The Roaming BoomersWhere to Stay When Visiting Zion National Park
Glamping in our Cabin Suite.
It’s no secret that baby boomers love to visit our nation’s many beautiful National Parks. Further, with many of our National Parks offering beautiful, historic lodges, these too are perennial favorites when it comes to lodging considerations.
The problem is, with millions of people from around the globe desiring to stay in these lodges, the result is often a waiting list that extends to well over a year!
Even though we planned months in advance, we encountered this very same problem when hoping to stay in the Zion National Park Lodge at Utah’s Zion National Park. There was a very long waiting list and absolutely no hope of staying in the lodge during our visit.
Undaunted, we’ve unearthed a very exciting alternative that we want to share with you.
Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort is a 4,000 acre ranch and resort that lies only minutes from the eastern gateway to Zion National Park. At 6,500′ above sea level, the resort features stunning views and lodging options that range from RV parking, to overnight stays in tents, cabins, cabin suites, to multi-million dollar vacation rental homes.
Further, to complement your adventure in Zion National Park, the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort offers zip lining, a climbing wall, miniature golf, ATV tours, canyoneering, hiking, horseback riding, jeep tours, paint ball, rafting, a fabulous pool, and planned activities too many to mention.
Dining options include the Blue Belly Grill for traditional fare and fine dining, the Narrows Snack bar for dining-to-go options, a pool-side grill, and even dutch-oven dinners in the forest after a glorious western wagon ride.
During our one-night stay, we enjoyed a little glamping in one of their cabin suites, downhome cooking in the Blue Belly Grill Restaurant, a sunset jeep tour, and had a blast on a morning ATV tour of the resort’s 4,000 acres.
Note: if you can’t see the video, click here.
Highlights of our Visit to Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort
- It was great fun doing a little glamping in our cabin suite. However, after seeing the beautiful homes available as a lodging option, I think our next stay will be longer and in one of the beautiful homes available. They have homes from 1,100 sf that can comfortably accommodate six people all the way to a Zion Ridge Family Lodge that can accomodate your whole tribe sleeping up to 35 people.
- It was a mistake for us to only spend one night at Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. While we greatly enjoyed our morning ATV tour, we would have loved to experience a few more of their fun activities. I’m thinking that a little fun sneaking around the 5-acre outdoor paint ball course would be fun. Splat. Splat. Splat. Gotcha Bob, you’re dead! Or, more likely, explaining to Carol that I didn’t mean to splat her in the butt so quickly. I’m sorry honey, did that hurt?
- The down-home ranch cuisine at the Blue Belly Grill Restaurant perfectly complimented our experience. There’s nothing like a heapin’ helping of country-fried steak to keep your belly full all night long.
- The staff was very personable and bent over backwards to make our stay complete and wonderful.
- With no ambient light to illuminate the evening skies, the stars twinkled with remarkable clarity.
- The property is stunningly beautiful, and from our high sunset tour vantage point, we could see the mountains in Zion National Park glowing in the distance. Absolutely breathtaking!
- Did I mention that we want to go back and stay longer?
In conclusion, we had a blast during our visit to the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort, and frankly, likely had a lot more fun than we would have experienced staying in the park lodge.
We hope that you enjoyed this gem we’ve uncovered, and we highly recommend a stay when you visit Zion National Park.
Link: Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort
Disclosure: our wonderful visit was provided by the kind folks at Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort.
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4 Comments on “Where to Stay When Visiting Zion National Park”
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I love Zion National Park! It’s one of my most favorite places in the world. Although, I haven’t found a place that I really like to stay when I’m there. I’m going to check out Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort. It looks like a great deal!