Most visitors to Zion National Park follow the main road into the Virgin River Canyon, but there are other access routes into the park and one of them is off Highway 15, to the northwest.   A park entrance and paved road leads to the Finger Canyons of the Kolob Plateau.

We had enjoyed the hike into the Middle Fork of Taylor Creek a year earlier (article) and we returned again for a moderate hike into this “finger canyon”, a narrow, forested stream canyon.   Fall colors filled the route and a pink-reddish light filled the space, reflected off the south-facing sheer sandstone walls of Tucapit Point.   The trail follows the creek, crossing back and forth up to the junction of two creeks, the site of an old homestead.   The canyon walls close in, a shady, cooler trail all the way to Double Arch Alcove.   The lower alcove-arch is streaked with seeping water and hanging gardens.   The upper blind arch high above is dry slickrock, orange-red Navajo sandstone below the cliffs of Paria Point.  Whitish salts streak parts of the cliffs where water has seeped through cracks over many years.  Most hikers stop here and return by the same route, a 5 mile hike.     On this trip, we chose to explore the slot canyon upstream.   There is no trail and there are a number of obstacles, but hikers can continue quite a bit higher.   One 10 foot pour-off had a short section of rope, providing an opportunity to scramble up.   The slot ends at a 30 foot undercut pour off, impossible to scale without gear.   We returned by the same route.

The Middle Fork of Taylor Creek is a very nice stream canyon hike on a hot day and a pleasant sojourn amid the fall colors.   When we travel to this area, this is one of our favorite hikes.