Remember how I keep saying I'm way behind in my blogging? Well, this one is almost a year old. That makes it sort of timely, since it's soon to be fall foliage time in southern Utah, again.
I did this hike a few weeks after I drove up above Cedar City, along Kolob Terrace Road. Because of its lower altitude, I assumed (semi-correctly) that the leaves would change later in this section of Zion National Park. The trailhead is just under 30 minutes south of Cedar City.
The NPS list of hikes makes no mention of this as a trailhead, which is odd, considering the size of the parking area. As you head up Kolob Canyon Road, the parking area is just before the big hairpin turn, about 3.4 miles east of I-15.
Despite many previous trips up this road, I only hiked up this canyon twice, both fairly recently. And that's because it wasn't listed on the dayhike list in the orientation material the NPS provided upon entry. So, the first time up this canyon, I had no idea what to actually expect. But it turns out there's a pretty well-defined trail up this canyon. Yes, it's steep in places. But, until you get near the end, it's just still just a walk.
Most of the fall color in this canyon is yellow, which provides a nice contrast against the reddish sandstone walls. There are steep walls as you work your way up canyon, that narrow, the further up you go. Eventually, the way forward requires scrambling. At that point, after it becoming apparent that I was nearing the end of a non-technical walk, I turned around. Very roughly, I'd estimate maybe three miles roundtrip.
Impossible to get lost on this hike, unless you climb out the side of the canyon. I did observe anchor points on several of those canyon walls, so clearly there is (or was) some technical climbing done in this canyon. If people were climbing above me, I'd get nervous hiking below them. But, there were no rock climbers on this or the other time I poked around this canyon, and rather few hikers. That seems odd, considering the size of the parking lot, but I think part of the reason for the size of the parking lot is that it is either overflow or an alternative parking area for folks hiking out of the Lee Pass trailhead, a half-mile further up the road. You'd park here on those times when either snow or rain damage makes the road further up the canyon impassible.
Used to be there was no entry fee to drive up this section of Zion, but that's not been the case for a while. However, paying in the main canyon would cover your entry here, or vice versa. And, of course, if you have a federal public lands pass, it's free, either way.
Despite this location being lower in altitude than the hills above Cedar City, it can still get cold here. You'll notice some snow on the downed trees in this photo, and perhaps some patches in the first shot of this post, as well.
Still, the lower altitude does mean fall foliate change comes later here than in Cedar Breaks, though probably earlier than in Zion Canyon. However, there were also some windy days and nights a bit before this trip, so there was less foliage on the trees than if the weather had been more conducive to leaf peeping.
By the time I got back, it was pretty dark. So I waited for more darkness. Somewehre along the line, I realized I had forgotten the adapter I need to connect my dslr to my ball head tripod. So I resorted to using my cell phone. This is with my Samsung S21, in pro mode. ISO 1600, 30 second exposure, braced against my car antenna to hold the camera still, and using voice activation to trigger the shutter. I also used the free Lightroom for Mobile to process. The Andromeda Galaxy is near the center of the photo. I'm pretty pleased with the result, as I don't usually use my cell phone for night skyscapes.
As always, click on the photos for larger versions of each shot.
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