Zion National Park offers several well built and well maintained trails. Some are for the casual national park visitors while others are more directed toward the intense hikers and climbers looking to push their limits.
One of Zion’s earliest man-made trails was the Lady Mountain Trail, first completed in 1924. It was originally built as a cable route, utilizing 2000 feet of cable, 1400 carved steps and at least 2 ladders to climb 2650 feet over 1.9 miles. Unfortunately due to the difficulty of maintenance and frequency of rescues on the trail, park staff decided to discontinue maintenance in the 1960’s.
Eventually all signage and hardware was removed from the route leaving it significantly more difficult. While it’s no longer an official route, the Lady Mountain Trail is still there for those hoping to reach the summit of the remarkable feature. Today it features several class 4 and class 5 routes where roped climbing is highly recommended, but people still manage to work their way up it.
