us cool.

For the most part the water was ankle deep but there were a few areas that were up to our shorts. The walking stick was actually very helpful with navigating literally each step. Walking on rocks is actually really difficult, no matter how much balance you think you have.

We decided to go walk to Wall Street, which is where the river forks. One way goes towards Veiled Falls and the other goes towards Big Springs. We decided to continue our trek towards Big Springs. At that point we were in the shade completely and I had pretty much forgotten we were in the middle of summer in Utah.

Casey decided to take a break at the fork so Sharon, Sabrina and I continued uphill.

Casey decided to take a break at the fork so Sharon, Sabrina and I continued upstream. We passed by the Floating Rock, waded through more water and took our time admiring Mother Nature. As we continued upstream, there were less and less people and the water actually got calmer. It was a nice change from the beginning of The Narrows where there were a ton of families.

Each turn was more beautiful than the next and I felt super grateful to be exploring the world with some of the best people. About 45 minutes later, we decided to start our trek back home. The hike back felt much easier and quicker than our hike up. It started to drizzle a bit and we had been warned about flash flooding, so we wanted to make sure we got back before that was a dangerous possibility.

As we started walking back I started to feel a headache coming on. I had been hydrating all day to avoid getting dehydrated. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t realize how far the hike or how strenuous it actually was. I think because we were in the shade and “cool” because of the water the entire time, I didn’t think I would get dehydrated. I kept drinking water but quickly made it back to the bus.

Long-story short, I think I was dehydrated because I didn’t drink enough water for our total 7.2 mile hike. Thankfully the girls were super helpful and made sure I was hydrated and took great care of me. After we got into some air conditioning and I had the chance to cool down and drink more water, I felt much better. By the time we got back to the house and showered, I felt back to my normal self!

We went back to the house and had pizza that night and watched Netflix to end the day! We had a ton of watermelon to cool us off and it was so refreshing. As tired as we were, it was nice to just hang out and catch up with the girls.

Day 5

We woke up the next morning and packed up all of our stuff to head back to Vegas. We divided the remaining snacks and left any extra food or water in the fridge. On our drive back to Vegas, we decided to stop by the Seven Magic Monutains. Let me tell you, it was a very interesting sight. It is seven stacks of colorfully painted rocks in the middle of the desert and a great photo spot!

Once we snapped a few pictures, we headed off to the airport. We returned our rental car and said our goodbyes until next time!

This weekend was such a great trip! Sometimes I forget how beautiful Mother Nature is, especially with working my 9-6 desk job. I really re-discovered my love of travel on this trip. I have always known that travel has been a passion of mine, but with being in busy season for almost 6 months, I haven’t had the chance to go explore. This trip reminded me that even though work may take up most of my time, it is important to get out and see the world.

More importantly, it was a great reminder to me about the wonderful friendships I have. As much as I love my life in Houston, it was so great to see how life outside of Houston has treated my sweet friends. They inspire me to continue to explore and push myself outside of comfort zone. I am so thankful to have these ladies in my life and can’t wait for our next trip!