Zion National Park

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Page and headed north to Zion National Park.  This is the first time on this adventure that we are visiting somewhere we have been before.  In 2020, we did a tour of Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks with some friends (Hi, Matt and Deven!  We miss you on this visit!) and spent three days in Zion.  We were excited to go back to dive a little deeper into the park!

First, let’s start with the drive.  It was gorgeous and ever changing!  One thing we seem to be constantly commenting on is how quickly the terrain changes.  It is one of the reasons we recommend everyone take a cross-country road trip at least once in their life.  You miss so much when you fly!  On this drive, we went from the dry, other-worldly look of the Beehive area we were staying in, to Lake Powell, to valleys, to Grand Canyon-like terrain, to mountains and snow, and finished up in the rocks and giant cliff faces of Zion!  The drive in and of itself would be a worthy destination!

After getting set up in our campground, we had the opportunity to do something we didn’t get to do last time we were here.  We were able to drive into Zion Canyon on our own!  Most of the year, the only way to access the canyon is via shuttle bus, but for a short time in the winter season, the shuttles stop running and private cars are allowed to drive in.  Because the park is so busy, the drive is often closed for large portions of the day due to overcrowding and no available parking, but we went late in the afternoon and didn’t have any problem.  We drove all the way to the end and parked at the Temple of Sinawava and got out to walk part of the Riverside Walk.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make it all the way to the end where The Narrows start because the sun was setting, but it was a beautiful walk none-the-less.

When we went to the visitor center, the ranger gave us a tip on a spot where we might be able to snowshoe.  We got snowshoes for Christmas many years ago, but have never really had a good opportunity to use them before now, so we had to try it out.  Yesterday morning, we headed up Kolob Terrace Road to the Hop Valley area.  It was a bright, sunny day, and there was at least two feet of snow on the ground.  We weren’t able to find the trail we were looking for, but on snowshoes, it wasn’t really necessary to follow a trail, anyway.  The views were phenomenal, and we both had so much fun finally getting to try out the snowshoes!  This is probably the best tip we have ever gotten from a ranger, so a big “thank you” to him!

After the snowshoeing adventures, we decided to drive even further north to the Kolob Canyons area of the park.  When we were here in 2020, we stuck completely to the Zion Canyon area, so we were glad to get to see other parts of the park.  A different ranger that we spoke to in the Kolob Canyons visitor center told us we should check out Taylor Creek Trail that goes past two homesteaders’ cabins, and ends at Double Arch Alcove.  He said that there may be icy spots, so take some traction devices, and that there were a few creek crossings on the trail.  The hike is five miles round-trip, and we were already tired from the morning spent snowshoeing, but he said the first cabin was just 1.1 miles in, so we could go that far and then turn around if we didn’t want to go further.  It sounded like a good plan to us, so off we went, bless our hearts.  We put the Yaktrax (traction devices that you put on over your shoes) in our backpacks, got all suited up, and headed for the trailhead where we were immediately greeted by thick, sticky mud.  No big deal, we have hiked through muddy spots before.  That’s what hiking shoes are for, right?  Then, immediately after the mud came a STEEP hillside completely covered in snow and ice.  So, 20 feet into the hike, out come the Yaktrax.  We are thinking we will have them on for a couple hundred feet and then be able to take them off and continue on.  They never came off.  I’m not sure that “there may be icy spots” is an accurate description of this trail.  It would be more accurate to say that it is a snowy trail that may have a few clear and muddy spots.  It is not much of an exaggeration to say the entire trail was snow and ice.  And the creek crossings?  Oh, the creek crossings.  How many is a “few” to you?  We were thinking three or four, maybe five to seven if it got crazy.  We crossed the creek, and we crossed it, and then we crossed it some more.  After TWENTY-SEVEN crossings, we made it to a mostly frozen waterfall, and decided that was far enough for us.  We have no idea how far into the trail we made it.  We went beyond the first cabin at 1.1 miles, but didn’t make it to the second cabin.  The waterfall, which is not mentioned in any of the trail descriptions we have been able to find, was breathtaking, though, and a great place to stop.  As the matter of fact, the entire trail was breathtaking!  The setting was beautiful, and it was nice to be pushed out of our comfort zones a bit by the snow, ice, and creek crossings!  We could have done without the wet feet we both ended up with from missteps in the creek, (some of those crossings weren’t easy) but it was all part of the adventure.

We finished up on the Taylor Creek Trail right around sunset and high-tailed it up the rest of the scenic road to the viewpoint at the end.  We didn’t have time to do the one mile Timber Creek Overlook Trail there, but the views from the parking lot were good enough for us!  The panoramic view and soft lighting were the perfect end to a challenging, but very enjoyable day.  We both agree that Kolob Terrace and Kolob Canyons are definitely worth the drive!

See how much fun we had snowshoeing, and get a quick glimpse at those creek crossings by watching our video below:

Until next time!