Lower Pine Creek Waterfall Trail

Zion Canyon National Park, Ut

Waterfalls, Bouldering, and Stream Jumping

Difficulty: Easy to Hard

Length: 0.6-0.8 mi
Elevation Gain: 20-60 ft
Approximate Hiking Time: 0.5 -1 hr
Features: Waterfall
Nearest Town: Springdale, Ut

Lower Pine Creek Waterfall Trail is a fun, short hike between the canyon walls to a pretty waterfall.  If you’re up for it, there’s some fun bouldering at the end of the trail to get up close to the waterfall.  It’s still possible to see the waterfall without bouldering though.

  • Trail Condition 30% 30%
  • Usage 75% 75%
  • Trail Head Easy to Find 60% 60%
  • Kid Friendly 40% 40%

Hike Highlights

1. Pine Creek Waterfall

The trail ends at a pretty cascading waterfall with crystal clear water.  If you don’t want to climb the slickrock it’s still possible to see the waterfall from a distance.

2. Pine Creek

The trail follows Pine Creek as it runs between the canyon walls.  There are a couple small creek crossings on the trail.

3. Bouldering

There is a small and relatively easy bouldering section where you climb some steep slickrock and crawl under a large boulder.  If you’re comfortable… it’s really fun!

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Hike Overview

Trailhead Directions

The trailhead is unmarked and located inside Zion National Park. 

To reach the trailhead follow the Zion Mount Carmel Hwy past the Zion Canyon Scenic drive and over the bridge to the first U-turn on the highway.  About 0.5 mi past the turn off for the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive you’ll find a scenic pullout at the next bridge on the highway passing over Pine Creek. 

The only trailhead markers are a couple of garbage cans and the pullout at the Pine Creek bridge.

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Hike Details

From the trailhead follow the trail between the canyon walls following Pine Creek as it winds its way through the canyon.  

There are a lot of social trails through the canyon, but stick to the centermost and you’ll be fine.  You really can’t get lost, but it gets annoying crisscrossing back and forth on these trails.  The trail crosses Pine Creek a couple of times, but the crossings are really easy. 

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After 0.3 miles you’ll come to a point where you can get a peek at the waterfall, but will need to climb up a 10ft tall steep slickrock slope to continue to the base of the waterfall. 

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The creek reaches a point where the water gets really deep (at least in Feb).  I wouldn’t recommend continuing from this point through the creek due to this really deep section, but rather climb up the slick rock if you want a close up look.

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Once you’re up on the ledge continue to follow the path in through the canyon.

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Much of the remainder of the distance is bouldering, using hands and feet to climb over rocks.  With a fun crawl under a huge boulder propped up by smaller ones.

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The view at the base of the waterfall is beautiful and worth the trip if you’re up for some climbing.

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Why is this hike rated easy to moderate?

The trail to the viewpoint of the waterfall is easy.  It’s a flat and short walk with just a couple stream crossings that are pretty easy. 

If you choose to continue on to the base of the waterfall for the final 0.1 miles the hike is rated as hard.  It will involve nouldering, climbing with hands and feet.

More Hikes to Choose From

Check out this and more hikes in and around Zion Canyon National Park and Springdale.

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