Hiking to Angels Landing and between Kolob Canyons 

Looking at Zion National Park, located in southern Utah, from a satellite view on Google Maps brought on a rush of excitement for the trip I had planned for spring break. The deep canyons looked like some creature had taken its sharp claws and tried to scratch through the Earth’s surface.   

Once I arrived at the park on March 16, I couldn’t contain my excitement over seeing the deep red cliffs towering above me. I kept thinking about how I would be climbing up them, to the top of Angels Landing, and between them, to the end of Taylor Creek, over the course of the next few days.  

The trip was short, only three days long, but it was all worth the tiresome drive. I was able to explore one of our nation’s many beautiful, natural treasures and that was more than reason enough for me.  

Pre-trip planning  

Planning my trip was the most stressful part. Traveling on a budget to areas packed with tourists year-round is incredibly difficult. In Idaho, I usually pack a tent and find a camping spot, but nearly all of the camping spots I could find within a reasonable distance of Zion were too expensive or unavailable.   

I ended up finding an RV park in the small town of Kanarraville, a 50-mile drive north of the main park entrance, with some cheap tent spots available. For $23 a night, compared to roughly $100 I would be paying for a closer spot, we would be able to set up a tent to call home for the next three days.   

However, luck kicked in and I received a call from the owner of the RV park asking if we wanted to upgrade to a small “cabin” instead, for the same price, because of the snow the area was expecting to receive. I snatched the opportunity to stay in the insulated shed, hiding from the four inches of snow covering the ground the first morning.  

Other than skating through a world of tourism and battling the weather, COVID-19 posed its own set of difficulties as well. In order to help people maintain social distancing, Zion National Park restricted private vehicle access along the highway with most of the trailheads, making access to trails much more difficult.  

Several of the trailheads were inaccessible due to natural causes like rock falls, limiting the amount of hiking I would be able to do in a day. Other obstacles included limited time to purchase one of the few available shuttle tickets before resorting to a bicycle rental to get out to the trailhead for Angels Landing.  

Angels Landing  

True to its reputation, Angels Landing is a hike meant to be on everyone’s bucket list, right next to skydiving and bingeing the Lord of the Rings extended version. The peak stands 1,488 feet above the bottom of Zion Canyon, with a steep, mostly paved and well-traveled trail leading up to it.   

The trail is 5.4 miles long round trip and took about four hours to complete. The beginning of the trail starts out smoothly and gradually gets steeper as it zig-zags up the cliffside. Eventually, I took a sharp left after an especially steep portion and began making my way through the bottom of a canyon leading around to the rear of the ridge.  

After making my way up another steeper set of zig-zags, I reached Scout Lookout. At this point, I felt like I was just at the beginning of my journey as I looked ahead to the treacherously steep path ahead of me.  

The last mile of the trail follows a narrow, precipitous ridgeline out to the peak. Because of the snowmelt of early spring, many fellow hikers had Yaktrax to prevent them from slipping on the smooth sandstone. Many of the steps were merely divots worn into the stone, and there were chains placed along several parts of the ridge to provide some sort of safety handle to keep from falling down the cliffs.  

Despite the dangerous heights, I was sure of my step and cautious of other people traveling along the narrow trail. As one of the world’s most popular hikes, it was inevitable I would be traveling with other groups toward the peak. We were all seeking out the breathtaking view of Zion Canyon granted as a reward for climbing to the top.  

Taylor Creek  

After climbing to the top of Angels Landing, hiking the gentle slope following Taylor Creek in the Kolob Canyons was like a walk in the park. The Taylor Creek trail extends 5 miles round trip and has several creek crossings along the way.   

I wore some water-resistant boots that were more than enough to keep my feet dry on the lower crossings. However, once I got to the point of the canyon where I was walking through slushy snow I was grateful for my boots. Most other hikers were wearing running shoes with limited traction and mesh toes.  

There were two archeological sites with run-down cabins along the trail, both with signs explaining a little history about why the cabin was there.   

With towering walls of stone on both sides of me, I trudged on and came to a large opening of sky that signaled the end of the trail. It turned out there was a large opening in the rocks as well. A large cavern carved out by wind and water was hidden within the canyons, with water from the source of Taylor Creek trickling down in the center.   

The views at the end of the Taylor Creek trail were just as astonishing as what I saw at the top of Angels Landing, but instead of vast expanses of canyons spreading out before me it was a towering cavern resonating with the sounds of dripping water and echoing voices.   

Both of these hikes were amazing and I highly recommend taking a trip to Zion to at least see the red cliffs, if not to explore them in-depth. 10/10.  

Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5