Archangel Cascades (Zion National Park, Utah, USA)

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Archangel Cascades

The Archangel Cascades

The Archangel Cascades are a series of cascades sheeting their way down the hard sandstone bedrock as the Left Fork North Creek continues to trickle its way further downstream. Like other similar pages in the Utah region, the waterfalls here are really my excuse at sharing the more epic adventure most people come here for. And in this case, it's the Subway (also known as Left Fork of North Creek).

In case you don't know what the Subway is, it's a spectacular semi-technical slot canyon in the Kolob Terrace section of Zion National Park. This cascade is merely a side attraction to the funky formations that have made this slot somewhat famous amongst canyoneers.

Within the Subway of the Subway hike, we needed to secure a permits (which we obtained at the Watchman Campground's Backcountry Office). Actually, the hike is not easy as it's about 8 miles out-and-back including a steep descent and ascent down into the canyon carved out by the Left Fork of North Creek. Plus, the trail is not obvious at the river level (at least on the way there, but it was easier on the way back).

If you're doing this place as a through hike, you'll need to have canyoneering gear., you will certainly run into these sets of refreshing cascades. You will probably have to go up and down these cascades as part of your hike as well.

As for the Archangel Cascades themselves, they are located a few minutes before the mouth of the actual Subway itself. Once you're inside the Subway slot canyon, you'll probably need some canyoneering gear (unless you like wading in frigid water) to go further upstream or downstream (if you're coming from within).

Directions: Trailhead access to either of the two ends of this excursion is via the Kolob Terrace Road (or Kolob Reservoir Road), which branches north of the town of Virgin along State Highway 9 (around 8 miles or slightly less). We did the out-and-back option from the bottom so we parked at the Left Fork Trailhead instead of the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead (for canyoneers).

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The upper Archangel Cascades

The uppermost of the cascades

The lower Archangel Cascades

The lowermost of the cascades

Some dome near the trailhead

Descending down the steep cliff to get down to the river level

Dinosaur Tracks along the trail

Facing the Subway

The pool obstacle that turned us around. There's a waterfall at the other side of this deep and frigid pool

Walking towards the top of Archangel Falls on the return hike

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TRIP REPORTS

For more information about our experiences with this waterfall, check out the following travel stories.

April 26, 2003

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