Highway 9 Scenic Byway

Highway 9 is the road that made Zion reachable, and most of the 57 miles between Interstate 15 and Mount Carmel Junction are spent either approaching the park or climbing through it. From the west the byway runs east out of Hurricane through Virgin and Rockville — old Mormon farm towns strung along the Virgin River — past the turnoff to the Grafton ghost town and into Springdale, the gateway settlement that has grown up against Zion's south entrance. None of that quite prepares you for what the road does once it enters the park.

Inside Zion, Highway 9 stops behaving like an ordinary highway. It crosses the Virgin River, turns up Pine Creek Canyon, and climbs a set of switchbacks pinned to the cliff face, gaining more than a thousand feet to reach the mouth of the Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel — a mile-long passage blasted straight through the sandstone in 1930, with windows cut in the canyon wall to let in light. The tunnel is the hinge of the whole drive: west of it you are in the deep, green, river-cut heart of Zion Canyon; east of it the country opens into a high slickrock plateau of bare domes and cross-hatched stone that looks nothing like the canyon you just left. The Canyon Overlook Trail starts right at the east portal, and a few miles on, Checkerboard Mesa rises beside the road, its face scored into a grid that has become one of the park's signatures.

The road exists because Zion was once almost impossible to reach. When the area was set aside — first as Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909, then as Zion National Park in 1919 — getting there meant rough wagon roads, with the nearest railhead in Cedar City. The National Park Service and Utah's road builders spent 1927 to 1930 carving the Zion–Mount Carmel Highway and its tunnel out of the cliffs, deliberately built in a rustic style that hid the engineering in the landscape, with the explicit goal of linking Zion to Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon in a single driving loop. It worked: the route cut the distance from Zion to Bryce nearly in half and turned three remote parks into a road trip.

A few practical things shape the drive. The entire length is the Zion Park Scenic Byway, and there is a park entrance fee to drive the in-park section even if you are only passing through. Because the tunnel was built for the cars of the 1920s, oversized vehicles — most RVs, trailers, and buses — need a permit and a ranger-escorted, one-way passage during daytime hours, while standard cars drive through anytime. The road is open year-round, but the in-park stretch is narrow, winding, and often crowded, so it rewards an early start. Plan for around two hours end to end without stops — and far longer if you actually get out, which is the entire point.

The Drive, Stop by Stop

7 stops along the route, in driving order from Hurricane to Mount Carmel Junction.

1. 1

   Grafton Ghost Town

   Rockville

   A short detour across the Virgin River from Rockville to one of the West's most photographed ghost towns — adobe and frame buildings, a pioneer cemetery, and the backdrop for scenes in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Worth the dirt road before you reach the park.

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2. 2

   Springdale

   Springdale

   Zion's south-entrance town, wedged between the Watchman and the Virgin River, with lodging, restaurants, and galleries packed into a single mile. In the busy season, leave the car here and take the shuttle in — and stay up for the night sky, since it's a certified International Dark Sky Community.

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3. 3

   Zion National Park

   Springdale

   The reason the road exists. Highway 9 reaches Zion at the south entrance; in season the canyon itself is shuttle-only, but the byway carries you up over the cliffs and through the tunnel. Plan a full day at minimum.

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4. 4

   Zion–Mount Carmel Tunnel

   Springdale

   Highway 9's centerpiece: a mile-long passage blasted through the cliff in 1930, with windows cut in the rock for light. Standard cars drive through anytime; oversized vehicles need a permit and a ranger escort. The switchbacks climbing to its west portal are an attraction in themselves.

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5. 5

   Canyon Overlook Trail

   Springdale

   A one-mile round-trip hike from just east of the tunnel to a railed rim a thousand feet above Zion Canyon — the Towers of the Virgin, East Temple, and the highway switchbacks all in one view. Parking is tiny and fills early, and there's no shuttle access.

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6. 6

   Checkerboard Mesa

   Springdale

   A 900-foot dome of Navajo sandstone near the east entrance, its face scored into a natural grid by ancient dune bedding and weathering cracks. A roadside pullout gives the classic head-on view — the last great landmark before the country flattens toward Mount Carmel Junction.

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7. 7

   Mount Carmel Junction

   Mount Carmel Junction

   Highway 9's eastern end, where it meets US-89 — the turn toward Bryce Canyon to the north or the Grand Canyon's North Rim and Lake Powell to the south. A classic road-trip crossroads with gas, food, and a couple of motels.

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That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let Highway 9 Scenic Byway do what it does best.