Hammock Camping in Zion

**Cappy2cap** · 11-26-2013, 12:36

I am thinking of traversing Zion from Lee Pass through Hop Valley then onto the West Rim trail to the Grotto. It seems unlikely from pictures Ive been looking at, that hanging would be a possibility on this trip. Has anyone done this trip?? Any info? Any hope? I hate ground sleeping.

**dblhmmck** · 11-26-2013, 13:15

Originally Posted by Cappy2cap

I am thinking of traversing Zion from Lee Pass through Hop Valley then onto the West Rim trail to the Grotto. It seems unlikely from pictures Ive been looking at, that hanging would be a possibility on this trip. Has anyone done this trip?? Any info? Any hope? I hate ground sleeping.

I've hammock camped a few times in Zion. La Verkin Creek down from Hop valley, has many spots. However, it is now assigned campsites along there, and only some are hammock friendly. I know the ones closest to Kolob arch have good trees. I've set my hammock up above the East Rim trail, but not sure about West Rim or around the grotto. Be prepared to get creative. I brought long straps, here is my site along the East Rim trail:

And this one was site 7 along La Verkin, the ones closer to Kolob arch were nicer:

PM me about free camping spots near Zion if interested.

**Cappy2cap** · 11-27-2013, 12:53

thanks for the pics...in the first pic, what is you hammock tied to? a rock? I figured a good portion of this trip had trees, but like you said, with assigned camp spots it really limits options.. i guess i could ask the rangers for hammock friendly spots but who knows? whats your setup if you find out you cant hang? do you have pad?

Anyone about the west rim??

**dblhmmck** · 11-30-2013, 04:35

Yes, I was tied to a rock on the right side of the photo. I chose that site because it was the only dry piece of ground that I saw. It snowed a few inches while I was hiking in.

On that particular trip, I was using a DIY bridge hammock with CCF insulation built in. I could have gone to ground in this set up, if I had to. But, I won't be continueing to use this test model with the built in CCF pads. This is mostly because I didn't overcome draft problems with CCF.

Next trip, I would use a wide NEoAir in a bridge hammock, if I thought I might need to go to ground. That may not be as good for somebody a gathered end though.

Oh, and if you look where the Hop valley trail cuts through La Verkin, site #7 is not far out of your way, while the Kolob arch sites would require more backtracking.