“Mom! Take my picture!” my daughter called as she led the way up sloping switchbacks to reach yet another lovely vista of Zion National Park’s Watchman peak. Crimson slickrock paintbrush flowers and prickly pear cacti framed the trail. The views were all the more enjoyable because of what this hike at Zion, the third-most visited national park, didn’t entail.
Because we were staying in the nearby campground, we were able to sleep in, stroll over to the trailhead and simply start hiking. No long wait at the park entrance. No hunt for parking.
And no lining up for the shuttle buses that ferry visitors to more popular trailheads (waiting to board can stretch past an hour). The Watchman trail hike was just one of many during our epic family campervan vacation — but it remained our 9- and 7-year-old kids’ favorite. In a rented vehicle named “Hulk HoVan,” we visited each of Utah’s “Mighty 5” national parks — Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands — and even stopped at one state park, the otherworldly Goblin Valley.
We made good use of our oldest daughter’s “Every Kid Outdoors” pass, which grants a fourth-grader’s whole family free entrance to national parks. We flew to Las Vegas and picked up Hulk from Native Campervans before heading off to Zion to start a week on the road that would end in Salt Lake City. An outfitted Ram ProMaster, the van had sleeping spots for four, with one double bed and a pop-up rooftop tent.
In the back w.
