Sandy and Scenic Escapades Through Hop Valley
Kolob Terrace: Hop Valley Trail to La Verkin Creek and Kolob Arch
Zion National Park [Utah]
10-11 July 2018
Summary
July 10, 2018 was a busy day. That's nothing new. All of our days on this adventurcation were busy days. We began our day with the infamous hike to Angels Landing before hanging out in Springdale, UT and eventually moving on to the next portion of our Zion experience.
Blog from Angels Landing: Landing our Angel Status on Angels Landing
We fueled up at Oscar's Cafe with coffee, beer, fresh fruit, tacos, and enchiladas. It is on the pricier side, but I would recommend this restaurant because the food was delicious, they had great Utah beer, and it had a unique ambiance. You can get a larger beer served in a ceramic mug known as Hanker's Tankers.
Zion National Park is HUGE. We are talking 229 square miles. The park is divided into three main sections. The most familiar is Zion Canyon which features the main visitor center, the shuttle system, two campgrounds, the lodge, and access to several day hikes.
Kolob Terrace is the next section. It lies between Zion Canyon and Kolob Canyons.
To access Kolob Terrace from Zion Canyon - Drive West out of Springdale, UT until you arrive in a very tiny town called Virgin, likely named after the Virgin River. Here you will turn right to travel North onto Kolob Terrace Road.
There is less foot traffic here compared to the other two; however during this time, the Kolob Canyons section is closed for construction.
National Park Service - Kolob Canyons Closed
The 7-month construction project that began May 1, 2018 involves "reconstructing sections of the road, repaving the entire road, and adding accessible parking, sidewalk, and toilet facilities." Closures include all of Kolob Canyons Road, the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center, and the parking lot off of I-15. Many trails are closed too.
Kolob Terrace is the next section. It lies between Zion Canyon and Kolob Canyons.To access Kolob Terrace from Zion Canyon - Drive West out of Springdale, UT until you arrive in a very tiny town called Virgin, likely named after the Virgin River. Here you will turn right to travel North onto Kolob Terrace Road.
There is less foot traffic here compared to the other two; however during this time, the Kolob Canyons section is closed for construction.
National Park Service - Kolob Canyons Closed
The 7-month construction project that began May 1, 2018 involves "reconstructing sections of the road, repaving the entire road, and adding accessible parking, sidewalk, and toilet facilities." Closures include all of Kolob Canyons Road, the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center, and the parking lot off of I-15. Many trails are closed too.
"Visitors will be able to access the La Verkin Creek Trail and hike to the Kolob Arch via the Hop Valley Trail. Visitors may access the Hop Valley Trailhead from the Kolob Terrace Road. Overnight trips require a permit."
And that is how we ended up with this hike. As much as we loved the scenery, it was a difficult sandy hike that led Michael to saying "Never again." There weren't even hops growing. At least we packed some in though! Hopefully the next time we visit Zion, the construction will be complete, and we can hike from Kolob Canyons instead.
Kolob Terrace Road is closed due to snow most of the year, generally November to June. The road is 21 paved miles up to Lava Point from Virgin, passing trailheads on the way: Right Fork, Grapevine, Left Fork, Hop Valley, and Wildcat Canyon. I am sort of sad we never got to Wildcat Canyon because I am absolutely positive we would have spotted all kinds of wild kitty cats.
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| Zion Hiking Guide |
And that is how we ended up with this hike. As much as we loved the scenery, it was a difficult sandy hike that led Michael to saying "Never again." There weren't even hops growing. At least we packed some in though! Hopefully the next time we visit Zion, the construction will be complete, and we can hike from Kolob Canyons instead.
Kolob Terrace Road is closed due to snow most of the year, generally November to June. The road is 21 paved miles up to Lava Point from Virgin, passing trailheads on the way: Right Fork, Grapevine, Left Fork, Hop Valley, and Wildcat Canyon. I am sort of sad we never got to Wildcat Canyon because I am absolutely positive we would have spotted all kinds of wild kitty cats.
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| Hop Valley | Zion National Park | 10 July 2018 Photo Credit: Michael Landing |
Hop Valley Trail was varietal. It begins with a sandy high desert before beginning the portion that flirts with the divider between National Park Service land and private property. Before and after descending into the valley [I didn't realize how much of a downhill it was until we had to travel up on the way out], we have a ranch-like feel with lots of sand and cow droppings. There's a small uphill in a forest before descending down into Kolob Canyons to meet up with the La Verkin Creek Trail. We will camp at a campsite along that trail, visit Kolob Arch, and then hike the same route back to Hop Valley Trailhead.
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| Kolob Arch | Zion National Park | 11 July 2018 |
The Gear
- Hiking
- Pack: Osprey Aura 65L Pack in Rainforest Green (women's specific)
- Hiking Poles: Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z Z-Poles 110cm
- Dry Bag
- Garmin fēnix® 3 HR
- Camping
- Tent: Big Agnes - Fly Creek HV UL 2 mtnGLO Tent
- Tent Footprint: Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL 2 Footprint
- Sleeping Bag: REI Co-op Joule Sleeping Bag - Women's
- Pillow: Sea to Summit Aeros Pillow Ultra Light
- Attire
- Shoes: Brooks and TeVas
- Rain Jacket: REI Co-op Rhyolite Rain Jacket - Women's [Army Cot Green]
- Base Layer: Smartwool Midweight Pattern Zip-T Base Layer Top - Women's [Lochness]
- Other
- Sawyer MINI Water Filtration System
- Google Pixel 2 + Waterproof Case
- Combat Wipes Active 100% Biodegradable Cleansing and Refreshing Wipes for Outdoors and Camping
- Dry Box: Pelican Model 1050 Mini Dry Box
The Story
Backcountry Preparation for Kolob Terrace
The first major step in planning a backcountry camping trip at Zion is acquiring a permit. I will not dive too deep into that process in this post, but I hope to write about it soon in my Zion National Park Guide [Coming Soon]. Basically, some of the campsites are available online in advance. Others are walk-up only, starting the morning before your anticipated camping date. The fees are really cheap and of course go to the park/NPS. Note - Reservations are NOT permits.
To Book in Advance: Zion Wilderness Permits
Campsite Descriptions: La Verkin Creek Trail
We were able to book a La Verkin Creek campsite online in advance a few weeks before. There was almost no competition, probably due to the Kolob Visitor Center being closed. The hike from there is easier than from Hop Valley.
We still had to pick up and pay for our permit though, so we went to the Zion Canyon Visitor Center wilderness/permit office the afternoon before in order to do so. Our warnings for this trip contrasted with our Narrows permit pick-up where we sternly warned against severe flash flooding if a storm hit in the area/nearby and to get to high ground immediately. This time around there was a severe threat of wildfire, especially if a storm hit. It's been hot and dry and at the absolute maximum risk for fire. The rain and creeks will do nothing to stop it. The advice was to get out immediately at any chance of wildfire, including lightning.
We were also warned not to drink/filter any of the water until we got to La Verkin Creek. Why? Because cows like to shit in water apparently.
To Book in Advance: Zion Wilderness Permits
Campsite Descriptions: La Verkin Creek Trail
We were able to book a La Verkin Creek campsite online in advance a few weeks before. There was almost no competition, probably due to the Kolob Visitor Center being closed. The hike from there is easier than from Hop Valley.
We still had to pick up and pay for our permit though, so we went to the Zion Canyon Visitor Center wilderness/permit office the afternoon before in order to do so. Our warnings for this trip contrasted with our Narrows permit pick-up where we sternly warned against severe flash flooding if a storm hit in the area/nearby and to get to high ground immediately. This time around there was a severe threat of wildfire, especially if a storm hit. It's been hot and dry and at the absolute maximum risk for fire. The rain and creeks will do nothing to stop it. The advice was to get out immediately at any chance of wildfire, including lightning.We were also warned not to drink/filter any of the water until we got to La Verkin Creek. Why? Because cows like to shit in water apparently.
Hop Valley Trailhead
The drive to the trailhead was a 45 minute easy drive with some significant elevation change. There was room for a few cars to park, a trailhead sign, trash cans, and 2 restrooms.
The Journey In
It's hot and sunny with sporadic 'cloud cover', if you even want to call it that. It's a mix of high desert, decent views of rock formations, mildly unnoticeable elevation changes, and a healthy amount of big Sagebrush for the first 1.5 miles; but the important thing to note is the sand. We were kicking up sand all the way to our knees and into our shoes and socks. I initially started without trekking poles, but that sand was unforgiving. I had to empty my shoes twice on the first day. I wore sandals and socks on the return hike and felt much better.
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| Sagebrush Everywhere | Zion National Park | 10 July 2018 |
Fields of grains and the beginnings of cow poop along the trail.
As we begin the descent into the valley, the trail gets rocky.
Lots of rocks.
Most of this 2.5ish mile stretch is in private property, but it occasionally dips back into Zion National Park.
The valley is beautiful and comes with a large welcoming party of grasshoppers and flies. Watching the grasshoppers was extraordinary. Whoever was leading would see them jump out of the way right before taking the next step. It's hard to explain just how many there were. I had the pleasure of getting attacked by biting flies. Michael kept hitting them off of me with his hiking poles whenever he saw one land, which luckily occurred only every few seconds. I was wearing calf compression sleeves and shorts, but they were only attacking the sleeves. Michael figured out that the sunscreen was probably deterring them from everywhere else on my body (and he was covered head to toe with thicker pants). I slid the sleeves down to my ankles, and he attacked my lower legs with sunscreen. It was a success! Jokes on us though, we didn't think we were going to need bug spray. 
Despite being out of the desert, the sand didn't go away. We had more opportunities to avoid it, but it let us know that it was there.
We had many stream crossings. Some required developing a strategy while others just required a quick hop. Maybe that's why it's called hop valley... There were stones and fallen branches that we could step on in some places, but the mud was unavoidable. Also let's include all of the various cow droppings in the streams too. It's like adding an extra obstacle.
I felt like I was playing Oregon Trail.
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| Source |
We finally meet the source of the poop!
They like standing on the trails and staring. I even got slightly worried for my life at one point because we were being surrounded by moos. A cow was following us, and ahead on the trail a very large cow was mooing loudly. We felt like we were being closed in, so we hurried off the trail. Turns out two mommas were calling their little ones over to feed.Random personal tangent. I don't drink cow milk. I do not care for the taste, and I find it weird that we are drinking milk that was intended for young cows.
Moving on.
You can see in the photo below that momma cow #1 was standing right on the trail.
We reach the gate that officially marks leaving private property. Note the sand.
There are two campsites here, respectably named A and B.
Descending into Kolobs Canyon
This cool circular patterned rock was my sort of unofficial marking that we have arrived at Kolobs Canyon - now for the descent down to La Verkin Creek. More sand and some tricky travel through some rocks. At this point, we were ready to just be done. It had been a long day, and trekking miles through sand was exhausting.
La Verkin Creek Trail and Camp
We reach a sign that gives us hope. Kolob Arch and campsites 1-10 to the left, and campsites 11-13 to the right. We took a left towards ours.
WATER!
The trail crosses over the creek somewhere around here. Also, we saw two people filtering water at the creek - the first sign of other humans!
Although we booked campsite #8, we ended up at #7. Apparently this is a big No-No, but well, oops...
We actually missed #8 as we hiked on (mildly irritated and desperately wanting my pack off), failing to notice it was directly across the trail from #9, which we saw. Then we crossed over a spring and boom - hit campsite #7. It seemed perfect to have water directly next to us, so we set our stuff down.
Dinner time! What I really like about Mountain House, or any similar product, is that it is so much easier in terms of cleaning and packing out. Since you add the boiling water to the bag, the pot doesn't get dirty. It's perfect for short trips like this one. The only downside is the price. Individually they can be between $6-10. I had purchased one of the big boxes from Amazon at some point with a 25% discount, improving the cost drastically.
La Verkin Creek Campsite #7
At around 02:00 in the middle of the night, we hear a huge crash of thunder that woke us up. Michael yelled "RAINFLY", and we rushed into the darkness to attach the rainfly to the tent.
We awake next morning with no evidence of rain. Or even worse, fire. We get our camp packed up then set off to casually hike to Kolob Arch, leaving our packs behind.
Kolob Arch
According to the Natural Arch and Bridge Society (NABS), Kolob Arch is ---
- The 6th longest natural arch in the world.
- The 2nd longest natural arch in the United States, following Landscape Arch at Arches National Park. The most recent measurement was taken in 2006 putting the span at 87.5 meters.
- Wikipedia: List of longest natural arches
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| Link to Strava hiking activity: Zion - Kolob Arch |
This sign indicates a location where we can look at the arch. Look up!
The view was fairly obstructed by trees.
We don't cross behind this sign, but we travel a bit more to find an even better view.
Hike Back to Hop Head Valley Trail
When we get back to camp, we throw on our packs and begin our exhausting journey out of the canyon.
Almost out of the canyon.
Quaking Aspen | Populus tremuloides
I think I have a new tree to add to my list of favorite trees -- Quaking Aspen.
On the return hike, the cows greeted us as soon we were back on the private property ranch section of the hike.
The climb out of the valley was even more exhausting than the hike out of the canyon. We made it though!
While we didn't experience any rain or fires, later this day a big storm would hit Zion closing many roads and trails. We saw more hikers today, two groups coming into the canyon. Not sure how the weather was going to fair with them. Fortunately for us, we made it out of Zion and on our way to Cedar Breaks National Monument just a few hours before this occurred.
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