Zion questions

I'm having trouble finding this answer so I'm hoping someone who has been there can help. I want to drive from the east entrance to the south entrance with my motorhome towing a car. I can unhook and drive the car through the park to sight see, but I would like to, at some point, enter through the east and exit on the other side with Ace. Is this possible?

Hi Amanda,
We were there in May, and RV's were allowed through the tunnels. It all depends on what length and height your unit is. They actually close off the flow of traffic from the other direction to allow the larger vehicle to travel in the middle of the road. I think the maximum dimensions are on the Zion national park website. I know that our fifth wheel was too high and too long so we travelled through in the truck only. Loved Zion but were completely blown away by its Northern neighbour, Bryce Canyon.
Safe travels
TonyL

I did read the dimensions on the web site but it says the tunnel, then lists a couple different roads. I had no idea which road is the one going through the park east to south, some of their roads are listed as one way scenic routes.
We're hitting Capitol Reef, then Bryce and then Zion. I can't wait!

It's Hwy 9. The East entrance/exit. They ask you when entering the park and you pay an additional fee. The kids will love it you get a ranger escort down the middle of the tunnel  (The tunnel was made with a round bore and it's tallest point is dead center of the road.)

Sorry, I meant to say East entrance.

Perfect! Thank you!

If you search YouTube, there are videos of people going through the tunnel. The fee is $15 I believe for oversize vehicles. The size allowed is 40 ft long, and combos up to 50 feet. I think the height restriction is 13 ft 6. You have to drive in the centre of the road to maintain the height.We were in a 40 ft rv when we went, so we drove around the long way, and went through the tunnel in the car. When you exit the tunnel going west, you have to go down a series of switchbacks to get to the valley floor. The scenery is spectacular. Im glad we didn't try it in the rv, but many do regularly.

How far is the drive to go around the long way? I'm 32 feet but I'm towing a car :/

It's an extra 90 miles and two hours.  Better just to get the escort through the tunnel, it's no big deal.

Oh yeah that's really far, escort it is lol

We were there the first week of Sept, it's warm there then. Not a lot of places inside the park to pull over with a big motorhome so your toad will be great and parking gets filled up early in the day making even less places to park, so start your day early. We rode Zion and Bryce on the Harley so we were able to stop just about anywhere. Awesome country and if you are into hiking, Zion and Bryce will be what you want to cross off your bucket list. We stayed at Zion River RV park and used it as a home base riding the Harley to a new point of interest for the day, really really nice park and the people working there. If your going during warmer weather time of year, this RV park has the river running along it. We would spend the afternoon's after a long ride cooling off with cocktails in hand sitting in the river. You can bring chairs and sit in its shallow pools and also bring tubes to float in, set up a day camp on the beach, what ever. The parks swimming pool had so many kids in it for us to be able to relax, plus  no alcohol in the pool area , plus rivers are so much more appealing then a park pool. Kolob Reservoir is North of Virgin on a county road, it a small lake that is a great day trip, take your car if for the day. It's higher in elevation, green forest, green grass, escape the crowds and heat here,  fish, water is clean and you can rent kayaks, swim at the lake. Next time we are going to camp there for a couple days, you can camp right on the shoreline, that's our plan next visit. We were there during Labor Day holiday and the lake was not crowded at all, its a out of the way spot with the parks getting the crowds. Byrce is pretty high up so bring light rain gear, even in summer, we rode into Byrce with clouds that later turned into rain then snow the higher we got, yes in Sept. Then when we headed back to Zion and dropped down in elevation, it got hot again, so plan ahead for any weather up in Bryce,,,gregg

For us, the rain will probably be snow since we're heading there in a few days!

i don't think you can tow through the tunnel. they made use break down when we went there.

The scenery east of the east entrance is spectacular, so you will not regret paying the $15 and driving through the tunnel.  Just make sure you stay in the middle and don't wander over to the right side.  And make sure you stop at several of the many turnouts, especially the one before the tunnel at the sharp U-turn and several past the tunnel.  The rock is made of many many layers of sand, so it looks like a multi-color beach, but it is rock.  Stop and let the kids walk up and rock and take a lot of photos!!

Do check weather reports to make sure there is not ice and snow on the roads, however. 

And if any squirrels are out and about, tell the kids not to get near them.  They will try to snatch food from your hands, and they bite!!!  I once had one climb onto my lap to get at my food as I was eating a sandwich!

ALso, I sent you a private message with some links to blog photos I took. 

Since I'm the only legal driver, towing is the only option or going around. I'll have to find out before we drive over. Thanks for the head's up!

Here is  a video I shot a few years ago coming out of the tunnel, and driving down the switchbacks heading into the valley from the east. We were in a car going through the tunnel. The motorhome we were traveling in was 40 feet plus a tow car behind. We went around the long way so we didn't have to do the tunnel in the rv. Since you have to drive in the middle to maintain the proper height, you will have to make sure you don't wander around in the center lane. Sorry about the video quality. I hadn't learned how to upload in hd yet. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP8yIovCn7U

They are inflexible about the length so consider that too.

Amanda, we've always had to unhook the car to go through the tunnel but we're a 40 foot motorhome.  What gets you length-wise when towing is the aforementioned switchbacks which are very sharp on a narrow road with gullies (drop-offs) on both sides.  It's very easy to have a tire go off into the gully on one of the turns so it requires total concentration, especially if there's also another large oncoming vehicle.  By the way, we've never had an escort.  The rangers use walkie-talkies to let the ranger at the other end know that no one else is coming and they can resume two-way traffic.  Taking the so-called long-way around from Hurricane is a nice drive and actually doesn't take all that much longer when you take into account the tunnel road closures for one-way traffic and the slowness because of the switchbacks.  I don't recall the exact number but the switchback area has a speed limit of something like 20 mph.  It's definitely more fun to drive the tunnel road in the car but it's definitely do-able in large vehicles.  I'm just not sure about whether they'll let you through with the car attached.

Bryce is fantastic!  The Navajo Loop Trail is really neat.  We go down on it (steepest and longest) and back up on the Queen's Garden Trail (less steep and a bit shorter) so it's a big loop.  You also can add another one (Peek-a-Boo Trail) but the three-trail total is about seven miles altogether.  Take water and snacks on all of them! And definitely wear hiking boots.  The elevations at Bryce are much higher so you could encounter snow.  When we take the Rim Drive in the spring we've had snow a couple of times.  Elevations can be over 9,000 feet.  We left a day early on our last visit because a big storm was moving in (there already was snow on the ground) and we didn't want to get caught.  Have fun!

ArdraF

Zion and Bryce were both AMAZING! So impressive. I took the car, but asked about towing a car behind a motorhome for clarification. You can tow through the tunnel as long as your total length is under 50 feet. He said, 49 feet and 11.5 inches, you're good. Idk how long I am with the car, but I'm glad I left the motorhome outside the park.