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With only a little more than a year remaining in Utah, we are starting to get even more serious about checking off some of our Utah bucket list items. One of these was hiking the West Rim Trail in Zion National Park. To be honest this was one of those trails that I had not even heard of until our trip to Southern Utah in Fall 2019 where we hiked the Subway as it is not one of the more popular trails and it is rather long.

Most of my experience in Zion National Park has focused in the main canyon with hikes like Angel’s Landing and the Narrows. When we hiked the Subway, it was my first time on Kolob Terrace Road which is accessed via Virgin, UT. Exploring this area allowed me to add the West Rim Trail in Zion National Park to my bucket list as this is where the hike begins.

West Rim Trail Info

Let’s get the important details out of the way:

Distance: 15 miles (per my Garmin)

Elevation Gain: 1378 ft (per my Garmin), most of the elevation change is actually an elevation decline which is important to note for your knees

Route Type: Point to point

Time: 5 hours 51 minutes (we hike pretty quickly)

West Rim Trail Logistics

Update July 1, 2020: The shuttles are now operating on a limited basis and require a reservation. To learn more, click here.

We completed the West Rim Trail over Memorial Day weekend this year. Therefore, there were a few additional considerations given the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently there are no shuttles running in Zion National Park. This includes the regular canyon park shuttles as well as the private shuttles. Normally you can pay these private shuttles to ferry you to the start of the trail as this is a point to point. We ended up completing this by using two cars.

Zion National Park is Utah’s most popular national park and Memorial Day weekend is one of the busiest of the year. Because the shuttles were not operational and because we chose a very popular time to visit, we ended up waiting in [a very long] line at the entrance of the canyon before it opened. We got in line at 5:30 am and the canyon opened at 6:00 am. There was a rumor that parking was already full by 6:20 am. Regardless, we were able to park one car at the Grotto and drive around to the start of the West Rim Trail head where we got started before 7:30 am.

West Rim Trail at Zion National Park

The trail was well-marked, very easy to follow and there was cell service throughout a significant portion of the trail. Here is the link to the trail on All Trails.

Much of the hike did not feel or look like what you would expect from Zion National Park. In fact, for the first 10 miles of the hike, it felt like I was back home in North Carolina, rather than on the West Rim Trail in Zion National Park. Because of the length of this trail, many people opt to do this as an overnight. In order to do this, you will need a backcountry permit. If you have never backpacked before, check out this beginners guide to backpacking.

Also, whether it was due to logistical challenges or the overall length of this hike, we only saw 4 other people for the first 10 miles. At the 10 mile mark, you hit the spot where many people stop their hike when doing it from the bottom up – and therefore we saw a lot more people at that point.

This hike is not one that would likely be possible year-round as the access to the trail head does not receive winter maintenance and the road closes due to snow.

Although some of the pictures might not look like it, Utah is still a desert. Hiking in the desert is different than hiking elsewhere. Check out these desert hiking tips here.

West Rim Trail Review

Overall, we really enjoyed hiking the West Rim Trail in Zion National Park. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Angel’s Landing hike is closed beginning at the chains. However because this trail goes right past the base of the chains, many people choose to do the chains portion of Angel’s Landing as part of the West Rim Trail hike – which would have been fun if it was open.

If you are thinking about hiking the West Rim Trail or have done it before let me know in the comments!

Tips for visiting Utah

If you are heading to Zion National Park as part of a long weekend in Southern Utah – here are some more recommendations. Or if you want to see all 5 Utah National Parks, this post will take you to an itinerary with a driving map. Lastly, if busy national parks aren’t your thing but you are looking for other really cool places in Utah, check out this list of 21 places to visit in Utah that aren’t national parks.

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

• Best Hikes in Utah
• 11 Things to do in Kanab
• Visiting the Utah Mighty 5 National Parks
• Best Scenic Drives in Utah
• 21 Places to Visit in Utah that aren’t National Parks

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