The trail up the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek to the impressive Double Arch is one of the more popular hikes in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park – even on a weekday afternoon the car park is almost full. Zion received almost 5 million visitors in 2025, making it the second most-visited national park in the US (after the Great Smoky Mountains). Kolob Canyons is far less busy than the main Zion Canyon, so while you won’t have any of the trails to yourself, it still offers a little more solitude…
After a short descent to the Taylor Creek, the trail follows the creek upstream. There’s not much shade – but it’s a fairly easy walk with a very gentle ascent. The trail crosses the creek many times – I think I read somwhere there are 20 crossings – but all very shallow crossings where you feet stay dry (if going in early Spring or after rain, it may be a slightly wetter proposition…)
While not quite as spectacular as Zion Canyon, the Taylor Creek Trail is one of the best hikes to see the Kanarraville Fold – a major geologic fold-thrust system which has resulted in dramatic Navajo Sandstone formations.
After about a mile (1.6km) along the Taylor Creek Trail near the confluence of the North and Middle Forks is the Larson Cabin. The basic cabin was constructed by Gustive Larson in 1930 who spent summers here from 1930 to 1933, before the cabin and surrounding land claim was incorporated into Kolob National Monument in 1937 and the Zion National Park in 1956. Larson tried to assert his claim to the homestead, but it was rejected on the grounds that he hadn’t lived on it long enough.
Before the start of the school season, Larson and Fife cooperatively erected their log cabins, 12 x 24 feet and covered with wood shingles. They cut logs in the canyon and dragged them to the construction sites with horses. The logs were caulked with a sand plaster. Lumber for roofing and flooring as well as roofing shingles was brought in from Cedar City and hauled up the creek bed with considerable difficulty. A cast iron stove was hauled up on a horse-drawn sled.
The cabin was completed during the summer of 1931. The cabins were occupied during the next few summers, according to arrangements recorded in the land office in Salt Lake City. Their families joined them sporadically. Larson’s wife, Virginia, enjoyed overnight visits to the cabin and exploring the area by horseback.
Washington County Historical Society
As the Taylor Creek Trail continues upstream, the canyon starts to get a littlre more spectacular, and a little more shaded.
Just after two miles (3.4km) is the Fife Cabin, also built in 1939 by Arthur R. Fife, who was a friend of Larson. It too has been preserved the National Park Service, with substantial repairs made in 2009.
After this second historic cabin the canyon gets a lot narrow and more dramatic, with towering cliffs on both sides.
The Taylor Creek Trail soon ends at the Double Arch Alcove – an alcove being a “blind” or closed arch formed in the rock face.
It’s hard to capture the immense size of the Double Arch Alcove, with it’s colourful back wall the result of seeping water through thge rock allowing moss to grow.
You can continue further up Taylor Creek which soon reaches a usually-dry waterfall, before continuing another 0.75 miles (1.2km) to a large dryfall in a very narrow canyon section.
Getting to the Taylor Creek Trail in the Kolob Canyons
The signposted trailhead and carpark for the Taylor Creek Trail is just off of Exit 40 on the I-15, about 20 miles (32km) south of Cedar City in Utah. From the Kolob Canyons Visitor Centre continue up East Kolob Canyons Road for 2 miles (3.2km). A Standard, Annual, or America the Beautiful Pass is required to access the trail.
More information
- National Park Service – Taylor Creek Trail
- Washington County Historical Society – Gustive O Larson Cabin
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