Hiking Zion Canyon Overlook Trail

Luckily, there are a few trails along the breathtaking Mount Carmel Highway (Highway 9) that you can take without dealing with the buses. The famous Zion Canyon Overlook is one of them.

The hike begins near the Mount Carmel Tunnel. The parking lot is right by it. It is very small and will fill up fast. If you are wanting to take the hike for sunset or sunrise, get there early! There are other parking areas East of the trail but it will be an extra 1/2 mile + walk. We arrived 2 hours early and still had to park 1/2 mile away.

They consider the hiking trail to be moderate. There is a 157 foot elevation gain, and most of that will be gained in the first half of the 1-mile round-trip hike. There are a lot of steps in the beginning.

There are some steep drop offs and not all of them have rails so be sure to be careful and watch your step. You will also meet hikers coming back down so you'll want to be patient.

There are stunning views along the entire hike so be sure to enjoy it all. One of them is Pine Creek. It's is way deep into a slot canyon so it's really hard to see the water.

The hike can take 1-2 hours depending on how much you stop to enjoy the views, or if you're a photographer like me. Without stops it can take about 30 minutes to reach the overlook. It took us about an hour. Make sure you bring lots of water (snacks help too!)

Other than the overlook, my favorite part of the hike portion is the Alcove (or cave) area. It is breathtaking. When you start to see the wooden part of the walkway, you know you are close to it. One thing I should have done that I regret, it switching to my wide angle lens for this area. But I didn't want to miss sunset so I didn't take the time to switch them.

The cave area is probably about halfway to the overlook with just a little bit more elevation gain left.

The views for the rest of the hike only get better as you get higher. The colorful layers and different textures of the red rock cliff mountains are just amazing.

If you love trees, there are a lot of cool trees along the way. I love the twisted Utah Juniper trees. It amazes me how they grow in sand and on rock. Nature never stops surprising me. So much to see.

When you finally reach the overlook, you will be amazed. The switchbacks of Mount Carmel highway cut and curve it's way through the deep valley as the mountain cliffs tower over it. During the spring, summer and fall seasons, you'll see green trees throughout the landscape (colorful during the fall).

If you are not a photographer, or don't understand photography, the sunset can be tricky to capture here because you will be looking directly at the sun and it can cause the mountains and valley to go dark or the sky to be over exposed. It takes a good camera our HDR settings to get it properly exposed. If you don't understand photography, I suggest taking the sunrise hike as the light behind you will make it easier and better to capture for you.

Normally after sunset, I wait for the best light of magic hour and blue hour, but not knowing the territory well and with the steep, unprotected drop off's, we headed back down the trail after I got a few photos after the sun dropped below the mountains.

This allowed me to get several more photos on the hike back as there really isn't a bad view in Zion! I'm glad we headed back early because it was getting pretty dark by the time we got back to our car. We did have flash lights with us to be safe.

Below is a video of the hike to help give you an idea of what most of the trail is like. Hope you enjoy it and hope you get a chance to take this unforgettable hike.

To see my Zion photos here's the link: https://5-jennifer-white.pixels.com/collections/zion+national+park

Be Blessed