This is part of Zion NP. It is West of Zion Canyon which is the crowded canyon that everyone considers Zion. I have been to Zion Canyon a number of times over the years including about 35 years ago when it was amazing (pre-crouds). Today I wanted something new and something that still resembled wilderness rather than a city with bus stops. I got what I was after.
The Kolob area is a five mile road with three trail heads. I started on Taylor Creek Trail which is a nice canyon area with a river. This was November in VT icy for the last mile. I felt at home. On my way down I saw two groups of two heading up. My guess is they didn't make it based on foot wear alone. The trail ends at an interesting open cave. I went another half mile beyond the trail to continue to follow the canyon until it got too sketchy.
hike two was La Verkin Creek Trail. This follows the Kolob canyon and then heads into the canyon and connects with another trail. This trail is long. 14 miles RT. I ended up doing 8 miles. Hard to turn around since I kept wanting to see what was around the next corner. The trail starts with a significant downhill and goes along a river for a while. Great views and also a fair number of trees which provided shade about half the time. I think I saw 6 people total on this trail. There were 3 back packers heading out. At the end of the day I went to the end of the road and walked a short trail that had views of most of the valley. This day, particularly hike two,had a Sedona feel to it. More trees and less desert but lots of red rocks and red soil.
the drive from the hotel was short, maybe 15 miles. Most of it is on UT route 15 which has an 80 mile speed limit. This isn't a relaxing highway. I don't want to drive more than 75 in the van. Cars are passing constantly going about 90. Lots of trucks going 50 up hill and 80 down hill. There are plenty of hills. I have a few hundred miles of this to go north to skiing saturday. I think I will look into slower options.
Zion Canyon is pretty spectacular but when you add the thousands of people and busses I would take Kolob canyon any day.
A lot of pictures but it was one of those days.
Taylor Creek Trail:
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