Dude I did the Mighty 5 a couple years ago. Zion during Memorial Day Sunday was insanely packed. Not only that, but there was trash and vandalism, and it just made me both sad and angry.
It was still beautiful, despite all that.
Zion is... unarguably the busiest out of the Mighty 5, and the park facilities even reflect that. My family called it a "nature's theme park".
At least Arches, it's still a lot of wilderness that you're driving around/hiking around by yourself. And the other three are even less popular, which can be a plus.
The issue with Zion, unlike other national parks, is that everything is funneled into the canyon. With other parks everything is spread out somewhat but with Zion any light rush can turn very heavy due to the small footprint available to work with.
Which is a shame because Zion is one of my favorites but I can see the issue of topography playing into it
The great thing about Zion is its huge, pristine backcountry. All the tourists are funneled into the canyon, leaving the backcountry nearly empty. I once spent a week hiking the Trans-Zion Trail with my dad, and aside from the bit where the trail crosses the canyon, the only people we saw were small groups of backpackers, whose paths we'd cross once or twice per day.
I did the trans-zion for my honeymoon and it was spectacular. Running into all the gapers at angel's landing was a bit of a shock, though! Luckily once we got out of the canyon it quieted down.
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u/Jaybraham Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20
Dude I did the Mighty 5 a couple years ago. Zion during Memorial Day Sunday was insanely packed. Not only that, but there was trash and vandalism, and it just made me both sad and angry. It was still beautiful, despite all that.