Outhouse #6: Kolob Canyons Observation Area Toilets Are Filthy and Rust-Filled -- Ick

Kolob Canyons Visitors Center
3752 E Kolob Canyon Rd
New Harmony, UT‎ USA
utah.com/nationalparks/zion.htm

Where is it?

As stated in our Kolob Canyon Visitors Center toilet review, the observation area here requires taking a five-mile drive past the Visitors Center, into the mountain range behind it. (This is a paved road and it's a bit windy, but nothing too terrible.)

Once there, you find a parking area that has trails to various lookout points, as well as a central outhouse building, containing a handful of multi-sex chambers. The outhouse is pretty hard to miss too, considering that the overlook parking area is small and unidirectional -- you'll have to pass the outhouses either on your way in or out, no matter whether you park or just drive through.

What's it like?

On the outside, the outhouses here look a lot like the top-notch outhouses visited at Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon. They look like a little log cabin -- and because very few people visit this part of the park compared to the lower canyon attractions at the main Zion Park entrance, you expect these to be pretty clean.

Sadly, that isn't the case. This place, while not a total train wreck, was pretty filthy inside. The floor, walls and amenities were covered in rust and what looked -- and smelled -- like urine, as well as some mis-thrown used toilet paper.

The chamber itself isn't much -- about eight feet by eight feet, a standard outhouse in size. It's got a compost toilet in the back corner, a skylight overhead (which actually does a better job of lighting this place than the toilets at the main Zion Park entrance), a couple rolls of toilet paper fixed to the walls, a warning sign asking you not to throw trash into the toilet (though nothing saying you shouldn't throw it on the floor) and that's about it. The floor is concrete, and despite the wood-like exterior, the inside is just sheet metal.

Also, it's a drafty place and you really feel the elements when inside, especially the wind when it blows (and it does often, since you're at about 8,000 feet when you're here).

The views outside are breathtaking, as you can imagine. But inside is a different story. This is definitely a rustic (and rust-filled) spot to relieve yourself -- the woods around you feel much cleaner, believe it or not.

In this case, it may be best to hold it in until you can make it back to the Kolob Canyon Visitors Center. Those aren't great facilities either, but they are much better than what you'll find here.

Marks out of 10:

4. An outhouse, yes, but there are still standards to adhere to.

Comments to the Management:

Clearly, "little used" also means "little cleaned." Enough said.