After days of exploring one of my favorite national parks to date, I can easily say I have seen the best hikes in Zion National Park. I stopped at Zion during my Southwest National Parks Road Trip. When I first arrived, I was completely overwhelmed by the countless hikes and activities to do in this wonderful place. There are gorgeous cliffs, streams, pools of water, and even a lodge to stay at! This place has an adventure for everyone!

But after much exploration and talking with the park rangers, I became comfortable with the area and learned how to navigate each region. Now that I have done all the hard work, sit back and read the top destinations you should check out on your adventure!

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Know Before You Go:

• This is an incredibly popular park, be sure to plan your adventures around peak times. Get on the most popular trails early and stay late in the park to explore!
• During the spring and summer months, Zion is closed to personal vehicles. The only access is through the shuttle service.
• Be sure to come prepared with the proper gear! Always be sure to bring the ten essentials with you and bring trekking poles for The Narrows hike and ice cleats for the Angels Landing hike (during early spring and late autumn).
• Check the weather conditions before you head out each morning!
• Book your trip in advance! There are campsites and a lodge you can stay at, but they book up fast so be sure to get your reservations in as soon as possible!

Related: The Ultimate Utah Mighty 5 Road Trip Itinerary

Alright, let’s get to it! Which hikes are truly the best ones to see?

Angels Landing

If you do any hike at Zion, hike Angels Landing. This is a difficult 4.1-mile hike with 1,617 ft elevation gain. It is known for its dangerous cliffs but spectacular views. In fact, the views are the best you can see in the park! This is truly a once in a lifetime type hike and incredibly unique due to the high exposure.

Related: A Complete Guide to Planning the Perfect Utah Road Trip

What do you need to know?

Before you go straight for the Angels Landing hike, there are a few things you should know. In order to reach Angels Landing, you will first hike part of the West Rim Trail, check out the map to see what I mean. The best entry point is at The Grotto. The West Rim Trail leading up to the Angels Landing trail is incredibly well maintained and paved. It does have quite a bit of elevation gain but makes a great day hike on its own.

Once you reach the chained portion of the trail is where the Angels Landing hike truly gets fun. This part of the trail has steep, dropping cliffs on each side and is incredibly exposed to the weather. This climb is not for the faint of heart. If you have a fear of heights, be cautious. This hike is also incredibly dangerous. There have been multiple deaths on this trail. The good news is the majority of this trail has stabilizing chains to allow you to steady yourself.

I don’t warn you to deter you from climbing this hike, it is among the top hikes I have ever done in my life. The challenge is well worth it at the top. Just please be careful. Try to hit this hike in the morning during the summer. This will help avoid the crowds, beat the heat, and avoid the ice.

If you do end up climbing this gorgeous trail during times of ice, purchase ice cleats. This pair would be what I most recommend, allowing you to be stable both on the clear rocks and iced over areas of the trail. Crampons or Yaktrax will work on the ice but will make it more difficult on the bare rock faces.

Our Experience…

We ended up arriving at the West Rim Trailhead at midday, during peak hours just after a cold snap in March. The trail was relatively busy but still an amazing journey. In all honesty, once we reached the area where the West Rim Trail intersects the Angels Landing trail, I thought we were at the top. Little did I know, we were just at the beginning.

Looking up the ice-ridden cliff face of a trail, I noticed there were multiple lines piling up. The problem is that there is really only room for one-way traffic for the majority of the trail. Patience, not my strongest suit, is definitely required here. Once we hiked about halfway, we realized that there were some major iced over areas of the trail. This wouldn’t be a problem if we were on nice, flat, safe ground. But when the iced over cliffs lead straight to a 500+ foot drop, it can be slightly terrifying. But that wasn’t our biggest challenge. The major challenge on this hike is the groups of individuals who are being unsafe and endangering others in their way.

However, with all of the challenges of this hike, it really wasn’t that bad. Well over half of the people hiking made it to the top to some of the most beautiful views we have ever seen!

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The Narrows

Zion National Park is filled with unique hiking experiences. The next unique hiking trail is The Narrows. This can be up to 8.7-miles and is at a moderate difficulty. What makes this trail so incredible is the majority of it is through the Virgin River. Yes, you saw that correctly. The Narrows hike requires you to hike in the water. How cool is that!? For more information about this, check out what the National Park Service says about this hike.

What is so great about this hike? Well, aside from hiking through a gorgeous river, the hike itself runs through a deep and beautiful canyon. There are numerous but small waterfalls along the side as well. This hike is great for those hot summer afternoons!

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What do you need to know?

The best tip I can give you before you head out on this gorgeous and easy hike is to bring trekking poles. I cannot stress this enough. The slippery rocks combined with the quick and shallow current make it difficult to navigate the waters.

Also, if you plan on hiking The Narrows during the slower seasons, such as early spring or late fall, make sure to come prepared with neoprene gear! It will be cold and you will thank me! I promise!

Our Experience…

Again, we hiked this beautiful trail just after a cold snap. We got into the water just after 8 am and were surprised by the temperature! We grew up in the Pacific Northwest and are incredibly used to cold water, but this water wasn’t cold, it was freezing… literally. The temperatures the day we hiked fluctuated in the high 30’s. Many areas of stagnant water were covered in ice as well as the canyon walls.

But, when we began our journey, there were countless people in the water! How bad could it be? The answer is bad. It could be very bad. Being the young, adventurous souls we are, we hiked in about three miles in just tennis shoes and regular hiking pants. Thankfully we had the assistance of trekking poles so we didn’t fall in.

Throughout our hike, other hikers constantly commented how brave we were. I didn’t understand, they were in the water too! I was too cold to really pay attention. Finally, a light bulb flickered in my cold brain! I realized they were all wearing waterproof, neoprene gear! ALL OF THEM! My answer slowly began to change from “thank you” to “no, we are just plain stupid.”

Of course, when the hike was finished we thought it was one of the greatest hikes in the world! We weren’t thinking that during it though! Don’t be like us, check the temperatures and bring some gear! It is worth it!

Emerald Pools

My last, but certainly not least, favorite hike in Zion National Park, is the Emerald Pools Trail. This is an easy 2.2-mile hike with only 541 ft elevation gain. It is short, sweet, and again, unique! There are two main trailheads, one at The Grotto and another across from the Lodge. You can also access this trail from the Court of the Patriarchs but it adds on a bit of mileage.

The main features of this hike are the beautiful green pools that have been formed from small, trickling waterfalls off of the large surrounding cliffs. They are just gorgeous!

What do you need to know?

Emerald Pools is an incredibly easy and straightforward hike. A quick little walk that is ready for hikers of all skill levels. It can be quite busy and if you choose to hike up to the upper pool, you will be walking on large boulders. I suggest hiking it in the evening and bring a flashlight for your hike out!

Our Experience…

We hiked this trail in the evening, immediately after we hiked Angels Landing. It was a nice little cool down for our legs and a great way to end the day. We used the trailhead from The Grotto. On our way in, we came across about 8 deer and a beautiful fox!

We made it to the upper pool just in time before the sunset. We only ran into two other hiking groups and nearly had the place to ourselves! The hike out was easy but dark. We used flashlights towards the tail end, but the trail is so large it was a cake walk!

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Well, there you have it, my top three hikes in Zion National Park. I am so excited for you to check out Zion, the pictures don’t do it justice. Be safe and have fun!

Check out our Southwest National Parks Roadtrip and how we made this one of our six different national parks on our journey!