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
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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
