My friend and neighbor John Kasberg and I hiked to Observation Point in Zion National Park yesterday.
John is the President of the Desert Fossils Hiking Club here in Mesquite, Nevada. Although he is a tour guide all over the Southwest U.S., and has hiked just about everything worth experiencing within a 100-mile radius of our neighborhood, he had never done Observation Point. So, we needed to check that one off his Bucket List.
Zion is probably my favorite National Park, with spectacular sheer cliffs reaching well over 1,000 feet, lots of red and white sandstone, the Virgin River running through the valley, and plenty of wonderful sights to enjoy. It is one of the most visited and beloved National Parks in America. To me, it is Yosemite without the waterfalls.
The three “must do” hikes in Zion are: (1) the Narrows; (2) Angel’s Landing; and, (3) Observation Point.
The Narrows is a spectacular slot canyon that is world famous for it’s beauty.
Angel’s Landing is considered by many to be the most dangerous hike in the United States, due to some ledges one must traverse with 1,000 foot drop-offs.
Observation Point is high above most everything else (it is 700 feet above Angel’s Landing), giving the hiker a commanding view of the Zion Valley.
I had previously done all three before yesterday.
It used to be that Observation Point could be reached via a very steep trail with lots of switchbacks carved into a 1,500 escarpment. This is the way I’d hiked it about 8 years ago. However, a large rock slide in 2021 wiped out that trail (below rust-colored rock across the canyon– see photo)
Therefore, the only way to access Observation Point nowadays is to exit Zion National Park on the east, head up to a mountain resort called Zion Ponderosa, and pick up a trail a couple of miles away that leads west into the National Park. The hike to Observation Point is about 3-1/2 miles one-way from the trailhead.
The Zion Ponderosa shuttle bus dropped us off about ½ mile from the trailhead, and we hiked overland through Juniper and scrub oak forests to the Point, probably taking us 1-1/2 hours. The views were spectacular, as usual, and John was overwhelmed by the beauty. We ate some bagged lunch there and chilled for maybe 30 minutes.
On the return trip, we decided to go down the old route marked “Trail closed ahead” so that John could see the traditional trail up the steep sandstone cliffs. We went about a half-mile or so down that trail where we encountered the steep switchbacks and could see (across the canyon) the trail areas that had been wiped out by the rockfalls. It is likely, due to the great expense, that the old/standard way of accessing Observation Point from the valley below is lost forever.
It is a shame, but serious hikers can still do the hike the way we did it yesterday. It’s a longer hike (we probably did around 9 miles total), but the “payoff” was wonderful, as we got birds-eye views of several spectacular canyons within the park.
John and I are planning to hike The Narrows in the Fall, when tourist season abates and the Zion River is running at low volume. I’ve done the hike before (John hasn’t) and it is probably the prettiest hike in America.
We’re a bit sore today but, hey, “No pain, no gain!”
(BTW, I lost two pounds yesterday, which brings my total weight lost since December 1st to 22 pounds!)
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