Things to do
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Angels Landing
Climbing the last half kilometre means holding a chain bolted into a fin of rock with drops on both sides, to reach a narrow summit some four hundred and fifty metres above the canyon floor. A permit lottery now controls the chain section. Walkers reach it through a cool cleft called Refrigerator Canyon and twenty-one switchbacks known as Walter's Wiggles.
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The Narrows
Where Zion Canyon pinches to a slot, the route becomes the river itself, wall to wall, with the walls three hundred metres high and a few metres apart at the tightest turns. Most walk upstream from the Riverside Walk and turn back at will. Neoprene socks and a stick are close to essential. Flash flood risk closes it, and spring run-off can too.
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Zion National Park
Navajo sandstone walls rise as much as eight hundred metres above the Virgin River, which cut the canyon and still runs along its floor. The main canyon draws most of the traffic; the Kolob section to the north and the plateau above the east tunnel stay quieter. Free shuttles serve the canyon floor from spring to late autumn, and private cars are turned back at the gate.
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Canyon Overlook Trail
A short scramble of about a kilometre return, starting from the small car park just east of the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel, ends on a railed ledge above the switchbacks of the canyon road. Ladders, a catwalk under an overhang and slickrock steps fill the middle. Parking is the constraint: the handful of bays fill by breakfast. Sunset light reaches the far wall.
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Kolob Canyons
Fifty kilometres north of Springdale, reached from its own exit off the interstate, a separate corner of Zion holds a row of blunt red finger canyons. A scenic road runs eight kilometres to a viewpoint at its end, and longer walks lead to Double Arch Alcove and to Kolob Arch, a free-standing span of roughly ninety metres. Snow can close the road for days after a winter storm.
