Popular Trails: Riverside Walk in Zion National Park

The Riverside Walk in Zion Canyon is one of the most popular and heavily trafficked trails in Zion Canyon National Park in Utah. It was on my Zion Canyon Hike Wishlist but when I looked up the site just before we were about to leave for Utah, I learned that the trail was closed due to ice falling on the trail.

Luckily for us, by the time we were to do the Scenic Drive along the canyon, the Riverwalk was open again! So when the park shuttle made that last stop on the drive up north, we got down, got onto the Riverwalk Trail and headed into the narrower parts of Zion Canyon.

We made a stop at the beginning of the trail, to take a close look at the North Fork of the Virgin River, first. It was a beautiful spot — a wide open area protected by a tall canyon wall on either side. The river was almost on level with the land there and the water seemed to skip over some smooth rocks and gently flow downriver. Just above the water was a thick rocky ledge on the canyon wall and I may not have noticed if it didn’t have some thick white ice on it. Icicles hung down the rocks like it was an ad for Zion ice cream. :D.

The calm atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by a strange loud noise that was accompanied by a faint echo! Some large chunks of ice from the ledge had fallen down and it was followed by smaller pieces of ice, and it sounded like an applause as it landed on the rocks below. It was quite a sight!

Little did we know that although the Riverwalk Trail was open there was a lot of ice on the rock walls and that they’d fall onto the trail. We were startled when some ice crashed right behind us, barely missing another couple on the trail.

There was a sign that warned us from lingering at one spot to avoid the event of an ice fall but we weren’t really expecting any on the trail, and we were wrong! Thankfully there were no casualties. Might I also add that some parts of the trail were slushy and slippery, too.

Despite the icefall and the slippery trail, it was a pleasant walk into the area where the canyon kept growing narrower and tighter — and with the grey skies above — it kept getting darker, too.

We walked almost till the end of the trail and then turned around as the kids were in their snowboots and they had had their fill of walking in them. (It served the purpose of keeping them safe on the icy trail but it’s not the best for hikes. However, we will be back here, sometime. I’ll tell you ‘why’ in the Zion National Park travel account.)

Today, I leave you with some sights from the Riverside Walk.

What to know about hiking the Riverside Walk

• If you’re taking the shuttle, get down at stop 9/ Sinawa Temple
• The paved part of the trail goes deep into the canyon for a mile
• It’s an out – and back trail.
• The trail runs along the river so the sights along the way are lovely
• This paved part of the trail is said to be stroller/wheelchair friendly however, I’d say that’s only a small part of it. Most of the trail didn’t look wheel-friendly, especially after those rains and when there was snow and ice on the trail
• If you’re hiking in winter be prepared for rainwater, ice and snow. You might want to have your snow boots on, this season.
• Look out from snow falling from the ledges on the canyon walls.
• If you’re hiking the narrows, it is at the end of this trail that you start the walk in the waters of the slot canyon.

Logging: Hike 4 of 52 of the Hiking Challenge

Trail – Riverwalk, Zion National Park 
Terrain – Almost flat and on the canyon floor
Difficulty Level – Easy 
Date – December – 25th, 
Distance & Time – 2 miles out and back

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