Looking for a way to explore Zion National Park away from the crowds? Look no further than Kolob Canyon. Kolob Canyon is the northwest region of Zion National Park, separate from the main area of the park. It has many of the same views as the main Zion Canyon area (a river, lush green foliage, and spectacular mountain views) but sees very few visitors.
Keep on reading to learn more about how to prepare for an overnight stay in the Kolob Canyon region of Zion National Park and what trail conditions to expect!
Contents
Adventure Stats
Hiked in October 2022
Location: Zion National Park
Routes: La Verkin Creek Trail, Kolob Arch Trail, Hop Valley Trail
Distance: 12.9mi (+7.9mi side quest)
Elevation: +2774ft/-2786ft
Nights: 1
Group Size: 2
Rating: 7/10 (see my closing thoughts for more detail)
The Route
The route I discuss on this trip is appropriate for younger backpackers and large groups. There are no areas of particularly technical terrain. Download and save my map here.
The route is a 12.9 mile out-and-back trail with an additional 7.9 mile optional day hike that I added in to explore Kolob Arch and Hop Valley. If you only have time for one, I highly recommend that you skip Kolob Arch and check out Hop Valley instead.
There are 15 total campsites in the area to choose from. 13 of the campsites are located along La Verkin Creek. 2 of the campsites are located at the north end of Hop Valley. We chose to stay at Campsite #10 at La Verkin Creek, because it was situated in close proximity to the spring, which is the only safe source of drinking water in the area.
The route begins by descending into a valley. If you choose to take the day hike into Hop Valley, it requires you to ascend a short distance to a plateau.
Top Tips to Make Your Trip to Kolob Canyon in Zion National Park a Success
1. Do Not Drink Directly from La Verkin Creek
In the last couple of years, park rangers have found cyanotoxins present in both The Narrows and La Verkin Creek. You'll find warnings about the cyanotoxins all over the national park website.
Just how dangerous are the cyanotoxins in Zion National Park? I discuss this in detail in my Top Tip #4 on my other blog post on backpacking The Narrows (Top-Down) in Zion National Park.
How do you make sure you have enough water on the trail?
You can either pack in all your water, or you can filter your water at Beatty Spring which is in close proximity to campsite 10. Beatty Spring is located on the main trail within 30 feet on the right after the trail crosses with La Verkin Creek. In my Trip Report section, you'll find a picture of what the spring looks like so you don't miss it. When you pick up your permit at the Visitor Center, you may find information on whether the spring is flowing. If not, be sure to check with the park rangers.
2. Go When the Weather is Cool
There is some limited tree coverage on this trail. This portion of Utah can get really hot, especially during summer time. What's even more dangerous is that you're ascending into a valley, meaning it'll be harder on the way out than on the way in.
I went in early October. Even then, I had trouble with the head on my second day because the ascent back to the trailhead was sustained uphill and the temperature had reached around 90F by noon.
3. Pack More Water on the Day Out than on the Day In
Because the journey from the trailhead to most of the campsites along La Verkin Creek is downhill, the journey back to the trailhead will be primarily uphill. Track how much water you drink on the first day and be sure you have more than that amount of water on your second day. If you need a refill, be sure to fill up with the potable water at Beatty Spring.
4. Bring a Day Pack
Bringing a day pack, or a small lightweight bag that packs nicely inside or straps nicely outside of your backpacking backpack, will allow you to be more mobile during your side quest. I use REI's Flash 22, which is so good that Everett just got one for himself!
Not sure what else to pack? Check out my 2-Person Backpacking Packing List.
5. Campsites 8, 9, and 10 are the Best Campsites
Campsites 8, 9, and 10 are all bundled near each other and close to Beatty Spring, the only safe water source you can drink from. They are also situated close to a short side quest to Kolob Arch and a longer side quest to Hop Valley.
6. Kolob Arch is Not Worth It
One of the National Park rangers had told us that Kolob Arch was the 7th largest arch in the world. However, the Kolob Arch Trail does not get you close to the arch itself, and it's hard to feel a sense of grandness from it. If you're looking for a better arch experience, be sure to check out Druid Arch in Canyonlands National Park. That being said, it's only 1 mile out-and-back from the La Verkin Creek Junction so the loss isn't huge if you're looking for a side-quest.
Trip Report
Day 1 - Lee Pass Trailhead to Campsite 10 and Side Quests to Kolob Arch and Hop Valley
We started off our day by heading to the Kolob Canyon Visitor Center. Kolob Canyon does not have an official toll gate, but it's recommended that all park visitors stop at Kolob Canyon. This ensures that the park rangers can assess the number of visitors coming into the park which may affect how funding is allocated to this portion of the park. We stopped in and showed the permit that we had picked up from the main Zion Visitor Center the previous day to the park ranger.
The trail begins at Lee Pass. The first several miles of the trail are a descent into a valley, where you get gorgeous views of all of Zion's stunning mountains. There is very little shade.
There are a couple sections of the trail that appear to cross through dry stream beds. When you pass these, these are not La Verkin Creek. We didn't see La Verkin Creek for the first time until around Mile 4.
From Mile 4 onwards, we followed La Verkin Creek and the trail flattened out. The trail followed the valley, where there was an interesting juxtaposition of the usual forest suspects (pines, shrubs, etc) with desert plants like cacti. I was surprised to see that even in October, there were plenty of desert wildflowers still in bloom.
We reached our campsite around noon. The path to get to campsite 10 required a small creek crossing, stepping over rocks, with little risk of shoes getting wet. Campsite 10 was beautiful. It was situated by the creek and had lots of great rocks to sit on.
We found a great spot to set up our Kammock Sunda 2.0 hammock tent between two sturdy trees near the campsite. Unlike our previous use of the hammock tent, which was hung sketchily between thinner trees when backpacking through The Narrows.
We had lunch at camp, then took out my day pack. We made sure our water bottles and water filter were in our day pack and set off on our side quest.
We took a quick stop first to assess the spring and refill our water bottles. We found the spring shortly after crossing the intersection between the La Verkin Creek Trail and La Verkin Creek. It was on the right-hand side behind some shrubs. I snapped a picture below so you know what to look for. The spring is not easily accessible from Campsite 10, you'll have to walk around.
First up for sidequests was Kolob Arch! When we had picked up our permits, the park ranger had warned us that the view of Kolob Arch was not amazing, but it was still worth checking out since Kolob Arch was the 7th largest arch in the world.
The trailhead was a short walk backtracking on the La Verkin Trail from our campsite. The trail was 0.5 miles long. When we reached the end of the Kolob Arch trail, we met two British guys who pointed out the arch to us, and yes, the arch required pointing out. It was a good distance away from the end of the trail and looked visually small. Unlike many of the other arches in Utah, you were not able to get near it or walk under it.
We then retraced our steps back to the Kolob Arch trail junction and began to head south toward Hop Valley. After crossing the creek, we stopped by the spring again to refill water. The trail took us up some switchbacks up to a forested ridge, where the incline became much gentler. We walked through the forest for about a half mile before the trail started to descend down into Hop Valley.
The first views I got from Hop Valley were spectacular. The forest opened up to the valley floor surrounded on both sides by deep red cliffs.
As we adventured further, the trail took us to a gate, that signaled that the trail was passing through private property owned by someone who respected hiker usage of their trail. Beyond the gates, we began to see herds of cows grazing in the valley, some calves too! The cows were harmless and used to seeing hikers around.
The Hop Valley trail became less and less defined with some sections of the trail requiring us to cross the stream, which is about two inches deep. It's possible to long-jump over most of these streams if that's your preference. I splashed down into the streams a couple of times and ended up with slightly damp socks that dried by the time I returned to camp.
We adventured down Hop Valley until it was around 4:30pm at which point we needed to turn around in order to make it back to camp before dark. Nothing too out of the ordinary happened except that I started to feel pretty drained. The trail takes place near 6000ft, which is high enough elevation to affect performance if you're not used to it.
We had swung by the spring one more time on our return trip and filled not only our bottles but also our filter pouch so that we would have plenty of water for the morning.
We made it back to camp shortly before sunset and enjoyed our Mountain House meals. The clouds were too dense in the evening for us to catch the night sky, so we tuckered into our hammock tent and listened to the Game of Throne's Song of Ice and Fire audiobook until we fell asleep.
Day 2 - Campsite 10 to Lee Pass Trailhead
We had a lazy morning the next day. We had a pleasant breakfast, packed up camp, and set out for our return hike around 10am. In hindsight, I completely regret not setting out earlier in the day, because it got hot!
The return trip was almost entirely uphill through areas with very limited shade. Even in October, by the time noon came around, the temperature had reached the mid 90's. We powered through, took breaks as appropriate, and made it back to the trailhead. When you see the parking lot in the distance, you're still about a half mile away.
Closing Thoughts - 7/10
Ultimately, this was a great option to explore Zion without any of the crowds. If not for my side-quest to Hop Valley, I would have actually ranked this trail closer to a 5/10. The reason is that the main La Verkin Creek Trail didn't seem particularly special compared to anything I had experienced previously in the Pacific Northwest and didn't have anything that felt characteristically "Utah". If you do this trip, be sure to check out Hop Valley!
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