Zion National Park by TheParkGuide

Sponsored by TheParkGuide

• Location: Utah
• Travel Type: Driving
• Tour Duration: 5 hours
• Language:

Zion National Park Self-Guided Audio Tour
By TheParkGuide

Zion Canyon is one of the most breathtaking places in the American Southwest, a narrow, soaring gorge of cream and red Navajo Sandstone carved by the Virgin River over millions of years. The canyon walls rise 2,000 feet above the canyon floor, and the scale of it, the sheer, impossible verticality, has to be experienced to be believed. TheParkGuide's self-guided Zion National Park audio tour takes you through every section of the park at your own pace, with a personal audio guide narrating the geology, history, wildlife, and stories that bring this landscape to life.

About this Tour

Our Zion audio tour covers all of the paved roads accessible by car in Zion National Park, as well as the shuttle route through Zion Canyon. The tour is organized into four main segments: the East Entrance Road (Highway 9), which descends from the Checkerboard Mesa plateau through the mile-long Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel and six dramatic switchbacks into the canyon; the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive along the shuttle route from the Visitor Center to the Temple of Sinawava, passing the Court of the Patriarchs, Zion Lodge, the Emerald Pools, Angels Landing, the Great White Throne, Weeping Rock, and the gateway to the Narrows; the Kolob Terrace Road, a lightly traveled 22-mile climb from the town of Virgin to Lava Point at over 7,800 feet; and the Kolob Canyons Road, a five-mile scenic drive off Interstate 15 offering towering finger canyons that most visitors never see.

The geology of Zion is the geology of the entire Colorado Plateau in miniature. The great Navajo Sandstone cliffs that form the canyon walls were once a vast field of sand dunes — imagine the Sahara Desert, 200 million years ago, stacked in layers hundreds of feet deep, then buried, compressed, cemented into stone, and then uplifted and sliced open by a river. The result is what you see around you: sweeping, cross-bedded walls of stone in pinks, reds, and whites, stained by iron oxides and streaked by desert varnish, their tops rounded by wind and their faces carved by water. Zion sits at the heart of the Grand Staircase, a geological cross-section of the Colorado Plateau whose exposed layers connect this canyon to Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks, and ultimately the Grand Canyon, a lineup of parks each representing a different chapter of the same 1.75-billion-year story.

Human history here runs nearly as deep as the geology. The Ancestral Puebloans lived in the canyon and surrounding plateau for over a thousand years, farming the canyon floor and hunting the mesa tops. Mormon pioneers settled the gateway town of Springdale in the 1860s and gave many of the park's formations their biblical names: the Court of the Patriarchs, the Great White Throne, Angels Landing, the Temple of Sinawava. These names speak to the spiritual awe the canyon inspired in its earliest Anglo settlers and still inspires today.

Angels Landing is Zion's most famous hike — a vertiginous scramble along a narrow ridge with sheer 1,000-foot drops on both sides, assisted by chains bolted into the rock. The hike now requires a lottery-based permit for the final chain-assisted section, and demand vastly exceeds supply during peak season. But Zion's rewards extend far beyond Angels Landing. The Narrows — a hike through the Virgin River itself, between walls that narrow to just 20 feet across and soar 1,000 feet above — is one of the most unique hiking experiences in the world. The Emerald Pools trails, the Watchman Trail, and the Canyon Overlook Trail all offer extraordinary views with considerably less competition for permits.

Planning your visit to Zion?

• From early spring through late fall, private vehicles are not permitted on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive; a free shuttle system runs all day from the Visitor Center to the Temple of Sinawava.
• Flash floods are a serious hazard during the July-through-September monsoon season, particularly in slot canyons and the Narrows — always check weather conditions and speak with rangers before entering any drainage.
• There are no gas stations, groceries, or general supplies inside the park; stock up in Springdale or at the last services before the East Entrance.
• Download our audio tour before you arrive; it works without cell service and plays automatically as you drive, so you can keep your eyes on the canyon walls where they belong.

Find More Tours Near You

TheParkGuide offers tours in Bryce Canyon National Park, 75 miles to the east, and the Grand Canyon's North Rim, just few hours to the south. For something a little different, just outside Zion in the town of La Verkin you’ll find the Sheep Bridge Nature Preserve tour sponsored by The Nature Conservancy.

Tour Sponsor

TheParkGuide (formerly GaperGuide) creates self-guided audio driving tours for America's most beloved national parks, delivering expertly researched, richly narrated content that brings each park's geology, wildlife, and human history to life. Every tour is crafted to the same high standard, so you always know what you're getting, whether you're exploring the geysers of Yellowstone or the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon.