re: Anyone been to Zion National Park?

Hiking The Narrows is a must. Spring is usually not a good time due to snow melt. Summer can be miserably hot and rainfall can be heavy and sudden causing flash flooding, which is obviously not ideal for the Narrows (pretty sure people drown fairly often in the Narrows from flash flooding, as the river level can rise very quickly). The best time of the year based on temperatures and flow rate of the Virgin River is usually early Fall. However, I specifically planed a trip a few Septembers ago and we had to wait several days for the flow rate in the river to get down to a safe enough rate for hiking, as the summer monsoons lingered a little longer that year.

It's a good idea (almost necessary) that you rent some gear for that hike. There's an outfitter just outside the park in Springdale. We rented neoprene shoes, a dry backpack, and hiking sticks.

We rented a cabin in a small town called Duck Creek Village, which was a decent central location of several of the parks in the area. We did 2 days in Zion (1 hour from Duck Creek), 1 day at Bryce Canyon (1 hour from Duck Creek), and a day at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (about 3 hours from Duck Creek).

We also made stops at Cedar Breaks (just outside of of Duck Creek), Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (1 hour south of Duck Creek, on the way to/from the Grand Canyon), and a brief stop at Grand Staircase on the way back from the GC.