Myatt's Hikes: Camp Creek, Zion National Park

May 2, 2013

Camp Creek is located a very remote, seldom visited section of the Kolob Canyon portion of Zion National Park. The trail head starts at the north-western park boundary. Knowing that I needed to start getting my hiking legs back under me in preparation for the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike in a couple of weeks, I decided to do a moderate hike today.

Looking North: Start hiking along this road.

To find the trail head, Liz and I traveled north on I-15 from St George to exit 42 (the Kanarraville exit). Once off the freeway, we took a right (east) and then a quick left (north) on the frontage road that parallels the freeway, toward Kanaraville. We continued on this road for 1.7 miles until we came to 1925 South, where we took a right. This road twists and turns and forks, but as long as you veer to the left the whole way, you'll eventually be led to a dirt road heading east toward the hills and ending in a small parking area with a signed gate.

The signed gate indicates that the Camp Creek trail starts through the gate. This is the short trail to the waterfall. To explore all of Camp Creek, you must start out on the dirt road that heads north at the base of the hills.

After a short distance, another dirt road comes in from the right and turns back up the hills. Take this steep road up to the water tank. The water tank is visible from the freeway and can be used to help get you to the trail head if all else fails, as the trail head is about directly below it.

The gate just behind the water tower, marking the entrance into Zion National Park

Once to the water tower, you are about to enter Zion National Park. There is a gate past the water tower on the left, .62 miles from the parking area, that marks the National Park boundary. Once through the gate, the faint trail reached a small dry wash and disappeared completely. We took the wash until we found the trail leaving the wash on the other side.

The trail continued to take us toward Camp Creek and around the north side of the water fall. At one point, Liz and I heard the waterfall below us and to the south

The Camp Creek waterfall as seen from the trail above.

so we took a short detour to a great view point and took some pictures.

We continued descending down the trail and reached Camp Creek about 1 mile from the parking area, according to my GPS. From here the trail follows the river, although there are faint trails here and there long the river bank.

Because we went so early in the season, we stayed pretty much to the trails along the river banks to keep our feet dry since there was a chill in the air. Had we gone a few weeks later, the brush would have made these trails much harder to follow and we could have just about as easily stuck to the river.

The first mile following the river was easy and straight forward. But soon after the going got a little slower as the river banks were lined with thick trees. We made it through by bushwhacking our way and sticking to the river for a little way.

Trying to climb up the pot holes

About 2.6 miles from the parking area, the river goes under ground and the dry river bed makes the best and easiest travel rout. The canyon walls begin closing in at this point and I was reminded somewhat of my trips down the Virgin River Narrows.

For the next mile or so, we hiked along the dry river bed. At one point we came to a series of potholes, some dry and some still filled with a little water. I had read that we needed to back track a little and climb steeply off to the left to get past them, but being the adventurous person I am, I decided to see if I could climb past them. I made it past about 4 of them but was finally stymied when I came to a 10 foot dry fall. So I backtracked and found that Liz had already found the way up and around the obstacle to the left.

Soon after the potholes, the canyon steepens drastically and to reach the end of the canyon, you gain 500 vertical feet in the final quarter of a mile. The canyon ends at a small waterfall where only about 30 vertical feet of sandstone separate you from the top of the plateau. Getting there, however, is a daunting task that requires a few sketchy moves that should not be undertaken by the feint of heart.

Looking deep into the cave

If you do decide to try, there is a fascinating cave that we explored back about 40 feet until it got too dark for us to see what was ahead of us, and since I didn't bring my normal hiking backpack, I didn't have my flashlight. I'll have to save the rest of the exploration for another day. This cave is on the right side of the canyon, just a few hundred yards from the end.

Once we finished exploring the cave, we had to steeply descend loose dirt/slickrock, carefully inch our way across steeply sloped sand layered slickrock, and then climb up the steep rocks on the left of the canyon which had the stream flowing over them.

A look at the end of the canyon

After a few minutes of climbing up the rocks and using the brush on either side of us to help pull ourselves up at times (note: beware of the thorny bushes of death!!) we finally made it to the end of the canyon. We were greeted by a large snow field which limited our options for a sitting area to eat or lunch. After 15 minutes, we decided we better head back down.

It took us 3 hours and 40 minutes to reach the end of the canyon, but because we were a little more familiar with where the trail was on the way out, it only took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to make it back down to the car.

In total, the hike was about 8.4 miles round trip and took us just under 6 hours to complete, though we hiked at a more leisurely pace as Liz was hampered by a sore foot.

If attempting this hike, expect your scrambling, route finding, and bushwhacking skills to be put to the test. Also be aware that the very end of this hike requires some sure footing over potentially slippery ground with large drop offs below.