kolob canyon road

If you want a close-up look at Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, take this loop beginning north from Hwy 89 east of Kanab, UT. The millions of year old colorful geologic formations remind you of how long this old Earth has been around. Before you go, get the book "Geology road guide: Cottonwood Canyon Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument." Once you come down off Skutumpah Road, drive a short distance north to Cannonville to the Visitor Center before you head south on Cottonwood Canyon Road. The drive took us 7 hours from Kanab with a stop at Bull Valley Gorge, the Visitor Center, Kodachrome Basin for a picnic and hike on Angel's Palace Trail and a stop at Grosvenor Arch. I would advise allowing 9 hours with more stops and short hikes to view up close the geology. A high-clearance vehicle is recommended. We had a Jeep Liberty. There were a couple of steep hills where we put it in 4-wheel drive but it could be driven without 4WD in DRY weather. We are going to go back and do this again and take longer.

This is well worth the time and effort to pull off I 15 and make the 6 mile journey, that delivers one wow after another. The mountain vistas are dramatic and breath taking. We will be back!

Was very nice and worth the drive up here since the main area at Zion was rather busy out here there were only a few other people around and the short hike out to the lookout was met with only two other people, so that was a huge plus. We hiked out for the sunset and later the moonrise was even more amazing. If your traveling on 15 stop in here if you don't stop at the visitor center or of it is closed you don't have to pay. If you have already been to Zion the fee you paid works here as well.

From the highway, the sign read, "Scenic Road to Zion." Since my next destination was Zion, i took the exit. The road does not lead into Zion National Park but rather a 12 mile loop into one of the branches of Zion. since I had made the choice to get off, I took the Kolob Canyon Drive.I was NOT disappointed! Being a landscape photographer, I could have stopped every five feet for another so-called Kodak moment. I did drive the the end and walked the Timber Creek Trail for spectacular views of the canyon. If you are driving down the Interstate 15, take the detour, you will be greatly rewarded with

It's a beautiful drive and doesn't take long, but it is a way from the main part of the park. We hiked the Timber Creek Trail, which is easy. Stop and take lots of pictures!

We drove the road after 4 PM & there were few people in this part of the park. It is a beautiful drive on a very good road with many places to pull off the road. We hiked to the overlook at the end of the road. Excellent.

We spent about 2 hours just driving the 5 miles of winding road. Every corner holds a new awesome view. Don't hurry, all there is at the end is a turnaround. But this truly is the journey is the important part not the destination.

This is a brown colored but well maintained winding road into the lesser know northwest section of Zion National Park, called Kolob Canyon....following picturesque Taylor Creek and the saw-toothed peaks eroded from the sandstone remains of a 180-190 milliion year old Jurassic era beach.You see, while most folks visit and remember Zion's Main Canyon (the one with the mandatory shuttle buses in the Spring and Summer) for its absolutely breathtaking and dizzying steep walls, viewed from the bottom, unless you want to climb and hike up to the rim ....there is another LESSER KNOW NORTH-WESTERN SECTION to Zion National Park. That is, YOU CAN VISIT ANOTHER GREAT SECTION located to the northwest, just back over that impressive rim you are looking up at that's causing the "crick" in your neck from the shuttle bus window! IT IS CALLED KOLOB CANYON DISTRICT OF ZION NP....and it is accessible only by means of the brown colored Kolob Canyon Road, just off of Interstate 15. Just watch for the signs on I-15 to the Kolob Canyon Road (more on that later).This is the second or North-western section of Zion National Park, which is too often missed, as people speed by it on I-15, heading south to Las Vegas......well, STOP AND TURN BACK! This section is also officially a part of Zion National Park. It consists of the series of canyons adjacent to I-15, officially called the Kolob Canyon District of Zion National Park. We would have missed it, too, had not Park Ranger Nick, who was working now at Colorado National Monument, not told us about it. Kolob Canyon is much less crowded than the Main Canyon.Kolob Canyon District is reachable only off of I-15 by means of a unusual colored brown winding dead-end road, called Kolob Canyon Road, and it offers its visitors views of many breath-taking beautiful red rock canyons PLUS the gorgeous 310 foot long arch (yes, the size of a football field and almost an end zone) called KOLOB ARCH! YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT....another whole district of Zion National Park. WOW!!!Kolob Canyon District has its own entrance station (your main canyon ticket is good here), combined with a Visitor Center, and neat book and souvenir store, restrooms, plus daily special Park Ranger led programs and Junior Ranger programs for the kids. Take the winding and well maintained brown-colored Kolob Canyon Road into this very special place of superlatives.It is a self-driving dead-end loop road....great views in both directions of travel, carved by the picturesque Taylor Creek, tumbling down the 2,000 foot thick layers of Navajo Sandstone formed from a beach sand accumulating there some 180 - 190 million years old (think of the Jurassic Park era). The saw-toothed and peaked mountains are the remains of that beach sand, now towering above Kolob Canyon's Taylor Creek watershed, and providing many very impressive mind-bending vistas for its visitors....and you will become the latest person to view this vista, joining your footprints with those of beach creatures of the Jurassic era!Access Kolob Canyon District of Zion National Park on the I-15 interstate roadway, and watch for signs to the Kolob Canyon Road to turn off just a bit LESS THAN HALFWAY from Cedar City to St. George, Utah.....so slow down on I-15, visit Kolob Canyon and Kolob Arch. You will be very glad you did!

Spent two days in the park, including the Narrows, and looking for something a bit different. We researched Kolob Canyons and spent better part of a day there on Taylor Creek and the Canyon Overlook trails. Enjoyed both of them. watched a storm roll in from the Canyon Overlook Trail. Easy access, no crowds and well paved road and trail access make this a great way to spend a day in the Zion area.

This Canyon cannot be accessed directly from Zion Canyon, You have to drive several miles to this Northern section. Don't miss this less visited side of the park. The scenery is beautiful and if you look closely you might see wild turkey.

It's very close to I-15 and I was glad I took the time to drive through. It was an excellent introduction to Zion.

We took a drive here in the late afternoon. The terrain differs a bit from Zion and at the end of the route there was a lake. We did a lot of driving this vacation, so in retrospect I didn't think it was worth spending more time in the car to do this route. ( Hiking here might be better, rather than our drive by.) We tried taking the lava route with our rental car, but had to turn around because the dirt road was rutted and started to have a steep incline where driving conditions looked worse. You probably need a SUV to drive this section..

If you don't want to brave the crowds, or just want to bite off a smaller piece of the park for a day, enter through the northern Kolob Canyon and take the 5 mile drive. Maybe not as varied as views in the main canyon, but still pretty awesome. Plenty of trailheads originate here too. Tiny visitor center and bathrooms at the entrance. No other services along the way.

We did not hike the trails. We drove and stopped for pictures 3 times on the road. The views from the road are amazing. We almost didn't go in because there is nothing impressive at the entrance of the park. Once you drive up the canyon and around the bend. Wow! We did this on the way home after a great day of hiking the main part of zion's park.

More beautiful Zion roads! Different landscape than the southern part of the park. Great train at the end.