Utah's National Parks. Ron Adkison
our attention and stir our imagination. Our view stretches up-canyon as far as the lofty perch of Angels Landing; down-canyon, prominent features include The Sentinel, The Streaked Wall, and Bee Hive Peak.
Trip 5
Emerald Pools Trail
Distance: 2.1 miles, loop trip
Low/High elevations: 4280’/4600’
Suited for: Walk
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: All year
Maps/Trailhead: 3,2/4
Hazards: Steep dropoffs; trail should be avoided when ice- or snow-covered.
Introduction: One of Zion Canyon’s most-used trails, this very scenic one- to two-hour jaunt tours a shady side canyon featuring a perennial stream with dense vegetation, and four limpid pools reflecting towering canyon walls. Hikers not inclined to undertake the entire loop can follow the mile-long paved trail (accessible to wheelchairs) to the lower pool and a dripping alcove resplendent with water-loving vegetation.
Description: The signed trail (0.0; 4280) quickly bridges North Fork Virgin River west of the large parking area, then immediately forks. The right fork, a gently climbing, paved trail, offers the shortest and easiest route to the lower pool, while the left fork offers access to the loop trail and to a riverside spur trail leading to the Sand Bench Trail.
Turning left beneath the soaring heights of Lady Mountain, we stroll south along the shady riverbank, under the spreading branches of Fremont cottonwood, water birch, and Gambel oak. Quite soon we reach a signed junction (0.1; 4300) from where the riverside stock trail (also open to hikers) continues down-river and the loop trail climbs the slope above.
Hikers who wish to combine the Emerald Pools Trail with the Sand Bench Trail for an all-day excursion can follow that riverside trail downstream from the junction (0.0; 4300). Heading south, the trail soon passes a corral and becomes dusty. Initially we are shaded by groves of Fremont cottonwood and boxelder that hug the river, but as we climb slightly onto drier slopes, Gambel oak, shrub live oak, and Utah juniper dominate. The river below alternates from a cottonwood-shaded course to an open one lined with bushy tamarisk.
As we pass under the colorful, broken cliffs of imposing Mt. Moroni, we encounter an abundance of the Park’s largest cactus, Engelmann prickly pear, adorned with delicate yellow flowers in spring and purple fruit in autumn. Proceeding amid oak and juniper woodland, we’ll notice an unusual climbing vine draping trailside trees. Canyon wild grape is common in the shady depths of Zion Canyon, and is particularly abundant along the Weeping Rock Trail (Trip 9).
The trail crosses a sagebrush-clad flat as it curves toward Court of the Patriarchs, and is soon joined by an informal trail climbing up from the Court of the Patriarchs trailhead. Quite soon we cross a typically dry wash and join the main trail (1.1; 4265) climbing up from that trailhead, where we bear right onto the Sand Bench Trail, described in Trip 3.
Resuming our hike along the Emerald Pools Trail, we turn right at the loop-trail junction. A single switchback ensues, followed by a protracted traverse. The trail quickly crosses slide debris beneath Lady Mountain, a soaring crag rising 2500 feet above the trail. Shrub live oak, Utah juniper, Gambel oak, singleleaf pinyon, Utah serviceberry, buffaloberry, singleleaf ash, narrowleaf yucca, and prickly pear are thickly massed along the mountainside above the canyons. Enroute we’ll splash through the runoff of several verdant springs, their courses banked with cottonwood, water birch, and boxelder.
Views throughout the traverse are inspiring, encompassing square-edged mesas topped with tall pines, sculptured cliffs streaked with curtains of red, and the gaping cleft of Zion Canyon. The trail maintains a gentle grade, and is intermittently paved above steep dropoffs.
As the trail curves around a shoulder of the slope, the manicured grounds of Zion Lodge come into view, and several outstanding landmarks form a ragged skyline above the canyon. Among them, from north to south, Angels Landing, The Great White Throne, Mountain of the Sun, and Twin Brothers. The prominent gothic arch on the flanks of imposing Red Arch Mountain, just south of The Great White Throne, was formed in 1880 when an enormous slab of Navajo Sandstone spalled off the cliff and buried Mormon pioneer Oliver D. Gifford’s cornfield. Altogether, the peaceful floor of Zion Canyon, with the river threading its way among grassy openings and groves of cottonwoods, and with a backdrop of soaring sandstone cliffs, makes a most attractive picture.
As the trail enters the Heaps Canyon drainage, we are confronted by a gigantic amphitheater, its north wall of Navajo Sandstone intricately cross-bedded and capped by the prominent spire of The Spearhead. Below us, the perennial waters of the canyon nourish a dense forest of Gambel oak, boxelder, and Fremont cottonwood.
Where more springs course over the trail ahead, bigtooth maples arch their branches overhead, their leaves turning a brilliant red after the first frosts of autumn. As we approach the draw of the canyon, Douglas-firs appear on trailside slopes, and soon Heaps Canyon creek comes into view, pouring off an overhanging ledge between the middle and lower pools. Immediately below the overhang, a seepline nurtures a narrow strip of hanging gardens.
Soon we reach middle Emerald Pool (0.8; 4380), perched near the brink of the pouroff and rimmed by Douglas-firs, willows, Utah junipers, and Fremont cottonwoods. The small, still pool reflects an exciting backdrop of sculptured, pastel-shaded canyon walls. Overhead, tall ponderosa pines form scattered silhouette figures atop the canyon rim.
Proceeding 50 yards beyond the pool to a junction, we ponder the option of turning left and ascending to the upper pool or turning right and looping back to the trailhead. The upper pool is the largest and deepest, and well worth a visit. The trail leading to it crosses a slope littered with boulders that were spread across the trail by a major flash flood in 1987. The correct route may be lost amid a confusing array of use trails, all of which ultimately lead to the upper pool.
As we ascend the brush slope at a moderately steep grade, an abundance of creeping hollygrape at the trail’s edge heralds our approach to the upper pool, where the grade abates. Quite soon we reach the edge of the large pool (0.2; 4600) where velvet ash, willow, bigtooth maple, and boxelder, many of them draped by vines of the canyon wild grape, crowd the edge and provide a shady canopy for hikers on a hot day.
Numerous springs and seeps feed the pool, and after heavy rains or the melting of the snowpack on the plateau above, a noisy waterfall plunges over the tall cliff behind the pool. Rising sheer above us one three sides are lofty cliffs of Navajo Sandstone, stained with desert varnish from dust and mineral-laden rainwater. Notice the Douglas-firs clinging to the ledges on the cliff face south of the pool. That north-facing cliff is shaded from heat and sunlight, so soil moisture evaporates more slowly and nurtures a suitable microhabitat for trees that are more commonly found atop the plateaus more than 3000 feet above.
After backtracking to the junction near the middle pool (0.2; 4380), we should bear left if we intend to complete the circuit. Quickly we meet a left-branching trail bound for the Grotto Picnic Area, 0.8 mile ahead. But we turn right, passing through a narrow cleft between two immense boulders fallen from the cliffs above. Rock stairs then lower us to a junction with another left-branching trail (0.1; 4350), which quickly connects with the aforementioned trail leading to the picnic area.
Our trail immediately leads us under an overhanging ledge just above the lower pool, which is merely a wide spot in the creekbed. Presently wedged between the cliff face and the waterfall emanating from the middle pool, our wet trail leads us past horizontal seeplines resplendent with the growth of hanging gardens. A white, powdery residue of sodium bicarbonate coats the trailside wall, left behind by the evaporation of seeping water. We are likely to get wet under the dripping wall as we proceed out of the canyon’s draw and begin the final leg of the loop. The trail presently traverses southeast across lower slopes of the amphitheater beneath a canopy of Gambel oak and bigtooth maple, their ranks mixed with Utah juniper and singleleaf ash. Inspiring views of canyons, cliffs, and mesa rims accompany us as we descend to the floor of Zion Canyon.