Zion National Park: Kolob Canyon

13May18

Last year I made my pilgrimage to Zion National Park and toured the main section of the park.

This past March I returned to Zion with the plan to do something totally different.

Kolob Canyon is in the northwestern section of Zion and differs in one significant way from the main park. Here, you can drive throughout the park and not have to relay on the shuttle bus.

Located about an hour from the main park entrance, the primary attraction in Kolob Canyon is a five-mile scenic drive where private vehicles are allowed year-round. While the main section of Zion is crowded 365 days a year, I only saw a handful of people on my quick visit to Kolob Canyon.

The scenic drive has a few turnouts where you can get on a trailhead and hike out into the park with its colorful cliffs and challenging hikes. One of those is the seven-mile (one-way) hike to Kolob Arch.

The park service describes Kolob Arch as “possibly the world’s largest freestanding rock arch.” And at 310 feet across, they are probably right. But a 14-mile round-trip hike wasn’t in the cards for me.

Instead I opted for the much easier one-mile round-trip Timber Creek Overlook Trail. The trailhead is at the end of the scenic drive and the path follows a ridge to a small peak with excellent views of the surrounding area.

There was still plenty of snow on the Timber Creek Overlook Trail. So much so, that I was glad I brought my hiking boots along, even though they added about 5 pounds to my suitcase. I hiked early in the morning, so the trail was still frozen and not as muddy as I’m sure it was later in the day.

It was pretty lonely on my way out to the trail’s turnaround. I didn’t come across another hiker until I was almost back to my car. My fellow adventurer was from New York and was on his first trip to the national parks out west.

We chatted for several minutes, exchanged advice on where else to visit and talked shop about photography before we resumed our hikes in the opposite direction.

Soon I was back in my car and the five miles back down the road seemed to go much faster than my trip up the mountain.

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