Shunesburg Mail Drop Trail

The Shunesburg Mail Drop Trail is a short, sandy walk in the Canaan Mountain Wilderness, just outside Zion National Park's southeast corner near the historic (now mostly vanished) settlement of Shunesburg. The half-mile route through deep sand leads to the site of a 600-plus-foot cliff where, in the early 1900s, mail carriers lowered letters and packages to Shunesburg residents on a cable-and-pulley rig rather than risk the steep, dangerous route down known as the Wiggle Trail.

Good to know

• The trail is about 0.6 miles one way, rated easy, with essentially no elevation gain on the approach itself.
• Deep sand makes the walking slower than the short distance suggests.
• The site sits on BLM-managed Canaan Mountain Wilderness land adjoining the park, not inside Zion itself.
• It's a quiet, little-visited piece of Zion-area settler history rather than a scenic overlook hike.