Kolob Reservoir

On Thursday we took a ride out to Kolob Reservoir which is located at a higher elevation on the western side of Zion NP. On the route there is a restaurant in the small town of Virgin, called "The Cactus Room Cafe". It is located in Buffalo Trails Trading Company. It is right along Highway 9, the main route to Zion NP. This is not a fancy place and seems a somewhat eclectic assortment of items to buy and food items to consume.

As you enter the establishment you quickly realize this is more than just an eatery. They have a lot of native american art work and paraphernalia, that follows the name "Trading Company". They also have other things to eat such as Ostrich Jerky and a myriad of other Jerky treats. We did not try any of those items as we were saving ourselves for the main attraction, the "Buffalo Burger".

Before we got our order we were seated at a booth and the waitress, a very pleasant young lady, brought us glasses of water, rather large containers of water.

She is not one to argue with as we saw her carry 7 of these at once, full of water or soda to another table. They are glass, not plastic, very heavy.

We had ordered the Buffalo Burger, for which this place is famous, and so the waitress brought the mustard and ketchup condiments. They do not skimp on the quantity of these items and as you can see, serve them in the original, large containers. No individual packets to mess with here.

Here is the Buffalo Burger. Bob, who is the owner, chef, sometimes waiter etc, brought these to us and stated "I have worked 4 years 7 months 23 days and a few hours to perfect these, you don't need no mustard or ketchup or anything else. They are perfect as they are". So we tried them as he suggested and he was right, they were without a doubt one of the best tasting burgers we had ever eaten.

Really a fun place, lots of character and personality both with the people there and the establishment. If you want further images and some information regarding the Buffalo Trails Trading Company, visit their facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cactus-Room-Cafe/494889983910102

Having finished a wonderful lunch we headed towards Kolob Reservoir. As mentioned, the road, which is a great paved all the way road, is along the western boundary of Zion and in fact you meander in and out of Zion as you head towards the reservoir. Signs indicate such as you follow the road.

There are lots of sandstone rock formations along the road. In the 24 miles to the reservoir you meander in, around, and among a variety of eroded formations. You are also climbing, the reservoir is a little over 8,100 feet and Virgin, where we started was only 3,600 feet.

We thought this image was interesting. It shows the striations in the sandstone and if you look closely at the tree in the center left of the image you can see the roots extending a long ways out from the tree probably searching for water.

This particular formation reminded us of a Mummy that you might see in one of those recent Halloween movies. It is very fascinating how the winds and rain over time have eroded different sections of the rock at different rates.

Some of the softer stone disappears quickly forming the holes you see while the winds and blowing sand create the other features.

Along the road you will encounter this turn. It is not a highway built for speed but rather slow travel and stopping to absorb the beautiful surroundings. The 5 MPH curve sign caught our attention.

Here, you can see why they wanted you to slow to five MPH. You do not want to go careening off the road to see the rock formations up close. There are trail head parking areas scattered along the road to the reservoir and trails from which you can do that much better and a whole lot safer.

This is just another example of the formations that you can see along the road. If you are ever in the area around Zion NP be sure and take the road to Kolob Reservoir out of Virgin, it is a fascinating excursion. Also, stop at the Cactus Room Cafe along the way and try their Buffalo Burger, it is fabulous.



We hope you enjoyed this information and if you have any questions email us or leave a comment on this post.

Best Regards - George & Deanna