Hiking the South Ariel Peak Trail in Zion National Park
Distance: 1.1 miles / 1.8 km
The South Ariel Peak Trail in Zion National Park is a short but challenging day hike off of Pine Creek Canyon, as the hike is not an established National Park Service trail. Rather, it’s what the Park Service refers to as a 'social trail.'
In short, a 'social trail' is an unmaintained, unestablished trail that hikers create over many years across many National Parks, which includes some notable others, like the Delta Lake Trail in Grand Teton National Park and the Bar Island Loop Trail in Acadia National Park.
Furthermore, the South Ariel Peak Trail is not an easy hike by any means. Toward the South Ariel Summit, the trail becomes significantly more difficult to navigate, and the consequences of slipping and falling on the smooth sandstone are much greater than in the easier sections at the beginning of the hike.
All that said, I decided to turn back out of caution, as I was hiking alone, so turning back was the best decision for me. However, I hope to return with friends to finish this hike someday in the future!
South Ariel Peak Trailhead Parking
Parking for South Ariel Peak is located in a small, unmarked turnout off the Mount Carmel Highway, about 2.1 miles (3.4 km) west of the East Entrance Ranger Station.
Google Maps Directions: South Ariel Peak Trailhead
Hiking Checklist - Zion
Here is a complete list of must-have things that you will want for any hike in Zion National Park.
Hiking the South Ariel Peak Trail
From the bottom, South Ariel looks like you could simply zigzag your way up to the peak, and for about 90% of it, that is true.
However, it’s that last stretch to the summit where I wasn’t willing to take more risks than I had because all of the possible routes to the top are perched above a cliff where you cannot fall!
For the first part, the route up is generally the best route you see fit.
As far as I could tell, the way to go was between the two peaks at the top, and while it may not be obvious from down here, any options to either the right of the left of the saddle became too sketchy and steep for me to want to try.
Pay attention to the cliff in these two photos. It doesn’t look like much here, but I hope you can see how significant it really is in the second to last photo.
I’m still aiming for the low point between both of the peaks.
This is pretty much where it got far too smooth to the far right of the saddle.
Here, I went back down to try again.
What this photo doesn’t show is that now I’m really directly above the cliff.
This last photo is where I walked up to all these stacked rocks to try again, but I could tell that someone had placed them here because there is truly no better way up.
All of the tricky stuff to my left was taller than I am at 6’ 4”, and there was simply nothing to grab or lean into throughout this section.
However, if you had one rope in hand from above, there wouldn’t be anything tricky about this section whatsoever.
It was honestly frustrating to turn back because in person and in these photos, it looks so doable. Still, I’m fine knowing that I’ll be back another day.
This photo below is the cliff that all of the routes are perched above, and that tree above the cliff is the same tree two photos up.
Most of the very steep and smooth sandy routes are above this cliff, which greatly altered my decision to push my luck too much.
In the future, I may choose an alternate route altogether.
