Video captures new rockfall at Zion's Weeping Rock site of 2019 injuries

A new rockfall at Zion’s Weeping Rock sent a sharp reminder through one of the park’s busiest canyon corridors: this is still active cliff country, not a guaranteed safe stop on a hiking day.

The Springdale resident who filmed the slide captured it at the same Weeping Rock area where three visitors were injured in 2019. That earlier event unfolded on August 24, 2019, around 5:30 p.m. to 5:50 p.m., when a large slab of Navajo Sandstone broke off Cable Mountain roughly 2,000 to 3,000 vertical feet above the trail. The rockfall hit the closed East Rim Trail, then showered the area below with dust, debris, branches and smaller rocks.

Park officials said two of the injured visitors were treated on site and one was hospitalized. Nineteen people were stranded at the bottom of the Weeping Rock Trail until they were able to self-rescue after shuttle operations were halted for about 90 minutes. A Utah Geological Survey report later identified the event as the August 24, 2019, Cable Mountain rock avalanche and documented the scar and debris field left behind.

Zion National Park says rockfall in the canyon is frequent and unpredictable because the cliffs continue to change under erosion, water, freeze-thaw cycles, groundwater pressure and temperature swings. Park geologists say unstable sites may stay closed while crews monitor conditions, which is why route choice in Zion has to start with closures and not trailheads. In a place like Weeping Rock, the practical move is simple: treat any blocked, signed or reopened-after-assessment stretch as active terrain, and build your day around the park’s current access rather than assumptions from a previous visit.

The danger at Weeping Rock did not end with 2019. Zion has said another slab of sandstone fell near the same general area in November 2023, and the Weeping Rock Trail and Shuttle Stop 7 did not reopen until September 5, 2025, after repairs and geologic assessment. That long gap tells the story better than any warning sign could: in this part of Zion, closures are part of the safety system, not an inconvenience.

The same lesson has shaped other high-use parts of the park. Zion’s Angels Landing permit program reflects what managers learned from metering hikers in 2019 and 2021. At Weeping Rock, the fresh rockfall lands in the same hard reality: narrow canyon walls can change without warning, and the safest route decision is the one that respects the rock above the trail as much as the trail underfoot.