Apologies - this post is in the process of being updated
View from Angel’s Landing - Zion
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Hiking Zion Narrows Top-Down
Zion National Park
There are several National Parks that I love, but this particular park holds such a special place in our hearts that we named our rescue dog Zion. Our 2025 summer vacation was my sixth time to Zion National Park - and even with six trips, you’ll see below that I still have a handful of hikes that I’d like to do and haven’t yet had the time. (Yes, I write these posts for myself too, so I know exactly where to head the next time I visit.)
Zion has epic hikes for all hiker abilities - from super little hikers to adventurous older hikes that bring their own helmets, ropes, and rappelling gear. There are hikes perfect for when it’s cooler, maybe even a little snowy, and hikes that are awesome to do even in the summer when the park reaches temps over 100 deg F. Some trails are crazy crowded, and other spots in the park you will likely have all to yourselves. Pick your own adventure - but a little bit of pre-planning will go a long way to making sure you have the perfect trip with so many different options. Hopefully this guide can help with that planning process.
Zion National Park - Planning a trip for my boys (ages 4 & 8) and our exchange student from Finland (age 17). You’d think this would be a hard thing to do - but Zion has a little bit of everything for everyone. We all ended up with a perfect trip!
Planning Your Trip
Five of our trips to Zion have been over spring break, and this is a fantastic time to visit the park for most of the trails. Over the years we have encountered absolutely perfect weather - sunny, mid 70s, and we’ve had some trips with slight amounts of snow. This is perfect for most of the park. I’ve tried to visit Kolob Canyon twice in March, and both times were epic fails though due to several inches of snow and clouds that hung so low the canyon couldn’t be viewed. Kolob Canyon is better suited for warmer weather, although summer afternoons are quite hot without much shade.
Our trip in the summer was June 2025. It did get up to 106 deg F one day. I would say this would be awful for any hike that doesn’t involve being in the water. But there are lots of great options for hiking in the water - just get in the Virgin River. We had a great day hiking the Narrows top down and had some fun rappelling through a slot canyon so cold that we needed wet suits.
June 2025 - On our way into Keyhole Canyon
I’d recommend at least two full days to enjoy Zion. For avid hikers, it would be easy to spend a week here.
I absolutely love the Virgin River and any of the easy hikes along the riverbank (or in the river) should be on an itinerary. Zion is different than the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon - In Zion, you enter the park at the bottom of the canyon and look up. Pa’rus isn’t a busy trail and it’s lovely. The Riverside Walk is beautiful, but it’s going to be crazy busy. The Narrows walking into the Virgin River bottom-up is fun, but pretty busy too and it gets waist-deep within the first 10 minutes. Pa’rus is accessed from the Visitor Center (no shuttle needed). Riverside Walk is accessed using the shuttle. The National Park system claims on its website that the shuttles start in April. The last two Spring Breaks we’ve visited Zion, the shuttle has been running in March.
March 2018 - Zion National Park - Pa’rus Trail
My other must-do recommendation is to visit the east side of the park. Drive through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Parking is difficult, but my absolute favorite hike in the park is the Canyon Overlook Trail, which is the first parking lot east of the tunnel. And then just park at any of the pullouts along the road east of the tunnel and explore. We’ve found petroglyphs and waterfalls. And it’s shocking how few people visit the east side of the park. These are hikes you could have completely to yourselves, although the “trails” aren’t well marked. Just stick to the slickrock to avoid creating a trail, and follow the waterway.
Zion National Park - Cascade Falls (Many Pools)
If it isn’t snowing, my other recommendation would be to spend a half to full day over at Kolob Canyon on the northwest side of the park. There are amazing views just from pullouts, and again, this is a super quiet section of Zion. The easiest trail is Timber Creek (all the way at the end of the road). This trail will have a small amount of hikers - not totally quiet, but not near as busy as the main part of the park.
Kolob Canyon - This picture is from the beginning of La Verkin Creek to Kolob Arch trail, but the view is pretty similar to what is visible from the road.
Additionally, there are some fun places to hike nearby Zion - check out the map below for other places closer to St. George and Kanab. I’ll have additional links to my posts on these hiking locations at the end of this post.
Lodging Options and Nearby Towns
There are three main lodging options in and around Zion National Park - camping, cabins, and hotels. There are campgrounds directly inside of Zion National Park. The other lodging options are going to be located in Springdale (right next to the main entrance on the west side of the park), St. George (about an hour west of the main entrance), and Kanab (about 40 minutes southeast of the east entrance). Throughout our trips, we’ve stayed in all places.
Springdale is the most obvious choice for anyone that hasn’t been to Zion before due to its close proximity to the park entrance. I thought the three main downsides to staying in Springdale were limited options for food (and it’s going to be really busy at all of them), difficulty parking anywhere except your hotel and the park visitor center, and turning onto the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway is busy at just about any time of day.
March 2018 - Watching the sunrise from our hotel room at Zion Canyon Lodge in Springdale, Utah
St. George is probably the least obvious choice due to being further away from the park. The huge benefit of staying in St. George though is that it’s a pretty decent sized city. There are tons of hotels, places to eat, and shops in case you have forgotten something or broken something… We had to replace a pair of my boy’s shoes one year as they had literally hiked through them… The hour-long drive means waking up earlier to be able to find a parking spot at the lot in the visitor center, but there are some big advantages in the afternoon / evening. There are also lots of other fun places to hike outside of Zion that are close to St. George - Snow Canyon State Park, Yant Flat Candy Cliffs, Red Reef Trail (and dinosaur tracks), Pioneer Park, and Kanarra Falls. In June 2025, we stayed in Hurricane - midpoint-ish between Springdale and St. George. We stayed in an air-conditioned cabin at a KOA. That was honestly perfect as we spent time at Kanarra Falls, Yant Flats, Kolob Canyon, and a couple of hikes in the main part of Zion, and we splurged suppers at Olive Garden (our boy’s favorite), Hungry Howie’s Pizza (a favorite of ours from Arizona State University), and In N Out Burger (I don’t understand why we don’t have these in the midwest…).
June 2025 - Staying at a cabin in a KOA Campground in Hurricane, Utah (just outside of St. George).
Kanab is the third choice, and I don’t mean to make it sound like it’s the lowest option of the three. We’ve stayed in Kanab twice. I strongly prefer the Hampton Inn over Days Inn… But we may just have hit the Days Inn during a time of construction, maybe. Kanab is fun because it has a super small town feel without the crowds of a nearby National Park. Most of the restaurants are locally owned, which are fun to visit. We loved the low key, great food, at reasonable prices at Don Beto’s Mexican Food. And the pizza was great at Lotsa Motsa Pizza. We’ve been to Escobar’s Mexican Restaurant twice because we enjoyed it so much. Staying in Kanab opens up some other options as well. It’s close to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, as well as any day excursions you might want to plan (UTV rentals, All Ways Adventures, etc.) operate out of Kanab. Kanab is a fun option - don’t assume you have to get a hotel in Springdale.
Hiking at Zion National Park
The below map gives a high-level view of where the trailheads, visitor centers, and other places of interest. Sometimes it’s nice to simply see where things are at (what’s near what) so you can easily plan your trip. I’ll use the same numbering system throughout the rest of this post. There are hyperlinks - if you click on the trail names, it will bring you to descriptions of each trail as well as pictures. This is a long post, so the hyperlinks can help you navigate quickly through it if there are specific trails you already know you are interested. There will be a link back to this map at the end of each trail description.
Points of Interest (red): A - Kolob Canyons Visitor Center, B - Zion Canyon Visitor Center, C - Zion National Park Lodge, D - Zion East Entrance
Easy Trails (green): 3 - Timber Creek, 6 - Pa’rus, 12 - Weeping Rock, 14 - Riverside Walk, 18 - Canyon Overlook, 20 - Cascade Falls (Many Pools), 21 - Petroglyph Canyon
Moderate Trails (yellow): 1 - Taylor Creek, 5 - Watchman Overlook, 7 - Emerald Pools, 8 - Kayenta Trail, 13 - Hidden Canyon, 17 - Pine Creek Waterfall, 19 - Hobbit Hole*
Hard Trails (blue): 2 - Kolob Arch, 10 - Scout’s Lookout, 11 - West Rim Trail, 15 - Narrows Bottom-Up, 23 - Observation Point / East Rim Trail*
Permit Required (purple): 4 - Subway (Technical Canyoneering Required)*, 9 - Angel’s Landing, 16 - Narrows Top-Down, 22 - Keyhole Canyon (Technical Canyoneering Required)
*Gray circles indicate trails that I have marked for my next trip(s) to Zion - I have not yet hiked these trails; therefore, I will not include a review. I have them marked however for anyone interested in looking them up on your own.
Kolob Canyon
The trails of Kolob are located in a separate part of Zion National Park. I’m starting with this part of the National Park due to it being quiet, much less visited, and just as beautiful as the main part of the park. To get to Kolob Canyon, take I-15 going north. Take exit 40 - to Kolob Canyon on E Kolob Canyons Road. The Visitor Center is located right near the exit. All trails take off from Kolob Canyons Road.
I have tried this part of the park in early March a couple of times, and you will see from the pictures that I dealt with snow. Kolob Canyons is at higher elevation (approximately 7,000ft) versus the main section of Zion at the Springdale southern entrance (approximately 4,000ft). I’d recommend checking the weather before planning a trek up to Kolob Canyons. This was a great part of the park to visit in June, although it was pretty hot (even at the higher elevation) for the hike out to Kolob Arch.
1 - Taylor Creek (moderate), 2- La Verkin Creek to Kolob Arch (hard), 3 - Timber Creek (easy)
1 - Taylor Creek
Distance - 5 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 620ft
Trailhead Location - Approximately 2 miles on Kolob Canyons Road past the Visitor Center.
We haven’t yet had a chance to hike Taylor Creek. When we visited in June 2025, we were working on the Boy Scout Hiking Merit badge and needed trails over 10 miles long. And no one wanted to hike an extra 5 miles after Kolob Arch (myself included). Next time.
2 - La Verkin Creek to Kolob Arch
Distance - 14 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 1,670ft
Trailhead Location - Approximately 3.5 miles on Kolob Canyons Road past the Visitor Center.
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3 - Timber Creek Overlook
Distance - 1.15 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 115ft
Trailhead Location - Approximately 5 miles on Kolob Canyons Road past the Visitor Center.
Other Hikes Nearby Kolob Canyons (outside Zion)
There are a couple of nearby places to hike that are worth noting here due to their close proximity to Kolob Canyons even though they are outside of Zion National Park.
Kanarra Falls
Kanarra Falls is outside of Zion National Park, so I have it written up in a separate post, but it is only a 12-minute drive from the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center, so I think it’s worth noting this fun and unique hike here. Kanarra Falls is a moderately easy 3.6 mile out-and-back hike to a slot canyon with four waterfalls. You will get wet on this hike. Bring hiking poles for added stability in the water sections, and carry extra water to drink as the first mile is quite exposed to the sun. For more information, see my post on Kanarra Falls.
Kanarra Falls (trailhead is approximately 12 minutes from the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center)
Red Reef Trail
Similarly, Red Reef is outside of Zion, but the trailhead is less than a 30 minute drive from the Kolob Canyon’s Visitor Center. The Red Reef Trail is a relatively easy 1.7-ish mile out-and-back hike along Quail Creek to a stunning canyon just outside of St. George. The Moqui steps do require a bit of courage to cross. The trail continues upstream but will likely be underwater in the winter and spring months. For more information, see my post on Red Reef Trail.
4 - The Subway
This is sitting as a hopeful place holder on my blogpost - someday…. To work our way up to this hike, we learned how to rappel in 2025 and have practiced this now on a few hikes. We have all of our own gear. Now we just need to win some permits. Hopefully this is in our near future.
Zion Main Entrance (Springdale)
The main entrance to Zion National Park is in Springdale, Utah. Right next to the entrance is a parking lot (free), the main Zion Visitor Center, a gift store, and the Zion Canyon Wilderness Desk (where permits are picked up). If the parking lot is full, there are backup lots in nearby Springdale, but these secondary lots will not be free.
The majority of the year, there is a free Zion Canyon Shuttle that runs from the Visitor Center down the main stretch of the trailheads to the Temple of Sinawava (where the Riverside Walk and Zion Narrows trails start). The park website states the shuttles run from April to November, but they are going to run whenever there are crowds and no parking is available at the trailheads. I saw them running in the first week of March 2023. Be prepared to use the shuttle. There are 9 shuttle stops. It’s really to use from the Visitor Center to the trailhead. The bus will stop at every trailhead. It gets more difficult on the return trip. If the bus is full (and these buses get packed) it won’t stop to pick up anyone else on the way back. This makes it really difficult to get back to the Visitor Center from Emerald Pools or Sand Bench Trail if you are hiking towards the end of the day when the shuttle is ending. I would hike those trails early in the day to ensure an easy shuttle ride back.
5 - Watchman Overlook (moderate), 6 - Pa’rus (easy)
In addition to parking and stopping at the Visitor Center and Gift Store, there are two hikes worthy of a shout-out that do not require use of the Zion shuttle system. These trails take off directly from the Visitor Center parking lot.
5 - Watchman Overlook
Distance - 3.2 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 650ft
Trailhead Location - The trail starts from the parking lot of the main Zion National Park Visitor Center.
6 - Pa’rus
Distance - 3.3 miles (out-and-back) or stop earlier - the trail is just along the Virgin River and doesn’t have a special viewpoint at the end
Elevation Gain - 100ft
Trailhead Location - The trail starts from the parking lot of the main Zion National Park Visitor Center.
Great impromptu hike towards the end of the day - don’t need to worry about catching a full shuttle as the trailhead is at the main parking lot.
Shuttle Stops 5 (Zion Lodge) and 6 (Grotto)
7 - Emerald Pools & Kayenta
Distance - 3 miles (out-and-back) or 2.2 miles (add in Kayenta and making just a one-way between two shuttle stops)
Elevation Gain - 560ft
Trailhead Location - Zion Lodge (shuttle stop #5) is the closest trailhead to Emerald Pools. If adding in Kayenta, use the Grotto (shuttle stop #6)
8 - Kayenta
Distance - 0.8 miles (one-way)
Elevation Gain - 100ft (descent if coming from Emerald Pools)
Trailhead Location - The Kayenta Trailhead is at the Grotto Shuttle Stop (#6). The trail then intersects with Emerald Pools.
Angel’s Landing / Scout Lookout / West Rim
To access Angel’s Landing, Sout Lookout, and / or the West Rim Trail, take the shuttle to stop #6 (Grotto). Scout Lookout and the West Rim Trail do not require permits. Angel’s Landing does require a permit, which needs to be purchased ahead of time from the National Park website.
For anyone nervous about heights, the view from Scout Lookout is almost as good as Angel’s Landing, and much safer. This is a great turnaround point.
9 - Scout Lookout
Distance - 3.5 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 1,150ft
Trailhead Location - Take the shuttle to stop #6 (Grotto)
10 - Angel’s Landing
Distance - 4.2 miles (out-and-back) - this trail goes past Scout Lookout and requires a pre-purchased permit.
Elevation Gain - 1,750ft
Trailhead Location - Take the shuttle to stop #6 (Grotto)
11 - West Rim
Distance - 14.5 miles (one-way)
Elevation Gain - 1,500ft
Trailhead Location - An out-and-back along a portion of the West Rim Trail will take off from shuttle stop #6 (Grotto). Or arrange a paid shuttle and hike this trail one way. The paid shuttle (this is not the free Zion shuttle) will drop you off at the Lava Point Trailhead. You will hike back and take the free Zion shuttle back to the Visitor Center.
We haven’t had a chance to hike the West Rim yet, but Red Rock Shuttle is the company we hired to do the Zion Narrows top-down, and they were great. They offer rides to Lava Point as well.
Shuttle Stop 7 (Weeping Rock)
If you are interested in exploring this part of the park, first check the park website to see if it is open. This seems to be an active part of the park in terms of rockslides. Weeping Rock has been closed several times over the past few years. Hidden Canyon is still closed (as of 2025) due to a large rockslide several years ago.
12 - Weeping Rock
Distance - 0.3 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 40ft
Trailhead Location - Take the Zion Shuttle to the Weeping Rock stop (#7) - check the park website to make sure this part of the park is open. It has been closed multiple times recently due to rockslides.
13 - Hidden Canyon
Distance - 1.5 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 650ft
Trailhead Location - The Hidden Canyon trailhead is the same as Weeping Rock. We visited in 2018. As of 2025, this trail is still closed due to a large rockslide in 2019. I’ve included the trail information in case it ever re-opens.
Shuttle Stop 9 (Temple of Sinawava)
The last shuttle stop is the Temple of Sinawava, which is the trailhead for the Riverside Walk. Anyone interested in hiking the Narrows bottom-up will take this exit as well. The Narrows starts at the end of the Riverside Walk. Anyone hiking the Narrows top-down will end here and take the shuttle back to the Visitor Center parking lot.
The Narrows is a long and beautiful hike on its own, and this post is big enough. I’m going to have a couple of pictures here and just the most basic information. For anyone interested in hiking the Narrows, please see my complete post - Hiking Zion’s Narrow’s in 100 photos. We hiked top-down in June 2025.
14 - Riverside Walk
Distance - 2 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 200ft
Trailhead Location - Take the Zion Shuttle all the way to the last stop (#9) Temple of Sinawava.
Riverside Walk
15 - Zion Narrows Bottom-Up
Distance - It’s 2 miles out-and-back along just the Riverside Trail. Without a permit, hikers cannot go beyond Big Springs, so the max total hiking distance is 9 miles. Where you turn around makes this hike somewhere between 2 and 9 miles.
Elevation Gain - 700ft (between the shuttle stop and Big Springs) - This is super gradual, and you won’t notice it.
Trailhead Location - Take the Zion Shuttle all the way to the last stop (#9) Temple of Sinawava. Hike down the Riverside Walk. The Narrows starts at the end of Riverside Walk - just head into the Virgin River.
You will get wet on this hike. The deepest part of the river is less than 10 minutes from the trailhead. See my detailed Zion Narrow post for what to wear, how to prepare, and enjoy more pictures.
16 - Zion Narrows Top-Down
Distance - This a minimum of 16 miles (it will be more than that due to walking back and forth through the Virgin River). The trail is one-way. You will hire a driver to drop you off at Chamberlain Ranch. You need a permit for this hike.
Elevation Gain - There’s not much elevation gain to this hike, but a lot of descent. Walking down the river will result in a 2,000ft drop, but you will hardly notice it. This trail is plenty hard even with the advantage of walking downhill the whole way.
Trailhead Location - You will hire a driver. We used Red Rock Shuttle. You will meet in Springdale. Park at the Zion Visitor Center lot for free and just walk over to Springdale. It takes 5ish minutes. Your driver will take you up to Chamberlain Ranch. From there, you will walk 16+ miles down the Virgin River to catch the free Zion Shuttle at the Temple of Sinawava (before it stops for the day - you are on the clock to avoid an extra 7 mile walk on the road in the dark) back to the Visitor Center parking lot.
There’s a lot of information that is worth figuring out while planning for this hike - how to obtain permits, how to hire a driver, what to buy or rent and wear, what to bring with, and how to plan out the day. See my detailed on post on hiking Zion Narrow’s top-down. I’ve tried to answer all of the questions that I had in preparation for this hike.
17 - Pine Creek Waterfall
This is not an official trail, and I only recently learned about it, and therefore haven’t had a chance to verify it. I’m listing it here as a placeholder for myself the next time I return to Zion. I am not going to list any more information here without verify the trail, but you can Google it yourself if you are interested.
East Zion
As beautiful as all of the other places in the rest of the park are (with the exception of upstream of Big Prings in Zion Narrows, which is controlled through permits), my favorite part of Zion National Park is east of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Other than the Canyon Overlook and East Mesa Trail, there isn’t much formal on this side of the park, which makes it fun, adventurous, and quiet. Parking consists mainly of tiny pullouts, which limits the number of people that can explore a particular area. If you can snag a parking spot, this side of Zion can be so much fun.
18 - Canyon Overlook
Distance - 0.9 miles out-and-back
Elevation Gain - 150ft
Trailhead Location - Just east of the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel, start looking for parking and take any spot available. There are two small parking lots. It’s a short trail, so people are leaving all the time. But, the small parking lot does make it difficult to wait in for an open spot. Another option is to keep driving and take the next pullout available, but that is going to add considerable distance to a short trail. Other advice would be to start here early in the morning, or a little bit before sunset when trails are typically less busy.
19 - Hobbit Hole
This is another placeholder for myself that I have learned about since our latest trip to Zion in June 2025. Similar as above, since this is not an official trail, I can’t verify it, but feel free to Google it.
20 - Cascade Falls (also known as Many Pools)
Distance - 2.1 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 575ft
Trailhead Location - The trailhead is about 0.9 miles east of the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel. There are a couple of pullouts nearby to park. The “trail” goes north of the road and follows along the rocks near the waterway.
21 - Petroglyph Canyon
Distance - 1.2 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 180ft
Trailhead Location - There is a pullout about 1.4 miles east of the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. The pullout is on the south side of the road. You can actually walk a short distance south and then cross the highway under it, through a tunnel / water culvert.
There is supposedly a slot canyon at the end of this trail. We found the petroglyphs, but not the slot canyon. The trail is north of the road. Since we didn’t find the slot canyon, we poked around on the south side of the road too, but I’m confident if there is a slot canyon, it’s on the north side, not the south.
22 - Keyhole Canyon (Technical Canyoneering + Permits Required)
Distance -
Elevation Gain -
Trailhead Location - The pullout for Keyhole Canyon is about 1.8 miles east of the Zion - Mount Carmel Tunnel. This trail requires a permit, talking with a Park Ranger to pick up the permit, ropes and rappelling gear, and even on a hot summer day, although it seems ridiculous, bring a wetsuit.
Because the majority of visitors to Zion National Park are not going to be trained or prepared to rappel into a canyon, I have a separate post on this canyon - Technical Canyoneering through Keyhole Canyon. Below are just a few pictures of our fun. See the linked post for more information.
23 - Observation Point via East Rim Trail
Distance - 8 miles (out-and-back)
Elevation Gain - 830ft
Trailhead Location - The shortest out-and-back option to Observation Point starts from a trailhead that is not accessed from the main part of Zion National Park. The trailhead is north, northwest of Zion Ponerosa Ranch Resort.
This is another hike still on my wish list. Once I cross it off, I’ll add pictures and more information for this hike.
Other Things to Do Nearby
The more popular hikes in Zion National Park (Weeping Rock, Emerald Pools, Angel’s Landing, and the Narrows) are through Zion Canyon. To minimize the impact of the number of people that visit these trailheads, you need to take a shuttle bus. Park at the visitor center near the South Entrance and hop on one of the shuttles. Take a look at a map to figure out which stop you need to get off at. The maps are well marked and the buses run frequently. If you’re confused, ask any of the numerous park rangers or volunteers. This is a very easy part of the park to navigate through.
You can also drive your car through Zion from the South Entrance to the East Entrance along the Zion Mount Carmel Highway. The road goes through an impressive tunnel, and I would recommend heading out this way if only to hike the Canyon Overlook Trail (one of my favorites).
If you are traveling with kids, do not take them to Angel’s Landing. Also, if you are afraid of heights, this would not be a hike that you would enjoy. If you decide to brave Angel’s Landing, hit this trail early in the morning. The later you go, the busier this trail gets. As there are cables that you need to hold on to, this is a really difficult place to hike with lots of people.
When I hiked this trail two years ago, my husband took the boys to the Upper and Lower Emerald Pools along the Kayenta Trail, which shared the same trailhead as Angel’s Landing. It took us about the same time for each hike and we joined up for an early picnic afterwards. You are looking for the Grotto as your bus stop for both hikes. If you want to go to the Emerald pools, head left. If you are hiking Angel’s Landing, head to the right along the West Rim Trail.
The trail to Angel’s Landing follows the river for a moment and then starts gaining in elevation. Pretty much the whole hike to Angel’s Landing is uphill. The hike itself is 5.5 miles round trip, and the elevation gain is approximately 1,500ft. The views along the West Rim Trail are beautiful. Even if you have no desire to go all the way to the edge of Angel’s Landing, this is nice hike up to Walter’s Wiggles.
Walter’s Wiggles, are 21 very steep and short switchbacks up to Scout’s Landing. They are named after the superintendent of Zion National Park when the trail was constructed.
If you are scared of heights, you will do fine on the hike up to Scout’s Landing at the top of Walter’s Wiggles. Honestly, the view from Angel’s Landing is better, but it isn’t that different than just stopping at Scout’s Landing.
The trail continues past Scout’s Lookout for another ½ mile to Angel’s Landing. This part of the trail is the portion with the 1000ft drop off on both sides of you. There are cables to hold for stability. Yes, it is scary. In addition to holding onto the cables, there are times you will need to use your arms to pull you up small distances. I put my camera away in order to keep my hands free during this part of the hike. When I finally made it to the edge, I was shaking. I’m not sure if it was the strenuous nature of the hike or the dramatic distance of the ground below me. Probably both. Again, please don’t take your children on this part of the hike.
It is an incredible feeling at the end of this trail though. Give yourself plenty of time to enjoy your surroundings before turning around. The way back is phenomenally easier. Even though it’s the same trail, it won’t seem as scary on the way back. I have no idea why though as it’s the same trail. I’ve read this from other hikers as well. And the rest of the trail is downhill, so it won’t take you near as long to return back to the trailhead.
I’m going to re-iterate my point above – this trail gets really busy the later in the day you hike. The cables are tough to share with crowds. It’s worth your time to get up early the morning you plan on this hike.
Re-stock with a picnic, and then I would suggest catching the shuttle to the next stop at Weeping Rock. If you have younger children, Weeping Rock is a great short hike. My family likes the longer hikes though, in which case I would skip that and head instead to Hidden Canyon. This trail branches off to Observation Point. If heights were something that kept you from Angel’s Landing, Observation Point can get you to a similar viewpoint. This hike is 8 miles roundtrip from the Weeping Rock trailhead. It branches from the Hidden Canyon Trail onto the East Rim Trail.
As I’d already hiked Angel’s Landing, we skipped the Observation Trail and instead headed to Hidden Canyon. My boys were with us on this hike (ages 5 and 9 at the time). The trail round trip is 2.5 miles with a climb of 850ft. There are some cables to hold onto as there are some steep drop offs, but the trail here is much wider than Angel’s Landing, and the drop-off is only on one side. Full disclosure, there were tears from my boys when we got to the cable section as they were afraid of heights. With some coaxing though, and of course we held their hands and walked with them along this portion of the trail, both boys named this as their favorite hike in Zion once we got through this portion.
The hike opens up into this small canyon with obstacles that are fun to figure out how to maneuver past. There are tight spots, fallen logs, arches, etc. It feels very adventurous. We wondered along the canyon a little past this arch and then turned around.
Just like Angel’s Landing, the cables weren’t as scary for the kids on the way back – no tears. And this was one of my favorite hikes on our trip that Spring Break as my 5-year-old wanted to hold my hand the majority of the way back. I love hiking with my boys! I love spending time with them. I love hearing all of the stories they come up with over the course of a multi-hour hike. I love getting to hold their hands through the scary parts.
If you are up to hiking the Narrows (through the river) this would be my day 3 proposed hike. If you have little kids like me, this just isn’t an option yet. But you can take the bus all the way to the end at Temple of Sinawava, and hike the Riverside Walk – a gentle hike with no elevation gain (1.8 miles round trip). This takes you to the beginning of the Narrows, and at least you can imagine what the rest of the Narrows might look like. We will be back in a few years, as my youngest works on getting some longer legs.
Springdale - Day 3
As I mentioned, if you’re able to hike through the river, I would suggest spending your day in the Narrows, which I haven’t yet had the opportunity to do.
If you have kids, here’s an off-the beaten path plan for your day.
Canyon Overlook Trail
Canyon Overlook Trail – Take your car along the Zion Mount Carmel Highway. Your kids will love getting to go through the amazing tunnel built through the rocks of Zion. Just on the other side of the tunnel are two parking lots for the Canyon Overlook Trail. If the parking lots are full, just pull over and wait. This is a short trail (1 mile round trip) so people are constantly returning to their cars and a space will free up. This is a busy hike, but one of my favorites in the park. There isn’t too much of an elevation gain and the obstacles are not difficult to get around, but it feels like you are going on an adventure with the steps cut out of rock and short bridges to go across. The view at the end is pretty incredible too.
Canyon Overlook Trail
Canyon Overlook Trail
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A 3-day itinerary to Zion National Park - A guide to trails in and around Zion National Park with recommendations for travelling with children and other ideas if you are a more experienced hiker. Day 1: Kolob Canyon, Timber Creek Overlook, Kanarra Falls, and Pa’rus Trail. Day 2: Angels Landing or Upper and Lower Emerald Pools from the Kayenta Trail, Hidden Canyon, and Riverside Walk. Day 3: Canyon Overlook Trail, Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park, and Moqui Caverns.