Quiet Zion: Kolob Canyons Scenic Drive (Exit 40 off I-15) & Kolob Terrace Road

While four million visitors gather in the main Zion Canyon at Springdale, less than 5 percent ever visit the northwestern corner of the park: Kolob Canyons. Located 64 kilometres (40 minutes' drive) north-west of Springdale with its own exit off Interstate 15 (Exit 40, 20 minutes south of Cedar City), Kolob Canyons requires no shuttle bus: show your Zion Park Pass at the Visitor Center and drive your own car up an 8-kilometre (5-mile) red-asphalt ridge road climbing to 1,920 metres beside five parallel, 600-metre-tall crimson sandstone 'finger canyons'.

1. Top 3 Stops Along the 5-Mile 'Kolob Canyons Scenic Drive' (Allow 1.5 to 2.5 Hours)

1. Taylor Creek Trail (8.0 km / 5 Miles Round-Trip, 140m Gain, 2.5 to 3 Hours): the best half-day hike in Kolob Canyons. It crosses a desert stream past two preserved 1930s homestead log cabins (the Larson and Fife Cabins) into a narrow canyon between the 500-metre vertical red walls of Tucupit and Paria Points, ending at the vaulted sandstone cave of the Double Arch Alcove.
2. Kolob Canyons Viewpoint (End of the 5-Mile Road): stand at the car park picnic tables looking straight across at the orange wall of Beatty Point and the five box canyons.
3. Timber Creek Overlook Trail (1.6 km / 1 Mile Round-Trip, 30 Minutes): walk 15 minutes south along a ridge spine from the end of the road for a 360-degree view stretching from the Kolob finger canyons south to Mount Trumbull on the Grand Canyon rim (dramatic at sunset).

2. The 'Kolob Terrace Road' to Lava Point

For another crowd-free backroad closer to Springdale, turn north onto Kolob Terrace Road in the town of Virgin (20 minutes west of Springdale on Highway 9). This paved 40-kilometre mountain road climbs 1,300 vertical metres past the trailhead for The Subway (permit required) and Northgate Peaks to aspen-forested Lava Point Overlook at 2,405 metres elevation.