Canyon Junction is where the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway meets the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, at the gate that closes to most private vehicles during shuttle season. Zion Lodge and Canyon Trail Rides guests with reservations, and visitors with a medical-access permit, may still drive up. It is Shuttle Stop 3, served only by down-canyon buses, and has bike racks, river views and a Pa'rus Trail connection, with no restrooms or water on the park's amenities list. Zion Canyon has only about 300 parking spaces. NPS warns riders not to wait for the last bus, since missing it can mean a nine-mile walk back. In April 1995, a slide at Sand Bench dammed the river, cut about 600 feet of road and stranded more than 300 people at Zion Lodge for two days.
Just ahead, the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive leaves on your left, at the gate. Don't turn. Stay on Highway nine for the tunnel. The size limits start here. Turn back at the pullouts on your right past the fork if you're over the limits, whether tall, wide, long or heavy, or want the shuttle. For most of the year no private car goes up that road, at any hour, unless you have a lodge or trail ride reservation or a medical permit. Everyone else's car gets in only outside shuttle season, usually December through February. The shuttle boards at the visitor center, not here. Up that road are the Court of the Patriarchs, Zion Lodge, and the Grotto. Angels Landing, where the chains take a permit. Weeping Rock. The Great White Throne, named by a visiting minister who said he'd looked for that mountain all his life. And the Temple of Sinawava, where the Narrows begins. The flat ground under that road comes from a landslide. About four thousand eight hundred years ago the Sentinel let go, averaged about a hundred and twelve miles an hour, blocked the canyon, and backed the river up into a lake. The tunnel is one mile and a tenth, with no stopping, no bicycles and no walking. Windows flash by on your left, so drivers, leave them to your passengers. Right after it, the Canyon Overlook lot comes up fast on your right, so make up your mind before you see daylight.
Photo: NPS Photo / Sierra Coon · Public domain (U.S. government work)