Zion National Park Photos
- The West Rim Trail is called the premier backpacking
trail in Zion and is rated as extremely strenuous when hiked south to north
and moderately strenuous north to south (which is how I hiked it.) The
elevation gain north to south is 1265 feet and the elevation loss is 4825
feet, most of which occurs in the final 5 miles. The access road to the
trailhead was closed due to a washout which added about 1.5 miles to the
14.2 mile trail. If you leave your vehicle at Zion Lodge, add another .5
mile from where the trail ends at The Grotto picnic area. The first 5 miles
is as depicted in the photo above -- flat or downhill, partially forested,
and devoid of other people. Two of the three water availability sites occur
in this 5 mile stretch, Sawmill Spring and Potato Hollow Spring. The third
is West Rim Spring at mile 9.8, just after the long downhill starts.
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- This was the view over the rim looking west from my
assigned campsite (number 5.) The campsite was a bit rocky, but I managed
to find an area for my tent avoiding the rocks. If you like solitude, this
trail is for you (except for the final 3 miles which is heavily used by
hikers coming up to Angels Landing from The Grotto Trailhead.) After you
reach the West Rim area at mile 7, the views become spectacular, first
to the west and later to the east and south.
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- The trail descends a sheer wall of sandstone in a
series of five or so switchbacks carved out of the mountain and provides
outstanding views to the north. The labor to create this portion of the
trail is inestimable, and I have heard that it was a project of the Civilian
Conservation Corps back in the 1930s. What a job that must have been, although
seeing these views on a daily basis was a fringe benefit beyond recompense.
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- As you approach Angels Landing, Scout Overlook provides
a glimpse down to the Virgin River and the road to The Narrows. At this
point, you are encountering people again and aware that civilization is
just a few miles away.
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- "Walter's Wiggles" is a series of a dozen
or so narrow switchbacks descending into Refrigerator Canyon. The trail
then proceeds through a narrow cleft and finally descends another series
of switchbacks to the floor of Zion Canyon. This section of trail is a
high use area swarming with people hiking up to Angels Landing, and only
patience got this photo without people in it.
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- I am occasionally asked if I would suggest a backpack
in Bryce or Zion National Park, and indeed I contemplated the same question.
I would definitely recommend backpacking in Zion. The Zion West Rim Trail
is far more strenuous but has fewer people on it and provides outstanding
panoramas of the mountains and peaks and valleys of Zion Canyon. Bryce
(as of 1999) did not have a hiker shuttle available and hitchhiking is
prohibited in the park, thus creating the problem of getting back to your
vehicle. Zion has a hiker shuttle available by reservation. Also, although
Bryce's trail provides outstanding forest travel, Bryce's main claim to
fame is its hoodoos, which are visible from up on the rim, not from the
bottom of the canyon.