With gorgeous blue skies, white clouds and large red stone spiers, we knew we had made the right choice in exploring the beautiful Kodachrome Basin area. Named after the kodachrome color film in 1948, the park lives up to that name with vivid and varying colors.
Families on bikes and foot are found throughout the park. There are an abundance of hiking trails, biking trails and equestrian trails. It is the perfect out-of-the-way place to camp for 2-3 days or if you are like us, to spend a day exploring. Crowds are almost non-existent and the trails are well maintained.
Facts about Kodachrome Basin
Opened to Public: 1963
Elevation: 5,800 feet
Known for: The 67 monolithic stone spires or chimneys found throughout the park.
Location: 9 miles south of the town of Cannonville just off of Highway 12. A quick 30 minute drive and 22 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park.
Cost: $8 per vehicle
Activities: Horseback riding, Biking, Hiking, Camping
Best Time to Visit: Spring and Fall are the best months because the temperature is mild.
Hiking
We decided to do a couple of different hikes as the hikes are short in distance and do not have much elevation gain making them suitable for all ages and hiking levels. Kodachrome is one of the most family-friendly parks we have been to. I was pleased to see that they have one ADA accessible trail as well.
Angels’ Palace Trail
Angels’ Palace Trail rises 150 feet from the basin floor resulting in stunning views of the park. Be aware that the nature of the rock is to become brittle and break off. It is recommended to keep everyone at least 10 feet from the edges. This easy trail is 1.5 miles long and takes about 45 minutes to hike. We lingered at the top enjoying the wonderful views. Don’t forget the camera for this hike.
Grand Parade Trail
Grand Parade Trail is a flat, super easy 1.5 mile trail. It is hard packed sand and well maintained with signs along the way. While exploring this trail, there are options to divert from the trail into 2 small box canyons. A box canyon is where the canyon ends and there is no exit out the other side. It is worth mentioning that bikes and horses are not allowed in the box canyons, only those on foot can enter. To demonstrate the difficulty of this trail, I completed these hikes 8 days after my knee scope surgery and although a bit slow, I had no trouble completing the hikes. The trail loops up near 2 spires and then around and into 2 box canyons.
Shakespeare Arch
Shakespeare Arch is the only arch within the boundaries of the park. Large areas of the park, Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand-Staircase Escalante can be viewed from different points along the trail. The hike to the arch itself is easy. If you continue to complete the loop it becomes more strenuous. Total distance for the loop is 1.7 miles.
Where to Stay
We chose to stay at the Best Western Ruby’s Inn in Bryce Canyon National Park. It is the sister hotel to the famous Ruby’s Inn and we were not disappointed. The hot breakfast, comfortable and spacious rooms, heated pool and hot tub made our stay very nice and we will return again. There are several places to stay in Cannonville if you want to be closer, and of course, you can choose to camp at Kodachrome. There are a couple of small cabins pictured below for those who don’t love camping. A nice, new laundry facility was just installed at the camp ground.
