Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park

Can a person ever get tired of hiking next to babbling brooks, through canyons filled with towering multi-hued rock formations that change colors with the coming and going of the sun, through stands of trees in most colors of the rainbow? I don't think so!

I do believe fall has become my new favorite season. The trees are in full flaming show-off mode, the streams are low enough they don't impede progress up the canyons, the summer crowds have diminished to a trickle, and the cooler temps are so much more comfortable for hiking.

Kolob Canyons, also known as the finger canyons, is the Northern section of Zion National Park and it's only a few miles South of Kanarraville, where we are camped. Being a National Park there were certainly more folks on the trails than when we hiked Spring Creek Canyon yesterday, but nothing like the crowds you'd find during the summer months.

We hiked the one mile Timber Creek Trail and the 5 mile Middle Fork of Taylor Creek trail. Afternoon and evening are supposed to be the best times for photographs but we were there in the morning, oh well!

Moving on to Springdale, UT next where we will camp adjacent to the main Zion entrance.

Viewed from Timber Creek Overlook the Kolob Plateau rises dramatically up from the valley floor

Middle Fork of Taylor Creek trail takes you down among the "fingers".

We enter a canyon shaded by two giant fingers.

The trail meanders along and crossing (many times) Taylor Creek for the entire hike.
Luckily the creek is very low at this time of year!

Canyon walls are lit up by the sun reflecting off the opposite wall.

The turn around point comes at Double Arch Alcove, a giant natural amphitheater.

You can see another arch forming above the amphitheater in this photo.