National Park Week 2025 – Kolob Canyons!

Most people have heard of Zion National Park, but many may not know about the Kolob Canyons district, about an hour northwest of the main Zion entrance in southwest Utah. We visited this remote area of Zion a few months ago.

The main part of Kolob Canyons has a five-mile scenic drive along Kolob Canyons Road, with great views of towering red rock canyons. The drive itself is beautiful, and I took a ton of pictures along the way.

Along the route, you can learn more about the park at the Visitors Center and access the trailheads and scenic viewpoints. There are three main hiking trails along the scenic drive, each of varying lengths and difficulties.

We hiked the Timber Creek Overlook Trail, accessed at the end of the scenic drive. This relatively easy 1-mile hike gave us great views of the canyon formations. At the peak, we could see the rock formations of Zion, Escalante, and even the North Rim of the Grand Canyon way off in the distance.

Kolob Canyons is a good stop in addition to your visit to the central part of Zion National Park. It is not that big, so if you’re not doing one of the long hikes, you can cover the scenic drive and take a smaller hike like we did in about an hour or two. This corner of Zion National Park is less commercialized, and since it is somewhat more remote, it doesn’t attract the crowds that the central part of Zion does. This is a good alternative if you want to do some hiking without the crowds that Zion gets. It is still beautiful in its own right.

Kolob is also worth a visit when you’re staying in the southwestern part of Utah near St George. There are many other state parks, like Snow Canyon State Park, as well as Cedar Breaks National Monument, in that area to round out your day there.

The Kolob Canyons area of Zion National Park is located off Interstate 15, about an hour northwest of the main Zion Visitors Center. It is only about half an hour north of the town of St George, which is a good place to stay for your trip to Zion if you’re heading to/from the Las Vegas area. It’s only about two hours from Las Vegas, so it’s also doable as a day trip from Vegas.

I hope you get a chance to explore the national parks, including some of the remote areas of the parks that may not get the attention they deserve. For more details on this park, visit the Kolob Canyons National Park Service page.

Please contact me if you would like to chat about planning a National Park trip.