- Return to Main Page
- National Park Service (NPC) Zion Narrows page
- Good personal Zion Narrows page
| On this page: |
|
Other links:
|
most
scenic and unique two-day hikes that I have done. The vast beauty
of the red-colored canyons that soar almost a thousand feet above the riverbed,
combined with the challenging water-hiking conditions, make the Zion Narrows
a must-do in the U.S. southwest.
Greg Baker and I arrived in Zion National Park in the early afternoon,
in search of cooler temperatures after leaving the scorching Arches and
Canyonlands National Parks. We were in the first half of a month-long
camping and hiking trip around the western U.S. following graduation from
college. I had seen pictures of the Zion Narrows in a southwest hiking
book, and we were very keen on doing the two-day trip. We drove to
the visitor center to inquire about availability of permits and campsites
along the Narrows route. We knew in advance that hiking permits were
limited and that the canyon was not always accessible to backpackers, due
to the occasional release of water from a dam upstream and the limited
number of available safe camping spots in the canyon. We originally
panned to enter the main Paria canyon by descending the adjoining Kolob
canyon, but were told by the rangers that Kolob had deep pools of standing
water that were very difficult to cross, and that the descent may require
rappelling into a freezing whirlpool. They were unwilling to issue
a permit for this trip, and seeing that we did not have the appropriate
equipment for a rappel, we did not really put up much of an argument.
We decided to follow the standard 16-mile downstream route along the Virgin
river (from north to south), covering the entire Paria canyon. It
is a one-way hike, and requires that you have two cars, or that you hire
a shuttle ride to the Chamberlain’s Ranch trailhead on the north side.
Commercial shuttle service is also available to Ranch for a $20 fee. Call
Zion Canyon Transportation at 
877-635-5993
or Springdale Cycles at 435-772-0575. We registered for the hike
to start the next day, and reserved a permit for one night in the canyon.
The hike requires that you walk in the river for over 90% of the journey.
There are twelve sites total along the 16 mile hike, and each site is positioned
above the flash flood level. Up to 80 people maximum are allowed
to stay in the canyon on any given night, and sites are pre-assigned.
We were told that we must also attend a one-hour training course held behind
the visitor's center. The next course was being held later that afternoon.
The flow of the river is the determining factor for hikability. The flow is measured by Cubic Feet per Second, or CFS. The lower the CFS, the easier the hiking will be. Typically, the CFS will be very high during Spring run-off (600-1000 CFS) between March and May, and gradually lower until it reaches roughly 120 CFS by the end of May/early June. By September, the flow may be as low as 30 CFS, which is a perfect level for hiking. We were hiking in early June, and were told to expect fast flow, deep pools, and even short sections that required swimming while floating our packs. We were very excited.
We drove into the park and found a spot in one of the National Park campgrounds. We set up the tent, and then returned to the visitor center for the one-hour safety course. The instructor spent an hour reviewing the dangers of the canyon, in particular the best way to identify and avoid a flash flood. The weather forecast was good for the next few days, which is also required to be granted a permit. During the course we met two guys that also planned to do our hike the following day. We decided to shuttle cars with the guys - we would drive to the start, and they would return us to our car at the end of the hike on the second day.
-
located at the end of the crowded and touristy valley road at the "Temple
of Sinawava". We then headed up to the trailhead at Chamberlain's
Ranch. To get to the trailhead, exit via Zion's East Entrance
station, then drive 2½ miles east on Route 9. Turn left on
a paved road and continue 18 miles to a bridge that crosses the North Fork
of the Virgin River. Turn left beyond the bridge and drive ¼
mile to the gate of Chamberlain’s Ranch. They ask that you close
the gate behind you. Drive ½ mile further and park just before
the road crosses the river. The drive takes about 90 minutes total.
The roads were dirt at the finish but smooth, and we had no trouble with
the rental car.
We started the hike around 10am, and walked for the first 30 minutes along a dirt 4X4 road with the other two guys. Eventually they decided to take a break and slow their pace, and we proceeded onwards ahead of them.
The estimated hiking times for the Zion Narrows by the national park office are as follows:
may
be faster with only a small daypack or when the water levels are low in
the late-season. The first hour (~3 miles) of the hike was along
a small jeep road through a wide canyon, with cacti and trees scattered
between the canyon walls. The walls began to narrow within an hour
of leaving the car, but vegetation and trees still had room to grow along
the riverbanks. Within another hour the canyon had narrowed further,
the vegetation alongside the banks had disappeared, and we were forced
to enter the river. We had picked up good walking sticks during the
first hour of the hike, and needed them once the river walking began.
The river bottom consisted of various sized rocks and boulders - and it
sometimes felt like we were walking on greased bowling balls. We
had decided to wear running shoes instead of hiking boots. It was
a risk for spraining an ankle, but would be far lighter when wet.
Plus, we wanted to save our boots for future hikes, and did not want to
soak them for two complete days in the river.
The canyon grew deeper, and sunlight disappeared from all but the upper half of the canyon. It was cool at the bottom, and we wore long sleeves and a light jacket. We walked through knee-deep water for several hours, until reaching a large waterfall - we followed a detour through a slot between several large boulders just to the left of the river. I stopped to climb around the waterfall, while Greg took pictures of the canyon. We continued, and soon reached the junction of Deep Creek. After this point the depth and flow of the river increased significantly. We were faced with several waist-deep sections, a few chest deep sections, and even a few short pools that required us to swim while pushing our packs in front of us. We had packed all of our gear in plastic garbage bags, and had separated our gear in various smaller packages to ensure that the packs would hold more air and float better. The packs floated perfectly, and we were never concerned with them sinking.
In the late afternoon we reached the junction of Kolob canyon, also
our campsite for the night. To our surprise, we found that the canyon
was completely dry, which was contradictory to the report of the ranger
who insisted that water was high and 
difficult
to ford. We were perplexed, and even walked a 1/2 mile up the canyon
to investigate further. We found nothing more than a dry riverbed.
We made camp on the vegetated sandbar a good 5 feet above the river bottom, and relaxed in a bit of the late afternoon sun that was finally penetrating the canyon. To our surprise, a man came walking down from the dry canyon, and approached us. After lengthy discussion, we learned that he was part of a ranger team performing an investigation of a specific section of the canyon that had been the site of a fatal group accident earlier in the year. A group of three men and four boys had rappelled into the then flowing canyon, into a whirlpool section. The inexperience of the group led to two deaths during the descent into the river. The remaining survivors were now suing the national park service for negligence - they claimed that the ranger office should never have issued a permit to allow the group access to the canyon. The man we talked with was on a day-long investigation of the site - in particular he had spent 8 hours hanging from the canyon walls on an identical rappel, filming all of the various features of the accident site. Minutes later another two men emerged from the canyon - the remaining members of the investigation group. They politely asked if they could bivy for the night near our camp. We readily agreed. One of the rangers was determined to make it back to town that day, and he set off down the canyon as darkness began to set in. We chatted more with the one man, before he and the other investigator retired to their bivy sacs for a good night's rest. Baker and I finished dinner, climbed into the tent, and were asleep just after dark. It was amazing to hear all of the noises in the canyon during the night -the insects and animals were ten times louder at night than during the day. The canyon seemed alive in the darkness.
We
woke up early, and found the investigators still in their bivy sacs.
We made breakfast, packed up camp, and started again back into the river.
Within an hour we reached the most narrow part of the canyon, spanning
little over an arm's length wide, while reaching over a 1000 feet in height.
It was impressive and a bit scary. This section lasted for about
two hours, when the canyon again began to widen but still remained very
high. We hiked for another hour, when we found several tourists hiking
up from the mouth of the river, where car access is possible. We
had expected to hike for much longer that morning, but were back at the
car within four hours of leaving our campsite. There were dozens
of people touring the mouth of 
"gateway"
to the narrows, and we sat down to relax and wait for our car-shuttle partners
to return so that we could retrieve the cars. They arrived within
an hour, and we completed the three-hour task of retrieving the cars and
returning to camp. Together we drove back to the national park campsite
and checked in. We walked to the nearby supplies store and bought
food and beer. We spent the night with the two guys and several other
hikers, telling stories, eating, and drinking. We finally went to
bed late, tired after a full day of work.
We woke up early the next morning, as the sun had already hit the walls
of the tent and heated the tent to uncomfortable levels. We packed
up and left the campground, and headed back into the Zion Valley for the
day. We day-hiked around the canyon, up to a waterfall that overlooked
the valley floor. We returned to the car and left Zion, headed for
nearby Bryce Canyon. Zion was one of the top highlights of our month-long
trip, and is still one of the best two-day hikes that I have done to date.
Did you find a mistake
in this page, or do you want to add an image? Please submit
your new information.