Zion Driving Conditions & Live Cameras

The drive: what the road actually does

From Duck Creek Village you take SR-14 east to Long Valley Junction, turn south on US-89 along the Sevier River through Glendale and Orderville to Mt. Carmel Junction, then west on SR-9 up to Zion’s east entrance and the Zion–Mt. Carmel tunnel. Plan on about an hour to the gate.

This is the drive where elevation works for you: the village sits at 8,400 ft while Zion Canyon bottoms out near 4,000 ft. When we are snowy on the mountain, US-89 south is usually just wet and Zion is often dry — winter is genuinely one of the best times to enter from the east side.

The one segment to check on the cameras is the first 15 minutes of SR-14 down to the junction, which carries the mountain weather. Past Long Valley it is a low, sunny highway drive.

Winter driving to Zion: and the tunnel rule year-round

US-89 and SR-9 stay open all year and rarely hold snow. The bigger constraint is the Zion–Mt. Carmel tunnel: since June 7, 2026, RVs and trailers over 35 ft 9 in long (50 ft with a trailer), 7 ft 10 in wide including mirrors, or 11 ft 4 in tall are prohibited from the entire Zion–Mt. Carmel Highway — the paid escort program no longer exists. Oversized rigs detour via Highway 59 toward Hurricane and Jacob Lake, or Highway 20 north of Cedar City. Check the NPS large-vehicles page before towing anything through the east entrance. UDOT’s signs on SR-9 post the same size limits you’ll see on our alert strip when active.