Issue 45.10
Part 7
The departure of Powell and his men left the Kolob Canyons to interested locals to explore. Southern Utah cattlemen succeeded in constructing a trail off the Kolob Terrace into Willis Creek onto LaVerkin Creek and down to the settlements of Toquerville, LaVerkin, and Hurricane. The trail was used regularly by ranchers by the turn of the century. Modern day hikers can still use the steep trail to travel from Kolob Reservoir into the lower Kolob region and its wonderful sites.
In the summer of 1917, Douglas White, industrial agent for the Arrowhead Trail, a proposed highway from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, came to investigate the potential for tourism along the proposed route. He brought a Plucky Dork car from the Leach Motor Car Company of Los Angeles and he and his companions secured the services of Richard A. Thorley of Cedar City to guide them to the western edge of Zion Canyon. Despite driving over primitive roads and cattle trails, the car successively made it to the rim of the canyon. Their route was the same followed by hikers on today’s upper West Rim Trail. [Iron County Record, 19 Oct 1917]
In reporting the event to the editor of the Iron County Record, Mr. Thorley explained that the route followed should be “regarded as anything but practicable.” The objective was to get to the rim of Zion Canyon on any feasible route; Thorley, however, explained that a much better route existed through the heart of the Kolob Canyons. The description follows: “From the state highway up through Dry Creek and over the head of Timber Creek {LeePass}; down to the junction of Timber Creek and LaVerkin Creek; up LaVerkin Creek to Hop Canyon {a tributary of LaVerkin Creek}; up Hop Canyon to Lower Kolob; across Kolob to head of Park {north end of Zion National Park}; cross Park to Wildcat Canyon, which is level of the rim of Zion Canyon.” Mr. Thorley further explained that the route “would mean a lot to this section of the country” and that “the scenery would be some of the best in the entire district.” [Ibid] It would be fifty years before even a portion of the proposed route was developed. Hikers can still experience the spectacular scenery by hiking down the Kolob Arch Trail and out Hop Valley to the Kolob Canyon Road. It is not an easy hike for the inexperienced.