Day 5 – Snowy Canyon

We woke up to a dusting of snow on the truck, but the forecast was for warmer weather to the south of our camp in Beaver, Utah. While searching for this elusive sunshine, we took a quick, and rewarding, side trip up Kolob Canyon. This canyon is in a less known portion of Zion National Park.

The five-mile drive quickly climbs up the canyon with spectacular views of Navajo Sandstone cliffs around each corner. Snow flurries sporadically left behind of thin white blanket that accentuated the brilliance of the red sandstone formations. 

The road climbs about 1600 feet to a viewpoint at the top. There are several trails that take off from pullouts, however, we opted to postpone those for another time when there weren’t pelting snow flurries.

Kolob Canyon lies on the western portion of the Colorado Plateau and has some of the highest peaks in Zion National Park. For example, Horse Ranch Mountain is 8,926 feet high. The narrow pocket canyons expose some of both the oldest and youngest rocks in Zion. In addition, you can see a number of “hanging” canyons which can be identified by the darkened oxide traces left by falling water.



Although a snowy visit, we enjoyed our first “red rock” experience of this trip.



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