Start with the Park Service’s own position, because the exact wording is the point:
“Due to the park’s natural terrain, none of Zion’s trails are considered ADA accessible by law. The trails listed below are considered wheelchair-friendly at the visitor’s own discretion. Wheelchair users may require assistance in some sections.”
Three trails are on that list: the Pa’rus Trail, the Lower Emerald Pool Trail and the Riverside Walk.
What follows is what the park actually measured on them, which is the kind of information that lets you decide for yourself rather than trust an adjective.
The Pa’rus Trail, surveyed
Last assessed 13 January 2025.
| Length, one way | 1.6 mi (2.5 km) |
| Elevation | Gain 151.7 ft, loss 62.7 ft |
| Grade | Typical 2.6%, maximum 11.4%. 1.2% of the trail is at 8.3% or steeper |
| Cross slope | Typical 2.1%, maximum 8.8% |
| Tread width | Typical 120 in, minimum 96 in |
| Surface | 93.6% paved, 6.4% hard wood decking |
| Obstructions | Five bridges, with gaps in decking up to 3 in wide |
This is the most accommodating trail in the park by a wide margin — eight feet wide at its narrowest, a typical grade under 3 percent, and only a little over 1 percent of it steep. The three-inch decking gaps on the bridges are the detail to know about in advance if you have narrow casters.
It is also the only trail in Zion that allows dogs and bikes, so expect company.
The Riverside Walk, surveyed
Last assessed 24 February 2025.
| Length, one way | 1 mi |
| Elevation gain | 154.2 ft |
| Grade | Typical 4.6%, maximum 25.9%. 17.5% of the trail is at 8.3% or steeper |
| Cross slope | Typical 1.7%, maximum 7.6%. 18% of the trail has 3% or more |
| Tread width | Typical 77 in, minimum 50 in |
| Surface | 100% concrete. “Some sections may be slippery from sand” |
| Obstructions | Overhanging rocks, minimum vertical clearance 4 ft |
A 25.9 percent maximum grade on a trail described as wheelchair-friendly is the number that deserves to be published rather than smoothed over. For comparison, an ADA-compliant ramp tops out at 8.3 percent. Nearly a fifth of this trail is steeper than that.
This is a beautiful, level-looking walk to the mouth of the Narrows that is in practice a significant undertaking, and it needs a strong pushing partner. The four-foot clearance under overhanging rock is worth noting for anyone in a high-backed chair.
The Lower Emerald Pool Trail, surveyed
Last assessed 20 March 2025.
| Length, one way | 0.6 mi (1.0 km), from shuttle stop 5 |
| Elevation | Gain 131.1 ft, loss 96.4 ft |
| Grade | Typical 7.1%, maximum 25.3%. 34% of the trail is at 8.3% or steeper |
| Cross slope | Typical 3.6%, maximum 17.1%. 19% of the trail has 6% or more |
| Tread width | Typical 62 in, minimum 30 in for 25 ft |
| Surface | 96.2% concrete, 3.8% firm soil |
| Obstructions | A bridge 45 in wide at its narrowest; gaps in the concrete up to 2 in |
This is the steepest of the three in its typical grade — 7.1 percent, where the Pa’rus is 2.6 — and a third of it is steeper than an ADA ramp. The 30-inch pinch is short but real, and it is the number to check against your chair’s width. It ends at the pool and the seasonal falls, and it is the one of the three where a strong pushing partner matters most.
The shuttle, and its two hard numbers
Every shuttle bus is wheelchair accessible, and the ramp has two limits: 1,000 pounds combined, chair plus occupant, and a chair no larger than 48 inches long and 32 inches wide. The Park Service’s page said a lift, 600 pounds and 45 by 25 inches until 4 October 2026.
Measure before you travel. A larger power chair simply will not board, and for most of the year the shuttle is the only way into Zion Canyon — the season dates and first and last buses are in the Zion shuttle guide.
The permit that solves it
This is the most valuable thing on this page and it is not widely known. During shuttle season, when the Scenic Drive is closed to private vehicles, the Park Service makes an exception for three groups: people who need vehicle-supported medical devices, people who cannot ride the shuttle for medical reasons, and people the shuttle cannot take because of the ramp’s weight or size limits. The special permit to drive up-canyon comes from the information desk at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center or the Human History Museum.
So if the ramp limits rule you out, you can drive the closed road. You collect the permit in person at either information desk. If your chair is over the size limit, do not treat the shuttle restriction as the end of your trip — it is the start of a conversation at the desk.
Equipment you can borrow
The park does not lend standard wheelchairs, but it does lend an all-terrain wheelchair, the Extreme Motus, from the Zion Canyon Visitor Center. How it works:
- First come, first served. There are no reservations, and there is one chair, so arrive when the Visitor Center opens.
- Someone has to push it. The user cannot power it.
- At the information desk, both the user and the assistant sign a waiver, and one of you shows ID and proof of insurance. A ranger runs a short training on the chair.
- One day only. It goes back before the Visitor Center closes the same day.
- The chair is too long for the shuttle, so the ranger also gives you an accessibility pass to drive and park on the Scenic Drive during shuttle season.
- Limits: a user up to 250 lb and 6 ft tall. The chair is 32 inches wide and 6 feet long in use.
The park recommends it for the Pa’rus, the Riverside Walk, Weeping Rock and the Lower Emerald Pool Trail, and lists a longer set of trails it can manage. It cannot go up Angels Landing, into the Narrows, on Canyon Overlook or to the Upper Emerald Pool. Details are on the park’s all-terrain wheelchair page.
Zion Lodge also has a wheelchair for loan.
Camping
| Campground | Accessible sites |
|---|---|
| Watchman | 7 standard, plus 2 accessible group sites |
| South | 9 |
| Lava Point | None. Six primitive sites total |
And the route from Watchman to the Visitor Center and shuttle stop has been measured too. The road route has grades up to 5 percent for 30-foot stretches, but crosses trench drain covers with openings wider than an inch in places. The alternative paved path avoids the drains and has slopes up to 18 percent for 5-foot stretches. One-inch drain openings on the main route, or an 18 percent pitch on the alternative. Neither is ideal and knowing which you prefer in advance helps.
Booking windows for both campgrounds are on the camping page — Watchman six months, South two weeks.
Zion Lodge
The snack bar, dining room, gift shop, auditorium and restrooms are all accessible, and four hotel rooms are. Four rooms, in the only lodging inside the park. Book early is an understatement.
Facilities, and one current closure
At Temple of Sinawava, shuttle stop 9 and the start of the Riverside Walk, the flush toilets are temporarily closed (still so on 23 September 2026), and there is an accessible portable toilet in the parking lot area.
Elsewhere:
- Canyon Overlook Trailhead has accessible restroom stalls, but accessible parking is only at the lower lot, “roughly 100 yards away.”
- Kolob Terrace trailheads — Left Fork, Hop Valley, Wildcat Canyon — have accessible stalls but no designated accessible parking.
Parking
| Spaces | Accessible | |
|---|---|---|
| Zion Canyon Visitor Center | over 350 | more than a dozen |
| Human History Museum | 51 | 4 |
| Nature Center, front | 16 | 1 |
| Nature Center, rear overflow | 38 | 3 |
More on which lots fill and when is on the parking page.
Two more things
In Wilderness areas, the rule is specific:
“In Wilderness areas, people with disabilities are allowed to use wheelchairs as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act: ‘a device designed solely for use by a mobility-impaired person for locomotion, that is suitable for use in an indoor pedestrian area.’”
That definition excludes most off-road mobility devices, which is a real limitation and one worth knowing before you arrive with equipment.
And the ranger programs. The park runs accessible programs, including “Ride with a Ranger” for visitors with reduced mobility. Ask at the Visitor Center what is running during your visit.
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