The highest reward-to-effort ratio in Zion. One mile, 163 feet, and you are standing above the big switchbacks with the whole lower canyon laid out in front of you. Short is not the same as easy: the Park Service rates it moderate, for the rock steps and the drop-offs.
It is also the hike that rescues a day when the shuttle has beaten you, because you drive to it — when the highway is open.
Its road was shut to through traffic for nine days, and is open again. The Park Service closed the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway to through traffic from Canyon Junction to the East Entrance on 30 September 2026, after a large rockfall damaged the road, and this trailhead is on that stretch. On 6 October the park reopened the 7.5 miles from the East Entrance to Great Arch Overlook for scenic driving and day use, which put this trailhead back in reach from the east, and on 9 October it reopened the whole highway; the closure is gone from its alert feed. The park set 26 to 30 October to repave the rockfall stretch, east of Canyon Junction at the first switchback, with one-way traffic and minor delays for the work; its alert for the paving had come down by 1 November. Check the tunnel page for the latest and for the detours if it closes again.
Why it matters more than its length suggests
For most of the year Zion Canyon is closed to private cars and the shuttle is the only way in. Highway 9 is not — it has no shuttle restriction, it runs east through the tunnel, and this trailhead sits just past it.
Overnight tunnel closures come with UDOT’s construction. It closes the road from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on its construction nights: it set the first week of them for Monday 26 to Friday morning 30 October 2026, and its project page sets the second for Monday 2 to Friday morning 6 November and posts any new nights before they run. On those nights you cannot pass Canyon Junction from Springdale until 6 a.m., which still leaves time to reach the trailhead for sunrise, and from the East Entrance side UDOT turns traffic around about 50 feet before the tunnel’s east portal, which is where this trailhead is.
So with the highway open, on a day when the line at the Visitor Center is an hour long, or in the late afternoon when you have run out of shuttle patience, this is a genuine hike you can reach on your own schedule.
The parking is the whole problem
The lot is very small — small enough that it is the constraint on the whole hike. There is no overflow, no shoulder, and parking on Highway 9 is not a thing you can do. The Park Service calls parking here “extremely limited” and tells visitors to be prepared to try multiple times, which is the accurate version.
In high season it fills before sunrise and stays full. The honest plan is to arrive early enough that you would be annoyed about it, or to come back at another hour and accept you may drive past twice. The trailhead has pit toilets; bring your water with you. The Park Service’s guidance is a gallon per person per day in Zion, and the rock up here holds the heat on a summer afternoon — its heat safety guidance is worth a read before a July visit.
The drops
The Park Service’s summary is “long drop-offs, mostly fenced.” The trail ends at a fenced cliff edge above Pine Creek Canyon, but on the way there are edges close to the path where the railing stops, and its survey records rock steps up to 18 inches and short pitches steeper than 50 percent. Nothing about it requires scrambling, but it is not a place to let small children get ahead of you.
In a large vehicle, you cannot reach it
Since 7 June 2026 the Park Service has banned vehicles over 35 ft 9 in long, 7 ft 10 in wide, 11 ft 4 in tall or 50,000 lb from the whole of Highway 9 between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance — measured with mirrors, bike racks and anything else attached. Canyon Overlook sits on that stretch, so an oversized vehicle cannot reach this trailhead from either end. There is no escort to book.
If that is you, leave the big vehicle behind. The Zion Corridor Park & Ride at Zion White Bison Resort in Virgin was set up by the town, SunTran and the resort for exactly this, with buses on to Springdale; from there, this hike needs a car under the limits. The full rules, the South Entrance exceptions and the detour times are on the tunnel page.
