Canyon Overlook Trail

Nearby Destinations

Zion National Park

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Viewed 5833 times

(3 votes, 2 reviews)

Difficulty: Moderate
Length: 1.0 miles / 1.6 km
Duration: 1 hour or less

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Overview: The Canyon Overlook Trail is a great introduction to Zion National Park if you are entering from the east. The trail is short--less than 1 mile out and back, and the elevation gains are fairly steep but not too exhausting.

This trail takes you away from the road, through a large natural cave carved out of the rock walls, and eventually offers an extraordinary view of Zion Canyon below, where you can see the road wind through the canyon, and the steep canyon walls far in the distance.

The trail only takes about half an hour and the view is definitely worth the hike.

Points of Interest

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Parking

Park your car further down the road in the turn out and walk along the shoulder of the road back to the trailhead to start your ascent.

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Trailhead

On the side of the road you will find a sign to the Canyon Overlook Trail. The trail starts with an uphill climb as you leave the road below.

Canyon Overlook Trail (Watchman Residential Area, Utah, United States) Photo

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Cave

Soon after the first climb you will walk around a bend to the right and come across a large natural cave in the side of the rock wall. It is significantly cooler in the cave, and you may see lizards or other animals hiding from the afternoon heat.

Lizzard (Watchman Residential Area, Utah, United States) Photo

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Overlook

At the end of the hike you will be rewarded for your hard work with an overlook over Zion Canyon. The view is quite remarkable, even though much of the canyon to the right is hidden by the closer cliffs.

Zion Canyon (Watchman Residential Area, Utah, United States) Photo

Pictures in this guide taken by: chris

How does this work?

This is the easist trail in Zion. I fell Angles landing and observation point trails offer better view but those are significant more difficult.
Visited on Feb 09, 2012

by drnantu on Feb 14, 2012 at 02:41:37 am

I had forgotten how well protected this trail was designed. It even allows young children the chance to witness dizzying heights more common to the difficult trails in the park.
Visited on Sep 09, 2011

by steve625 on Sep 10, 2011 at 04:10:31 pm