September 17, 2016

By Tim Briese

8.5 miles, 200’ elevation gain, 8:35 roundtrip time

My wife Teresa and I had this classic hike on our radar for many years. The Zion Narrows is a famous slot canyon in Zion National Park, Utah, through which the Virgin River flows. The canyon is as narrow as 20 feet in some places with sheer walls as high as 1000-2000 feet. Hikers must wade in the river much of the time. The fall is a good time to hike the Narrows because the water level is usually lower, the water temperature is warmer, and the danger of flash flooding is less.

We stayed in St. George, UT the night before the hike and left the next morning at 630 am in the dark for the 45 minute drive to Zion National Park. The Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to private vehicles and is accessible only by shuttle bus for most of the year, but we had a reservation for that night at the Zion Lodge located in the canyon and we had been provided with a red tag which allowed us to drive about halfway up the canyon to the lodge to park. The lodge books up a long time in advance, and we secured our reservation about 6 months before, but only when a cancellation arose for the date we wanted. From the lodge we rode the shuttle bus up to the end of the road at the Temple of Sinawava. 

boarding the shuttle bus in front of the zion lodge

On the ride we were treated to neck-bending views of famous magnificent landmarks, such as the Great White Throne and Angels Landing, and we also saw a rock climber clinging to a sheer canyon wall far above. We got off the shuttle bus with 30-40 other people and began walking on the paved River Walk Trail up the canyon along the Virgin River at about 820. After about a mile we reached the end of the paved trail, which is as far as most of the pedestrian tourists go.

on the river walk trail along the virgin river

Now the real adventure was about to begin. We immediately stepped into the water and made a lengthy wade across the Virgin River. We wore old hiking boots, neoprene socks, hiking pants, and coats.  We considered wearing water shoes of some sort but elected to use the old hiking boots for better ankle support while walking on slippery rocks in the water. We carried our regular hiking packs and found our trekking poles to be invaluable to maintain balance while walking through the water, which we did much of the day. Our valuables were secured in Ziploc bags and other items were in plastic trash bags inside of our packs, in case we got into deep water or slipped and fell down, which fortunately never happened. Many other hikers we saw were wearing yellow and black rental water shoes and rental walking sticks.

our first taste of wading in the virgin river.  teresa is in the center of the photo.

We proceeded to hike up the beautiful canyon, going back and forth across the river as necessary, hiking along the edge on the river’s bank when we could. Sometimes there was no choice but to walk right up the river, picking the shallowest route we could find. In some places the river bottom was sandy but in other places it was rocky, which was more treacherous to walk on. The water temperature was about 60 degrees, not too bad, but our coats felt good this morning. It was forecast to be a 90 degree day in the park, but it would not be close to that in this dark, narrow canyon. There were many other hikers in the canyon. We went much slower than most, as we stopped a multitude of times for photos and to look around. We soon learned to select the best route through the water, where it was shallowest and with a slower current, wading slowly and carefully to avoid slipping and falling. The water often came up to our knees or so, and occasionally it came up to our thighs. The water flow was fairly low today, at about 40 cubic feet per second, which was good for us. It often flows around 75 cfs, and the park service shuts down the canyon when the flow is over 150 cfs, or when there is a flash flood warning. During flash floods the river can flow at 1000’s of cfs! We walked in the water about a third of the time during the first miles of the hike, and about two thirds of the time further on in the narrower sections of the canyon. Had the water level been higher today we would of course have been in the water more.

other hikers going up the canyon

a place where water was seeping down from rocks above

this was a wider place in the canyon where we could walk on the bank for a ways

teresa crossing the river

the canyon became narrower with taller walls

At about 1130 am, after hiking around three miles up the canyon, we reached the point where the smaller Orderville Canyon branches off to the right.

the entrance to orderville canyon.  we continued up the main virgin river canyon to the left.

We continued up the main canyon and soon stopped at a tiny sandy alcove along the river’s edge to eat lunch. The half mile of canyon north of the Orderville junction was the very best of the narrows, as narrow as 20 feet wide with 1000 plus foot walls going straight up! It was cool and shady in this extremely narrow slot with the sun mostly shining only on the high walls far above.

the canyon became narrower and more spectacular

a sliver of sky above between the rock walls.  it was hard to gauge the height of these walls from this perspective.

a shaft of sunlight penetrating the dark canyon

you wouldn't want to be here in a flash flood!

After this very narrow and spectacular stretch the canyon began to open up and get somewhat wider, and the midday sun actually shone into the canyon bottom for a while. Many hikers were lounging around in the sun in this area.

a nice place to relax in the sun

We saw a few backpackers coming down the canyon. They started many miles upstream at Chamberlain Ranch and were allowed to stay only one night in the canyon. We considered hiking another mile up the canyon to Big Spring, which is as far up the canyon as day hikers are allowed to go. However the going got rougher with big boulders to navigate around, and other hikers reported that the next mile was less narrow and more technical. We wanted to keep it fun so we turned around here, at about 120 pm, after hiking about four miles up the canyon. We returned through the narrowest, most spectacular part of the canyon, finding it definitely easier to wade downstream than upstream.

on our way back down the canyon

don't expect solitude on this hike

going back gave us a different look at the canyon, as the lighting changed quite a bit in just a couple of hours

midday sunlight briefly shining into the canyon

the vertical slot in the center of the photo shows just how narrow the canyon is in some places

We decided to hike up Orderville Canyon a quarter of a mile or so to check it out. It was decidedly smaller and narrower with much less water and just a few other hikers. There were minor waterfalls to scramble up and over too, which probably explained why everyone else in Orderville besides us seemed to be under 30 years of age.

an obstacle encountered shortly after entering orderville canyon.  This is trickier to navigate than it looks.

in orderville canyon

Soon we returned to the main canyon and continued downstream.

pretty golden afternoon light on the rocks

We encountered a lot of hikers still coming up the canyon. When we got closer to the lower end of the canyon we saw many, many more hikers. Incredibly, we saw perhaps 500 hikers in the canyon today! It became an interesting social exercise. There was a fellow who told us he was returning to the Narrows after being there 30 years before, there were guys rappelling down a wall, an older man walking gingerly through the water without shoes, about the only hiker we saw all day without shoes, a young man carrying a boom box, some hikers with short shorts, a girl wearing a bridal veil while hiking with her girlfriends, four buff young fellows wearing tight swim trunks and no shirts, an Oriental man carrying a child about five years old dangling above the water, etc, etc. It was a relief to eventually get out of the water and return to the paved trail and hike back to the trailhead and shuttle bus, where we arrived at 520 pm. We returned to the Zion Lodge and checked into our excellent room, which was well appointed and had a nice deck on the rear. After a celebratory glass of wine on the patio in front of the main lodge we enjoyed a wonderful dinner outside on the upper floor deck of the lodge restaurant. We were very impressed with the Zion Lodge, an incredible facility in a spectacular setting on the floor of Zion Canyon.

four-legged visitors at the lodge.  our room was on the other side of this building.

a view from our deck

the dining patio at the lodge

the courtyard in front of the zion lodge

The next morning we did some shorter hikes in the area before leaving Zion and starting to drive across Utah towards home.

a view on a hike we took near the lodge

the virgin river flowing down the canyon near the lodge

these fellows were resting in the shade near hwy. 9 as we drove east out of the park

we stopped to see bryce canyon that evening

A few days later after we returned home I read that a rainy spell moved into Utah and Zion Narrows was closed for a time due to a flash flood, with a peak flow of several thousand cfs! We were indeed blessed with impeccable timing and perfect weather for our trip.