Kolob Canyons...Southern Utah

We use TripAdvisor to communicate with other travelers and pick their brains about places to go, roads to take and sights we should not miss.  That is how we heard about Kolob Canyons.  Some told us to stop there before we went to the main section of Zion NP but we did not have time to do that on our way down from Salt Lake City.  Kolob is about 15 miles south of Cedar City off I-15.  It is actually a lesser known part of Zion NP.  It has its own personality so I am writing about it seperately.

Kolob Canyons may be the little known portion of Zion National Park, but it is just as  spectacular as the main canyons of the Zion NP.  It is comprised of red, Navajo sandstone canyons. 

I am afraid of heights so I had to drive carefully along the Kolob Canyons Road because it ascends 1,100 feet in five miles. You'll drive along the Hurricane Fault, a 120 mile fracture in the earth's crust, to a pinion woodland above Taylor Creek.  You will see multi-colored layers of rock where the road cuts through the hillside.  I was surprised by the steep grades and curves.

I read about the first inhabitants of the Kolob area, the Anasazi or "the ancient ones". Supposedly they disappeared from the area about 1200 AD. The Paiutes lived there for a while and then Mormon settlers came to the area.  According to Mormon scripture, the word "Kolob" means "the star nearest to the residence of God."

There are trails that you can take to get views of Timber Creek, the Kolob terrace and Pine Valley Mountains.  Other trails follow a fork of Taylor Creek to Double Arch Alcove.  You can also hike to Kolob Arch.  Most of the trails were a bit more than we wanted to do after wearing ourselves out earlier at the main areas of Zion NP so we really could not get close enough to the arches there for good photos.

There is no real way to describe Kolob Canyons but I will try with a few of my photos. When trying to jog my brain about this area I found text on the NPS website that helped me with the description.  If my wording sounds extremely close to their's it is because they said it better than I could so I am hereby giving credit where credit is due.  So check out the photos and enjoy.

Michael Kaynard is a local photographer living in West Ashley.  His photos can be found at http://kaynardphotography.webs.com.  He can be contacted at mkaynard@gmail.com or 843-412-2299.