Kayenta Trail
What to Expect
Safety Advisory
The trail has genuine long drop-offs with no guardrails on several exposed sections — this is not the place to let kids run ahead or walk while staring at your phone. The edges are unforgiving sandstone with hundred-foot drops.
Slickrock sections become genuinely slippery when wet or icy. After rain or during winter, the rock ledges can feel like a skating rink — wear shoes with aggressive tread and use trekking poles if you have them.
Trail Details
Pro Tips
Hike Kayenta uphill from The Grotto and return via the Lower Emerald Pool trail to complete a roughly four-mile loop — this direction gives you the best views on the climb and an easier, paved descent back to the shuttle stop.
Start before 9 AM or after 3 PM to avoid the midday crowds funneling toward the Emerald Pools. The Grotto stop (shuttle stop 6) is less mobbed than the Zion Lodge stop, so starting from Grotto gives you a quieter first mile.
The best photo spot is about two-thirds of the way up where the trail rounds a corner and you get an unobstructed view straight down Zion Canyon — look for a flat sandstone ledge just wide enough to set up a tripod without blocking the trail.
Photos
NPS/Lizz Eberhardt
