Northgate Peaks
Hiking trails starting on the Kolob Terrace Road in Zion National Park are far less busy than the hikes that start in Zion Canyon. The road starts in Virgin, 23 km west of Springdale/Zion. The paved road climbs into the desert hills and goes through grasslands and then open forest and continues on as a dirt road into the high country. The Northgate Peaks Trail is the same parking area and trailhead as the route into the Subway (the Left Fork Canyon) and Wildcat Canyon. It is a signed turnoff 25 km up the Kolob Terrace Road. The trail is fairly flat, winding through open forest between Pine Valley Peak and Pocket Mesa. After 1.7 km of easy hiking a junction is reached and the trail bears south to a ridge between the two Northgate Peaks.
The open pine forest at this altitude makes for pleasant hiking. We followed the trail to the end, but hiked off trail on the way back.
Both of the Northgate Peaks can be climbed with some scrambling and on this day we picked the easier of the two, the one on the east side. The one on the west side actually looked more interesting, but there was a longer traverse to get to the slickrock ascent ridge, We will climb the other one on our next trip.
The views to the east span two canyons across to Horse Pasture Plateau. The views are far better, though, from the top of the Northgate Peaks.
The North Guardian Angel invites exploration 1 km to the south. It is a Class 4 scramble/climb to the top.
From the top of the East Northgate Peak, we had wide views into Russell Gulch, Great West Canyon, and the Left Fork.
We scrambled up the East Northgate Peak to have lunch then worked our way down, and then angled our way along the slope break of the ridge above the slickrock canyon below (Russell Gulch). We encountered this old juniper stump along the way.
In the sand near the junction with Wildcat Canyon we spotted these paw prints.
The Northgate Peaks trail is an easy 6.5 km hike. The trail is a good one, and the added bonus is the scenic drive up the Kolob Terrace Road.
We returned on another day to explore Cave Knoll, then again on another day to hike the West Rim Trail from the top down.