Hike Langston Mountain via Hop Valley Zion National Park, UT

Apr 3, 2026 — Looking at my options for today’s hike, I found my eyes drifting toward the Kolob Canyons area, where I quickly realized I’d never hiked the Hop Valley Trail. Tucked away, this lesser-visited trail starts along the Kolob Terrace Road and intersects the La Verkin Creek Trail near Kolob Arch. I was excited to explore a new nook within Zion National Park, and Langston Peak immediately caught my attention as being a reasonable peak objective.

The Hop Valley Trail begins by leading pretty directly through sagebrush in a wide, sweeping meadow at the base of Red Butte. The trail is sandy and descends gradually at first. Farther along, when Hop Valley comes into view, it drops a few hundred feet along an old roadbed to enter the drainage below. Of course, all of that has to be re-ascended on the way back.

Hop Valley was a delight, water flowing through the wide, sandy wash and towering sandstone cliffs rising on either side. The trail crosses the thin stream a few times before reaching the mouth of Langston Canyon.

Initially, Langston Canyon is a wide-open sandy wash, but it quickly narrows into a boulder-hopping mess. Fortunately, this section only lasts for about a quarter mile, with the final obstacle being a steep slope used to bypass a significant trickling waterfall. Past that, the terrain mellows out again briefly until the drainage splits into two forks. The left fork had what seemed to be an impassable fall, while the right looked brushy and tight. Since neither seemed pleasant, I chose to ascend directly up the slope separating the two forks. While steep, nothing exceeded Class 2, and I was able to avoid whatever chaos might have been waiting in either fork. Plus, being higher up gave me a much better view of the landscape. Following the slope that straddled the forks was easy, and eventually I dropped back into Langston Canyon.

I could see Peak 7134 off to the left and knew immediately that there was no way my little obsessive peakbagger brain would let me ignore it. It’s unlikely I’ll be back here anytime soon, and it was literally right there, so I planned to snag it on my way back. But first, I continued toward Langston Mountain. Ahead, I could also see upper Langston Canyon, a break in the substantial cliffs that would lead toward the summit.

Hiking was trivial to reach the upper portion of the canyon, but the going became steeper as soon as I reached the slickrock at its base. Above the first section of slickrock, I left the drainage on the right and found the remains of an old trail. I have no idea why it was there, and even though nature had mostly reclaimed it, the old foundation made travel through the brush much easier and helped me avoid the more serious obstacles in the drainage below. Eventually the trail disappeared completely in the upper reaches of the canyon, and I stayed in the watercourse for a short time until it made sense to escape it on the left.

Once out of the drainage, I climbed a steep slope covered in little trees and manzanita, though the bushwhacking was basically nonexistent since the brush wasn’t too thick. Looking back, I could see deep into Langston Canyon, along with an impressive drop into the valley below. After ascending a few hundred feet up the loose slope, I reached the ridgeline of Langston Mountain and followed it to the high point.

The Kolob Canyons and surrounding peaks were a welcome sight, a viewpoint I was totally unfamiliar with. The best part was seeing Kolob Arch from above. From this perspective, the famous landmark looked even more massive and beautiful than when it is far more often seen from the Kolob Arch Trail below.

I retraced my steps to the base of Peak 7134, just before ascending to the slope separating the two forks of Langston Canyon. Here, I headed up the slickrock to attempt a route to the summit. Initially, the slope didn’t exceed easy Class 2, and it stayed that way until just below the ridgeline, where I pushed through some brush to navigate around some small upper cliffs.

Now on the ridgeline, I started up the toward Peak 7134. Some sandy Class 2 scrambling led to the first crux, a Class 3+ seam with good holds. A bit more ascending along the narrow ridgeline brought me to the final crux, another Class 3+ move that felt a little more exposed. That deposited me on the summit, where the views were excellent, though fairly comparable to Langston Mountain.