Middle Fork, Taylor Creek

Above: This mind-boggling double-arch alcove is your final destination in the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek.

Alpine coolness meets red rock desert. The Middle Fork of Taylor Creek Trail in the Kolob Canyons Section of Zion National Park is an impressive little hike. The scenery meter is pegged at high the entire hike. A couple of historical cabins will have you daydreaming about living in these cabins back in the 1930s (when they were constructed) and having the canyon all to yourself. To access your cabin, you'd have to pack in on your horse since a road into Kolob did not yet exist. There would be no tourists since this area had not yet been made part of the Park system. Your only company would have been massive sandstone monoliths, shady Ponderosa pine, a pleasant cold stream, and perhaps an occasional sheep herder.




Above: Folded rock layers near the Taylor Creek thrust fault.






Above: The Larson Cabin near the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of Taylor Creek.


Above: the Fife Cabin, high up Middle Fork Canyon.







Above: A closer look at the double alcove near the head of Middle Fork. I found this thing simply too big to get a satisfactory photo, but it was fun trying.