Zion National Park photography prints

Field notes

When to go

Three visits across the year: mid-to-late April 2025 (the Towers of the Virgin, the Watchman with cottonwoods leafing out), late October 2025 (hikers wading into the Narrows), and mid-December 2025 (the Watchman at winter dusk, the Milky Way over Angels Landing, and Kolob Canyons in low winter light). We don't have a summer frame here yet. The Narrows is open year-round, but the shuttle isn't; in summer we wade it in Chacos and shorts, and in winter you'll need a dry suit, and the park closes the Narrows to all travel whenever the river runs above 150 cfs.

Access and rules

No permit is needed to wade up the Narrows from the bottom, as far as Big Spring; Zion has a lot of other permits (Angels Landing, the top-down Narrows, overnight trips), but that isn't one of them. While the shuttle runs (daily from about March through November, and over the late-December holidays) the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to private cars; the rest of the year you can drive to the Temple of Sinawava, and that lot can be crowded even in winter. Entrance is $35 per vehicle as of 2026, plus a $100 per-person fee for non-US residents 16 and older; check the park's Fees and shuttle pages before you go. For Kolob Canyons, see its own section below.

Entry and passes

Entry: $35 per vehicle, 7 days. The $80 America the Beautiful annual pass covers it. Non-US residents 16 and over also pay $100 per person, unless they hold an annual pass. The Zion annual pass is $70. No reservation to enter, and the shuttle is free.

Passes and fees guide Official fees page (nps.gov)

Our story

Zion is one of the places we've returned to most, in three different seasons within a single year. In April 2025 we caught the Towers of the Virgin from the roadside, then came back later that month for the Watchman over the Virgin River with cottonwoods just leafing out along the bank.

October brought us into the Narrows itself, wading up the Virgin River with everyone else who'd had the same idea that day. Then in December we went back to the Watchman at dusk — the last light on the peak on a cold evening — and stayed out after dark for the winter Milky Way over Angels Landing.

The next day, December 14, we drove up to Kolob Canyons, which sees far fewer people than the main canyon. We were there around midday, working from the pullouts along the road, with the December sun low and raking across the red walls: the big wall side-lit under a deep blue sky with thin cirrus, pale bare cottonwoods at the mouths of the finger canyons, and the domes above the pinyon slopes.

Between the three trips we have spring, fall and winter here, but no summer frame of Zion yet.

Kolob Canyons

Kolob Canyons is the park's northwest corner, with its own entrance at exit 40 on I-15 and no road link to Zion Canyon, about an hour's drive (42 miles) away. Show your pass or pay the same Zion entrance fee at the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center, then drive the five-mile Kolob Canyons Road; there's no shuttle here. The road closes often in winter for snow or ice, so check the park's current conditions page first.

Zion National Park