Zion’s Lava Point Campground closes through June 3, 2026

Zion’s high-elevation overnight option at Lava Point is off the board through June 3, 2026, and that shuts down a favorite base for campers aiming for cooler nights, fewer crowds and easy access to the park’s west side. The campground sits at about 7,890 feet on Kolob Terrace Road, roughly 25 miles north of Virgin, Utah, and about 1 hour and 20 minutes by car from Zion Canyon’s South Entrance.

That closure hits hardest for travelers building a West Rim or Kolob-adjacent plan around a Lava Point start. The Lava Point area is the trailhead for the West Rim Trail, which begins near the overlook and runs across high alpine terrain before dropping toward Potato Hollow. Anyone counting on that high-country launch for an early-summer backpack or a quieter overnight base will need to reroute to another campsite or move the trip off the mountain entirely.

The timing is especially tight because Zion National Park is also under Stage 2 fire restrictions. Under the May 22, 2026 rules, open fires are prohibited across the park generally, including campfires and charcoal fires in Zion Canyon campgrounds and picnic areas. Cook stoves fueled by petroleum or liquid propane gas are still allowed, and Zion says campers at Lava Point Campground may still have fires in established fire rings. Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said dry conditions across the region were increasing and that the restrictions were meant to reduce the risk of human-caused wildfires in Zion.

For anyone trying to salvage a June trip, the practical fallback is the park’s developed campground system, especially Watchman Campground and South Campground. Zion says it has three campgrounds, but from mid-March through late November they are full almost every night, and standard sites can be reserved up to six months in advance. That means late planners are likely looking at either a reservation scramble or an overnight plan outside the park.

The same current-conditions page also flags a separate change coming June 7: size and weight restrictions on the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance. For now, though, the immediate message is simpler. If Lava Point was the anchor for a high-elevation Zion itinerary, it is not available through June 3, and the rest of the trip needs to be built around that fact.