My hubby and I took a shuttle to Lava Point and did the whole 14 miles as a dayhike. We started around 9 and got down into the valley around 5, so it does take the entire day. But what a day. The scenery is amazing.

You can start at the Grotto and go up, but going that way the majority of your elevation gain is right at the start. I'm not sure how far you would have to hike to get to the views you are talking about, but my guess would be 4 or 5 miles - one way. At least coming back will be downhill.

I haven't done the Northgate trail, but I don't think the views come close to what you'll see on the West Rim trail.

When we hiked it we did a two day trip and camped at site #6. It was the first one with the great views and was right at the halfway mark. The ridge is about 2-3 miles long so from the grotto I would expect to hike 4-5 miles before getting there. I loved the views but it is a lot of elevation gain going that way.

Thanks for all the info...

How does this sound for 3 days of hikes.

1) West Rim from Lava Point to Grotto w/ shuttle

2) East Mesa to Weeping Rock w/ shuttle

3) Narrows to just past Wall Street (in/out)

I think this would help avoid the major elevation gains that my wife may get tired of.

Can anyone recommend a good shuttle service?

Also any other hikes that we may want to think about?

Well, that's 3 days of serious hiking, and you said you don't want to make your wife too tired?????

That's about 27 miles or so total. Is she ok with that? You could also add in Angels Landing on the way down the west rim trail or Hidden Canyon coming down from Observation Point if you want more.

A couple places that offer shuttles.

www.zionrockguides.com

www.zionadventures.com

The thing that would be problematic for her would be the serious elevation gain on consecutive days. So hikes 2 & 3 seem to be fairly easy elevation gain and distance wise. The distance on the West Rim hike may be pushing it a little, but when this may be our only trip to Zion what else can we do? She hikes quite a bit, just serious elevation gain can sometimes discourage her. We did 47 miles in Glacier last Summer over 6 days no problem.