East Rim Zion NP with side trip to Cable Mountain

I decided to hike the east rim of Zion National park and take a side trip to Cable Mountain which, in my opinion, offers the prettiest views I've seen anywhere in Zion. It adds an extra 6 miles to an 11 mile hike, but is well worth it!

I left my house a few minutes after 7:00. I had forgotten that road work closed the road through the east side of the park until 8:00 so I had to park and wait a few minutes for the road to open. I arrived at the trail head which is located off a small road just inside the east entrance station around 8:45 and began the hike.

The trail starts through a gate with the typical information board to let you know about your surroundings. The trail is wide with pine trees, Junipers, and scrub oak lining it for the first mile or so.

The trail became sandy, with a slight but steady ascent for much of the next 5 miles. Along the way, the views open up to Checkerboard Mesa as well as other magnificent canyons dotted with trees and enclosed by white canyon walls. The contrast was beautiful!

After about 2.5 miles, I came to a barbed wire fence off to the right side of the trail, marking the Park boundary and the start of BLM land. Shortly after the fence I came to Jolley Gulch, a large canyon with great views to a sharp drop off.

Past Jolley Gulch, the trail continues upward until you come to Stave Spring. The spring itself is located just off the left side of the trail and is marked by a sign. A pipe has been placed in the ground, and the actual water from the spring comes out of the pipe. Back in the early 1900's, there used to be a saw mill in this area and it is said that the remnants of old logs can be located, although I have never seen them. They were transported from the area to the cable works atop of Cable Mountain and from there lowered some 2000 feet down to the canyon floor. The wood was used to construct the old Zions Lodge as well as a few cabins in the canyon.


After a short quarter mile from the spring, a sign indicates the way to Cable and Deertrap Mountains. I took the 3 mile trail which breaks off to the left to get to Cable Mountain. The first mile or so slightly ascends before the final 2 miles descend to the edge of the Mountain and the cable works.

I am always taken back by the amazing views from Cable Mountain. Looking down roughly 2000 feet to Big Bend, The Organ, and Angels Landing provides, in my opinion, the most spectacular view in Zion. It is also captivating to imagine how timber was once lowered all the way down to the canyon floor from that point. I sat and ate lunch for the better part of an hour before continuing on my way.

After snapping some pictures, taking in the breathtaking views, and refueling, I decided I would start back to the east rim trail. Once back on the main trail, it's only a short while longer until the trail goes into permanent descent mode.

With only a little over 4 miles left in the hike, the trail takes you to Echo Canyon, where you can view down into the remarkable canyon. When I hiked this trail with my in-laws a few years back, they actually turned around at a certain point here and headed back because of the drop off on the right hand side of the trail. Really, unless you are deathly afraid of heights, it's really nothing to worry about it. I didn't even think twice about it and was surprised that it would have an affect on people. But if you have a very strong fear of heights, I guess it is worth noting.

The trail soon leaves the defined path and changes to slick rock with cairns to mark the way. There is one portion of the hike, marked by a larger cairn where the trail is a little difficult to follow. The first time I did the hike a few years back, I actually followed what I thought was the trail straight ahead where a faint game trail continued on, when the real, main trail took a sharp turn back to the right. This time around, the trail was marked better, but could still be lost unless good attention is paid to the cairns.

Once past the slick rock portion of the trail, it soon joins in with the trail up to Observation Point. About a half mile from that point is the entrance to Echo Canyon - a canyon I will definitely be exploring in the near future!

From there, you take switchbacks down to the weeping rock trail head. I decided to make a short trip up the half mile weeping rock trail since in had been a couple of years since I had been there. Also the last mile down was spent overlooking weeping rock, so I thought I might as well go check it out.

Once done with weeping rock, I headed over to the shuttle stop and waited for it to come take me back to the main entrance to the park. Over all, I covered about 17 miles in 8 hours and 5 minutes.