Zion Ponderosa: Hike To Checkerboard Mesa Overlook

by Carly Kerby on June 15th, 2014 | No Comments »

What I loved most about staying at the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort was that you did not have to travel far for an adventure. The scenery everywhere was beautiful, it was such a peaceful feeling to be surrounded by so much beauty, this was definitely the case for the the hike/walk to Checkerboard Mesa overlook. The reason why I chose this adventure was because I wanted to see a famous landmark but I did not want to go on an all day hike with rough terrain. The hike lasts an hour from start to finish. I wanted to do so much while I was there so this made it possible to see something truly spectacular and also have time in the day to try and see other adventures.

The trail started right by where we were staying. It's amazing how many neat things there are to see right on Zions ponderosa's property. This adventure would really be an ideal hike for a family, no matter the ages of the kids, or hiking skill level. While we were walking and chit chatting away like women tend to do we noticed many animal tracks in the dirt, My daughters would have loved searching for tracks a long the way. There are ton of animals everywhere and I even saw Wild turkeys with there cute turkey babies during my stay.

When we arrived at our destination it was awesome to look over and have a perfect view of Checkerboard Mesa, it was gigantic, and quite breathtaking. I had googled it before the trip to see what we were going to see and while pictures are neat, they really do not do it justice. It is crazy to see the patterns that wind and water have made on this huge mountainside very checkerboardesque as the name suggests. Our guide was awesome and very knowledgeable and told us many facts about the location and stories about early settlers. All the staff I met during my stay were so fun to talk with and so passionate about the trails and nature. I would so do this hike again and with my entire family.

Life is so fast paced and there is nothing like getting our of your everyday routine and experiencing nature in a new way, I really did that over and over again while at the Family forward weekend adventure retreat and would recommend it to families as a way to slow down and experience new things together.