Kayenta Trailhead — Attraction in Apple Valley

Access to this trail is from the Grotto Parking Lot and once you cross the foot bridge over the Virgin River, you will go south towards Emerald Pools using the Kayenta Trailhead. You will make your initial assent along the narrow dirt stairs and then follow the trail, south along the side of the mountain. The trail is not too challenging for anyone in good shape but is narrow in places with some vertical cliffs. The condition of the trail varies, from very smooth to very rocky terrain and as you approach the pools, you will leave the sunshine and descend into the much cooler and shady area surrounding all three pools. The trail provides a chance to see stunning valleys, slot canyons, and if you are lucky some wildlife. When it is opened, this trailhead connects with the Emerald Pools Trailhead, which will take you in a loop and exit just across the street from the Zion Lodge. When we hiked this two weeks ago the trail under the lower pool waterfall was closed due to ice and the Emerald Pools Trailhead was closed at the footbridge near the lodge. There are no park facilities along the trailhead and the trail is open 24 hours, but would not...

During our visit, the bridge at the Emerald Pools trailhead was actually closed and we had to access the pools via the Kayenta Trailhead, but we really enjoyed this detour. The beginning of the hike climbs up rather quickly and may be considered moderate for some visitors, but we had no issues. Once you make it up on the ridge, it flattens our and offers some fantastic views of the canyon below. We skipped the lower pool and went strait to the middle one. I highly recommend continuing up the upper pool as the middle one is a little bit underwhelming. The upper pool however is gorgeous and well worth...

We took this trail to reach the lower emerald pool. There was a rock slide earlier this year on part of the loop of this trail, so we did have to walk back instead of making the loop. This trail is steep, unpaved, has steep and narrow stairs, and has amazing views! It definitely isn’t the hardest trail in this park, but be prepared if you are going to hike this one. It is hot and you drink a lot of water, the first half is not shaded much, but as you get closer to that first pool, it has a lot of shade. As you can see from the pictures, it offers some amazing views in the...