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Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Located in the parks northwestern corner, Kolob Canyons is a less-crowded area of the park that contains beautiful red-rock canyons, incredible overlooks, and lush scenery. A visitor center is located at the entrance to Kolob Canyons, just off of Interstate 15.
Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals, and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km2) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The park attracted 4,984,525 visitors in 2025.
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(1.0 mile / 1.6 km round-trip). Departing from the Kolob Canyons picnic area (at the end of Kolob Canyons Road), this easy trail follows the ridge top to small peak which offers views of Timber Creek, Kolob Terrace and Pine Valley Mountains.
(14.0 mile / 22.5 km round-trip). Trailhead is at Lee Pass, 4 miles (6 km) up the highway from the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center. A strenuous hike or backpack from Lee Pass (on Kolob Canyons Road) along Timber and LaVerkin Creeks to a viewing point of Kolob Arch, the world's second longest freestanding arch.
(5.0 mile / 8.0 km round-trip). Trailhead is on the Kolob Canyons Road, 2 miles east of the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center. This trek follows the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek past two homestead cabins to a gorgeous double arch alcove. Watch your kids since rattlesnakes are common on this trail.
(6.0 mile / 9.7 km one-way) and the Connector Trail (4 mile / 6.4 km one-way). These trails are used pretty much exclusively by backpackers, especially those aiming to hike the full Trans-Zion route, of which these two trails are the middle section, connecting the Kolob Canyons and Main sections of the park. Neither has the sort of spectacular rock formations and red slickrock for which the park is famous, and aren't really worth seeking out as day hikes, although Wildcat Canyon is certainly beautiful in its own quieter and thickly forested way. The Connector Trail is likely the park's most boring hike, as it exists mostly just so that backpackers can get from one section of the park to the other without hiking along the road. The Wildcat Canyon Trail runs from the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead in the west to the West Rim Trail near the Lava Point Trailhead; the Connector Trail runs from the west section of the former trail to the Hop Valley Trailhead in the west, where it connects with the Hop Valley Trail.
To get to this remote and beautiful area turn off Highway 9 at Virgin. Follow the Kolob Reservoir Road for 21 miles (34 km) to the park boundary at Lava Point.
(4.0 mile / 6.4 km round-trip). This is the only easy, day-hike friendly trail in the Kolob Terrace section of the park. There are certainly more exciting trails to be found in Zion, but here you'll find solitude, and have a great excuse to drive up the beautiful and remote Kolob Terrace Rd to the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead.