Spend more time in nature by biking Zion National Park

Brent Atwood relaxed on a concrete-and-slab wall, munching a granola bar. His wife, Lisa, sat beside him. And their mountain bikes leaned against the short wall.

They were at the end of the Zion National Park canyon road at a bus pickup station called the Temple of Sinawava, where the famed Narrows Trail and Virgin River Gorge are a short distance away and walls of red earth soar thousands of feet into the sky.

Atwood, a northwest Las Vegas Valley resident who is retired from the golf industry, visits Zion Canyon at least once a month with his wife.

They love to bike the 17-mile round-trip from the entrance to the end and back, mostly on a road that is off-limits to cars from April to October. Only shuttle buses and cars with lodge passes are allowed on the two-lane road that meanders through a stunningly beautiful canyon that makes Zion National Park an indelible memory for its millions of annual visitors.

The beefy bicyclist still doesn’t understand why more Las Vegas Valley residents don’t drive the 170 miles — about three hours — to Springdale, Utah, the growing gateway community that leads into the national park.

“We have lived in Vegas since the ’80s, and when I tell people I’m going to Zion, their reaction is always, ‘Where is Zion?’ I tell them, ‘It’s very close.’ ”

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Well Mr. Atwood, more and more people are discovering Zion National Park.

From 2005 to 2013, annual visitor attendance ranged from 2.5 million to nearly 3 million, U.S. National Park statistics show.

But in 2014, the number of visitors shot up to more than 3.2 million, with 2015’s numbers projected to shatter last year’s mark. In March, the number of visitors hit 481,150 — a record for that month.

And Springdale, Zion’s host town, is growing to accommodate the surge in park visitors. More hotels, more art galleries, more restaurants and more sports gear stores.

“Eventually, this place will be a Sedona (Ariz.),” said a lone worker in Zion Outdoor Gear & Clothing, where he was manning the cash register.

While waiting for dinner at the popular Oscar’s Cafe, I wandered across the street to a jewelry shop aptly named “The Place Across the Street,” where owner Tim Campbell informed me that two new motels — La Quinta and Hampton Inn — have been built and another 44 lodging units will be added across from his store.

“March visitors were up 30 percent from last year and we’re on target for 4 million people this year,” Campbell said.

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On this cool and cloudy May Saturday, I’m staying at the new La Quinta.

Pets are free and so is breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. It was $224.68 with taxes for a Saturday overnight.

There are many lodging alternatives, from Desert Pearl Inn and Under the Eaves Inn to bed-and-breakfasts.

There are plenty of cool restaurants, galleries and outdoor gear shops, including several that rent bicycles, in Springdale. The community food market called Sol Foods even has bicycles hanging from the top of the walls, kind of like Trader Joe’s in Summerlin. One of the bicycles in Sol was an old Schwinn Sting Ray, so how can you not like this place?

Indeed, Lisa Atwood loves Springdale. It has a more quaint vibe than Tusayan, Ariz., the gateway town into the Grand Canyon’s South Rim.

She and her husband happened to be visiting Springdale in March when they stumbled onto the community’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. Even with Springdale’s tourist growth, the Atwoods like the folksy flavor.

“Springdale still has a small-town feel. The parade had a firetruck. They were throwing candy to kids on the sidewalk. They do the small-town stuff,” said Lisa Atwood, who works for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Brent chimed in, “The parade even had farm tractors.”

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I’m here to ride my bicycle in Zion National Park, where the closed main canyon road makes biking a spectacular way to soak up the natural wonders.

The riding is casual and not taxing. At the entrance, elevation is about 3,950 feet, and by the time you finish, about 8 miles deep into the park, the altitude is only about 500 feet higher.

Bicyclists share the entrance road with motorists for about 2 miles, but a left turn on to the main canyon drag allows you to leave most cars behind. If you hear a shuttle bus rumbling behind you, safely slow down, stop and move off the road to allow the bus to pass. The bus drivers will not pass you if you continue to ride and they get upset if they have to drive behind you.

Generally, you have the road to yourself, except for other bicyclists and even walkers strolling along the pavement. And the shuttle buses.

As I pedaled up a modest hill, I enjoyed meeting two bicyclists from Las Vegas heading back to Springdale.

First was Rachelle Ivens, an ultrasound tech who adored experiencing the park by bicycle.

“You can feel it,” Ivens said.

Then, her pal, D LaFountain, a hotel-casino valet on the Strip, followed up on her bike. The bicycle, she said, gave her the autonomy to explore any section of the roadway.

“You can stop when you want to stop. It’s a better experience than the shuttle,” LaFountain said. “You can’t beat mother nature.”

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While the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is the headliner, don’t forget to check out another road that doesn’t draw as much publicity.

It’s the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, which starts off as a series of switchbacks for a few miles before it reaches a 1-mile tunnel that is off-limits to bicycles. If you’re on a bike, sometimes you can hitch a ride with a friendly motorist, or just drive with your bike and park at a turnout past the tunnel because this road is spectacular to pedal for the first 5 miles past the tunnel.

I highly recommend that you lock your bicycle near the guard station right after the end of the tunnel for a 1½-mile round-trip hike on the Canyon Overlook Trail. You will enjoy majestic vistas of the switchbacks and the land formations extending into the sky some 7,000 to 8,000 feet.

Back on the road past the tunnel, keep on biking to Checkerboard Mesa, a fascinating rock formation that does look like several checkerboards knitted together.

Speaking of hiking, if you do not want to ride a bicycle, you can certainly saunter your away along Zion’s nearly two dozen terrific trails.

One of Zion’s most well-known trails is the Zion Narrows Hike, a classic slot canyon trail that has attracted tens of thousands of hikers through the years to stroll through the waters of the Virgin River, which could be up to your ankles or waist depending on the season.

And don’t forget the classic Angels Landing, a twisty switchback trail that takes you about 1,500 feet above the canyon floor.

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I look at Zion as one-third of the holy trinity of big-league geography in the Southern Utah-Northern Arizona area that’s accessible to Las Vegas, which also includes the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park.

On this trip, I stayed overnight. But I have also done one-day field trips to Zion.

If you get up early and leave at 7 a.m. in Las Vegas, you could drive three hours and start there at 11 a.m. local time because Zion is in the Mountain time zone. You have the entire day to play, hike, bike, shop and eat and you can leave at 8 p.m. and be home in Las Vegas at 10 p.m. (regaining that hour because of the time zone shift).

It’s worth the three hours in a car to get there. Eat at Oscar’s. Bike along the main canyon road. Stroll on the canyon overlook near the tunnel. Zion is worth the trip.

Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow him on Twitter: @BicycleManSnel