The Grapevine trail is a short hike, only 1 mile in length round trip. It does have an elevation loss/gain of 400 feet and has a pretty steep grade in spots, however. Below is my trip report:
It had been a year since I had attempted a hike of any significance so I decided to get back into hiking shape with a bit of an easier hike. To get to the trail head, I took SR 9 out of the town of LaVerkin, Utah and followed it until I got to the town of Virgin. Just past the town, there is a street that comes in from the north (left) called Kolob Terrace Rd. Take a left here and head north.
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| The Kolob Terrace Rd/SR9 turn off (looking back toward the town of LaVerkin to the West) |
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| The Grapevine Trailhead parking area as seen from the road. |
There were 3 other cars besides mine in the parking area but I saw no other hikers at all during the 2 hours I spent on the hike. The trail head is marked with a sign and the trail starts off well-defined and fairly flat for the first 100 or so yards.
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| This is the trail head marker at the end of the parking area (East side) |
Soon the trail comes to the edge of the canyon and looks down 400 feet to the waters of the Left Fork, which is where the trail ends up taking you. A very short time after the trail starts it's descent of the canyon's west wall, you are greeted by a sign indicating that you are entering Zion Wilderness.
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| This sign is posted just after the descent of the canyon has begun. In the distance and below, you can see the Left Fork river which is where you end up. The trail actually goes down to the river and then heads to the right (south) to the confluence of the Left and Right Forks. |
At this point, the trail is much less defined than it was above, on the rim of the canyon. I was actually surprised at how steep the grade was in parts as well.
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| A look at what the trail looks like just before reaching the river. |
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| And here's another look. The trail goes in between the holly bushes. |
I quickly descended the steep trail through lava rock and prickly pear cactus and was down to the river in about .2 of a mile from the trail head, according to my GPS. The trail doesn't actually go down to the river at this point but rather turns right (South) and follows the river, staying about 10 feet above it's west bank. There are several access points to the river while the trail is just above it's west bank one of which I took to cool off a bit in the river.
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| Here's a shot of what the river looks like where the trail meets up with it just after the descent has ended. |
I continued south on the west bank of the river, following a very faint trail which eventually completely disappeared due to some major flash floods the canyon experienced the week before. In fact, at one point the trail was blocked with debis from the before mentioned flash flood and I didn't feel like fighting through it to continue on to the confluence of the Left and Right Forks, especially when I had seen the confluence before when hiking the Right Fork hike.
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| Debris blocked the trail and instead of fighting through it, I turned around at this point and headed back. |
So I turned around and headed back, taking some more time to enjoy the wild life along and in the river. Had I continued on, to get to the confluence, it is .5 miles from the trail head (1 mile round trip). Over all, it was a fun hike to help me get back into shape for more hikes this summer.
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| One of the locals... It hard to see in this picture, but just to the left of my shadow is a small, inch long frog. There were a ton of these little guys dotting the river bank along with one or two larger frogs. |
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| A Desert Sucker in one of the pools. This one was about 8 inches long and was one of 3 I saw, along with several minnows. |
Data: Elevation at trail head: 4778 feet.
GPS Coordinates at trail head: N 37°16.452, W 113°06.005
Elevation at Left Fork river: 4357 feet.
Total hike distance: 1 mile (round trip to confluence and back)
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