Greater Zion’s Best-Kept Summer Secret: The Virgin River 

Alright. You might know that the Virgin River runs through the heart of Zion National Park, carving the canyons that likely drew you here in the first place, yet most people drive past without realizing its recreational potential. 

Extending from Zion National Park all the way to St. George and beyond, this river is one of Greater Zion’s untapped visitor stops: no lines, no reservations, no crowds to fight for a spot on the shore. Just a river that’s always on. Ready for you to enjoy a ride, a hunt, or a simple dip of your toes.

Float It: Tube the Virgin River

This is one of the best ways to cool off in Greater Zion. It takes zero skill to master. Grab a tube, wade in the river, and let the current do the work. The water moves at a steady, manageable pace through most stretches of tubing, so it works for a first-timer just as well as for a family with kids.

Tubing season runs when water levels sit in that sweet spot: high enough to float, calm enough to relax. Local outfitters, including Zion Tubing, Float Zion, and Zion Tubing Adventures, run guided trips out of Virgin and Springdale. They provide the tubes, the shuttle, and the local knowledge, while you bring water shoes, sunscreen, and a smile. 

Ride It: The Virgin River Skimboard Park

Locals call this spot The Waterfall, and once you see it, the name makes sense. A manmade concrete waterfall feature sits at the center of the park. Around it, the river carves natural sandbars that make for impressive skimboarding conditions, which is a strange sentence to write about a landlocked desert town. St. George has quietly built a real skim culture around this stretch of water.

The park sits next to Fossil Falls Park, providing a great place for young kids while their older siblings can try out the skim park. It draws riders of every level, from kids trying it for the first time to more seasoned riders.

Tip: Best conditions run from March through November, depending on water levels. Bring your own board since there’s no rental on site.

Catch It: Crawdads in the Shallows

This one takes almost no gear and no experience, just a bucket, a net, and a little patience. The same shallow pools around the skimboard park fill up with crawdads, especially in spring, making it one of the simplest ways to keep kids entertained for an entire afternoon.

Wade into the calm, shallow water, turn over a few rocks, and start looking. It’s a slower pace than tubing or skimboarding, and that’s exactly the point. Some days on the river are about moving fast. This one is about sitting still and watching what the water brings you. As a note, live crawdads cannot be transported from any body of water in Greater Zion. Also, kids 12 years and older will need a valid Utah fishing license.

For a weekend plan, head north to Veyo Pool and Crawdad Canyon, a family resort about 20 minutes from St. George. Its warm spring-fed creek is loaded with crawdads, and the resort sells catching kits with a bucket, net, and bait if you want to skip packing your own. It’s a paid entry, catch-and-release stream rather than open river access, but it’s a favorite spot to hunt for crawdads, rock climb, and swim. 

Wade In: Playing in the Shallows

Not every trip to the river needs a plan. Some of the best afternoons here start with nothing more than a towel and a few hours to spare. Wade into the shallow pools, skip a few rocks across the surface, or just sit at the edge with your feet in the current.

Kids play in the mud along the banks. Dogs wander in and out of the water, on and off leash, depending on the spot. The river runs mellow most of the season, though it can rise fast after a storm. It’s worth checking conditions before heading down, especially after heavy rain in Zion National Park upstream.

For a version of this with a bit more structure, walk the Confluence Trail in Hurricane and La Verkin. The mostly flat, roughly 3.6-mile round trip follows the Virgin River past a 1916 power station still standing in ruins, an old grain silo, and a rock overhang once used as shelter by early canyon inhabitants. Basalt cliffs rise on one side, cottonwood trees line the other, and about a mile and a half in, the trail opens onto a sandy beach with picnic tables right on the water. 

One River, Four Ways to Spend the Day

That’s the thing about the Virgin River. It doesn’t ask much of you. Show up with a tube, a bucket, or nothing at all, and it’ll give you an afternoon you’ll remember. The next time you’re looking for a slower, quieter way to spend a day on the water in Greater Zion, spend it on the river that’s been flowing through the heart of this landscape all along.