Beyond Angels Landing: 5 Amazing Hikes in Zion National Park

If you’re planning a trip to Zion National Park, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Angels Landing. And for good reason — it’s a beautiful, death-defying hike ending in 5,790 foot drops on either side of its narrow summit. Even if you’re afraid of heights, Angels Landing is a great hike for everyone up until the last half mile where the trail narrows and chains are placed to keep hikers from falling. There’s even plenty of space before the summit to hang out while you wait on your adrenaline junky friends (which is totally what my sister-in-law and I did).

While Angels Landing is great and I’m not here to talk you out of it, I want to highlight some of the other hikes in Zion National Park that get way less love and are just as amazing, if not more. Depending on your fitness level and planning skills, you could easily cover all of these hikes in a week. Doing all of these hikes will also give you the most complete experience of Zion.

We were lucky to live within a three hour drive of Zion, so we were able to do almost every single hike within and adjacent to the park. If you’re going to Zion and timing allows, these are the hikes you must absolutely do.

The Narrows

The Narrows usually gets a lot of love too, as it is also one of the park’s more famous hikes. The Narrows can be an awesome experience, but this hike requires a lot of planning and consideration before you take off.

Day hike or overnight?

The full Narrows trail is 16 miles long. If you want to do the full hike, you need a permit to camp overnight in The Narrows. This is not optional and permits go wicked fast. Permits are released on the fifth of each month for the following month. You can reserve online here.

How fast do they go? For our October hike, a member of our group logged on 15 minutes prior to the release and filled out as much of the form as he could. When it was 10 a.m. MT (very important you remember that it’s MT), he filled out the rest of the form and put it through. At that point it was about five minutes after and all of the permits were gone… for the whole month.

If you’re like us and missed out on a permit, you can always do a day hike in The Narrows. Day hiking does not require a permit and still allows you to get a real feel of The Narrows. For day hiking, you are allowed to go as far as Big Spring, which is a 10-mile out and back.

Since we really had our sights set on doing the whole thing, we went to Big Spring. We took the first bus from the campgrounds to the trail start at Temple of Sinawava, starting the hike around 8 a.m. We stopped for lunch at Big Spring and were back to Temple of Sinawava by about 4 p.m. Obviously we stopped a bunch to take pictures and have lunch, so you could most certainly get done faster, though I’m not sure why you would want to.

Gear — what you need

This will be highly varied depending on when you do the hike. The Narrows is open for hiking year-round; however, you are hiking in water pretty much the whole time. As a taller person, the water ranged in depth from just our feet to waist deep when we did the hike. A majority of the hike was about calf level. For this reason, I highly recommend water gear.

Unless you’re planning on doing more hikes in rivers/streams in the future, you can totally rent everything you need for The Narrows directly outside the park main entrance near the Watchman campground. There are multiple rental companies and they all offer about the same thing. Since there are so many outfitters, you don’t need to worry about getting your gear multiple days in advance. You can just pop in the day before your hike.

You’ll have the option of doing a full wetsuit with a hiking stick or just waterproof pants, shoes, socks and hiking stick. Our group opted for the latter because the water levels weren’t too high while we were there and all of us were 5’8 and above. There was only one point in the hike where the water was chest deep, but we found a way to scramble over boulders to avoid it. If your hike is in the summer, you could probably just do the shoes and hike in shorts. No matter the season, you definitely want close-toed shoes because of all the rocks lining the riverbed.

Layers are also crucial for The Narrows depending on when you go. We did the hike the first week of October, and the crispness of fall was definitely felt in the mornings and late nights. The Narrows gets its name from the huge rock walls on either side, so most of the trail is in the shade, which can make it feel about 10-15 degrees colder.

Lastly, you’ll need plenty of water if you plan on doing the full day hike. You can fill up on water at the trailhead, but make sure you bring plenty with you since there are no water sources along the trail itself.

Weather

The Narrows is highly unpredictable. Because you are literally hiking in a river, this hike can be prone to flash floods and may even close down if it is not safe. Keep an eye on weather reports leading up to your planned hike and be ready to do a different one if it rains.

This is why we chose to do the hike in the fall instead of spring or summer. Fall is typically dryer and a more safe bet for good (yet chillier) weather. Depending on how much it has rained the weeks before your hike will also affect the water level, thus why you may opt for a full wetsuit. According to the park weather report, the levels were very low when we did the hike. The water was a little brisk at first, but wasn’t too bad as the day went on and temps climbed to the 70s in the afternoon.

Subway

Subway is another hike that requires a little more pre-planning as it also requires a permit. Unlike The Narrows, Subway is a day-use hike only. Overnight camping is not permitted. Subway is also on the far East side of the park, so it’s not on the same shuttle loop as the other hikes and you will have to drive to the trailhead.

There are two ways to hike Subway: from Bottom Up or from Top Down. Both methods are listed as strenuous and around 9 miles. Both routes also require scrambling, route finding and water crossings, though the Top Down method also requires repelling and swimming in chest-deep water. Our group went the easier of the two routes and opted for Bottom Up.

Getting a permit

Because of demand, the park does an online lottery system which you can do three months prior to your planned hike. You can apply for the lottery and learn more about how it works here.

The lottery system does not run from November through March because the demand for permits is low. Guess when our group did the hike? We logged on a mere four days prior and obtained three permits to do the hike the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The disadvantage of doing the hike in the winter is that you are working with significantly less daylight. Our group barely finished before the sun went down because we got lost a few times on the trail, which brings me to my next point.

Navigating Subway

In order to hike Subway, you need to be comfortable trail-finding. This was the first hike I’ve done that didn’t have massive crowds and a clear trail. Keep your eyes peeled for cairns (stacks of rocks) that previous hikers have left to mark trail boundaries. If you have a GPS system, bringing it along can be very useful. Depending on your cellphone carrier, you may not have service (we did not), so having a backup plan is a great idea.

Gear — what you need

This will vary vastly depending on which route you take. If you go the easier route (Bottom Up), you won’t need anything beyond your normal hiking gear. That said, waterproof hiking boots are a good idea because you do have to cross a stream a couple of times, or a million times if your navigating skills aren’t great. In most areas, there are rocks you can skip across to avoid touching the water altogether. Subway itself is very slippery, so make sure whatever shoes you wear have a good grip. We did this hike before I had proper hiking shoes, so I was unable to go all the way up. You will also need to bring plenty of water with you on this hike, as there are no water sources.

Observation Point

Observation Point is a beautiful day hike that is within the park proper and along the bus route. You do not need a permit to do this hike. To access this trail, you get off at the Weeping Rock stop. You can fill up on water at the trailhead, but make sure you bring plenty with you since there are no water sources along the trail itself.

If you have to choose between Angels Landing and Observation Point, go with Observation Point. Why? Because Observation Point summits 700 feet above Angels Landing, making the view that much more incredible. If you’re afraid of heights, this hike is also a better option for you because the trail is much less narrow.

Observation Point is still a pretty strenuous hike at eight miles long roundtrip with 2,100 feet of elevation gain; however, when you compare it to Angels Landing it’s not much more difficult. Angels Landing is five miles roundtrip with 1,488 feet of elevation gain.

Another reason I love this hike is because it is considerably less crowded than many of the other hikes within the park. Some people may be scared of the elevation gain listed with this hike, or choose Angels Landing if they are looking for a strenuous hike.

Hidden Canyon

I love this little hike! Hidden Canyon is great for the whole family since it’s not horribly long and doesn’t have a lot of elevation gain. This one is also along the bus shuttle route at the Weeping Rock stop.

Hidden Canyon is only three miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of 940 feet, so you could easy do a couple of the shorter hikes in the park like Weeping Rock or Emerald Pools the day you do this one. Our group did this hike the afternoon we arrived in Zion right before we settled in for the night.

What I love about this hike is virtually nobody does it. It is by far the least crowded of the “easy” hikes and still has some pretty amazing views along the trail. Another fun part of this hike is the small arch at the end. It’s like a mini version of Arches National Park. Our group also saw a few bighorn sheep along this hike.

The East Side

The East side is where you need to go if you want to escape the crowds. Most people simply drive through the East side on their way to Bryce Canyon National Park, but it can be fun to get out and explore.

There aren’t a lot of trails on this side, it’s more of a choose-your-own-adventure type of thing. Because of this, you don’t need a permit to do any hiking here and it’s near a lot of public land (read: free camping). Our group spent the whole day driving a little bit and hiking from the turnouts. We didn’t run into any other people doing this, which made for a relaxing day. Just like our Hidden Canyon hike, we saw a bunch of bighorn sheep on the East side.

Obviously the East side doesn’t have the same kind of jaw-dropping views, but I still think it’s worthwhile to get to know the lesser known side of Zion if you have the time. If you decide to explore the East side, be sure to bring plenty of water with you, as there are no water sources.

Where to Stay in Zion

Since nearly four million people visit Zion annually, finding a place to stay isn’t horribly difficult, though pre-planning during peak season is always a great idea.

If you’re interested in camping, you can make your reservations here. Even though it’s the most crowded, I prefer staying at Watchman. Watchman campground is near the shuttle and is a quick walk to the restaurants in town for when you get sick of camp food. The restrooms are also very well maintained.

For the more adventurous types, you can absolutely do BLM camping, or public lands camping. The appeal of BLM camping is that it is free and you are typically not near a bunch of other people. With established campgrounds like Watchman, you are required to pay a fee for each night of your visit. As long as you are in a BLM area, you can put your tent up wherever you like.

A drawback of BLM camping is that it is primitive. There are no facilities whatsoever and no water sources, so you need to plan ahead properly. Building campfires is also usually restricted, and often requires a permit if allowed. A final drawback of BLM camping in Zion is that it is a considerable distance from the park entrance. We camped on BLM for our Subway hike and it was about a 30 minute drive to pick up our hiking permits, which was not near the trailhead. If you’re interested in BLM camping, check out the map here.

A final and obvious option of where to stay in Zion is a hotel. There are many hotels sprinkled throughout Springdale and the surrounding area. You can see what’s available for your stay here.

There you have it! My favorite hikes in Zion National Park. Have you ever visited Zion? What were your favorite hikes or places to visit? Leave a comment!