Zion National Park – Trails

We’re on a loop in Utah visiting national and state parks. We’ve talked to a lot of people who are doing this same loop. People take 2-4 weeks to make the loop. We’re planning on 4 weeks. People here are very friendly. We’ve talked to people from across the country and around the world who have traveled to the park and/or the loop.

Our first stop is Zion National Park. It is a very popular park (~4.5 million visitors a year) so it can be a bit busy. The park service does a great job of handling the crowds. There are no private cars allowed in most of the park. However, there is a free shuttle service that runs in town to the park entrance. A second shuttle service runs through 9 stops in the park. It takes 35-40 minutes to get to the opposite end of the park, but you can enjoy the view while recordings talk about the park.

We spent 3 days at the park and were able to hike many of the trails. Unfortunately, recent rock falls closed several trails. It’s better than when a rock fall closed the park and trapped those staying at the lodge for several days, but it was still disappointing.

A popular hike is Angel’s Landing. The trail involves climbing up the canyon wall with portions that use cables due to the incline and drop off. But the most difficult part is a “walk” along a ridge with steep drop-offs on both sides. We were told that some places it is 28” wide with a single cable on one side. There is a stream of people climbing this trail so you can’t take your time and it means there is a stream of people going the opposite direction to get down. You have to pass people with one person releasing their grip on the cable. Oh, and it can be windy. We talked to one young lady who had completed the trip. She was scared of heights but determined to complete the trail. She mentioned she froze at least once on the final section and cried twice! Another person mentioned they had seen someone crying on the trail due to their fear of heights. First trail I’ve heard of that causes people to cry! Given we are still getting in shape with the elevation and steep trails along with my fear of heights, we skipped this one.

Pa’rus Trail is a very nice paved trail alongside Virgin River and not very busy.

Riverside Walk is the most popular. It’s an easy paved trail but with all the people there are times where it is a solid line of hikers.

However, we were able to move off the main trail to a sand trail that was much less utilized and very enjoyable.

Plus, I liked the hanging garden sections with plants growing on the canyon wall. The temperature in this area is much cooler than most of the park.

At the end of the one mile Riverside Trail, the Narrows Trail begins. Basically, you walk up the river while the sides of the canyon move in closer and closer. The full trail is seven miles and seven miles back. We considered renting water shoes, socks, and a hiking pole to navigate this but decided against it. Later we heard the water was 3-4’ feet high in places. I can swim but this seems a bit much to me even though I’ve heard it can be great fun.

The Lower Emerald Pool trail was fun at the end. We had to walk through a small waterfall since the wind pushed it onto the trail as we passed that point.

My favorite trail was Kayenta. It was closed off before the end due to a rockslide but it had spectacular views.