A surprisingly nice weekend in November prompted a last-minute reservation at the Zion Lodge to hike the West Rim. It has been years since I hiked the 16-mile trail from Lava Point to the Grotto in the main canyon, and I couldn’t recall how long it took. The room at the lodge was just to ensure we had a way out of the canyon just in case the shuttle buses were no longer running when we finished. Days are much shorter this far into fall, and the possibility of hiking in the dark was a concern as well. As it turns out, the first day of daylight savings worked out in our favor. We took the 6 am Red Rock Shuttle and had plenty of light when we arrived at the trailhead at 7 am to start the hike without headlights. Making it into the park before the shuttle stopped running also was not a problem. While I read accounts online of the hike taking up to 12 hours, we completed it in just over 7 hours. A month earlier would have been ideal as all of the leaves on top had fallen, but there was still plenty of color in the canyon and a sunny 75-degree day in November was too good to pass up.
Zion Canyon West Rim