HIKING THROUGH THE NARROWS

Yesterday, we hiked a very popular part of Zion National Park, The Narrows.  The Narrows is the narrowest section of Zion Canyon. This gorge has walls a thousand feet tall and the river is sometimes just twenty to thirty feet wide. You can see The Narrows by hiking along the paved, Riverside Walk for one mile from the Temple of Sinawava (the last shuttle bus stop in the canyon). If you wish to see more, you will be walking in the Virgin River. This can involve wading upstream for just a few minutes or it can be an all day hike.

Mr. W on Riverside Walk

Continuing down Riverside Walk

A hike through The Narrows requires hiking in the Virgin River. You must get your feet wet since there is no trail. Hiking in The Narrows upstream as far as Big Spring does not require a permit. Doing the hike this way allows you to see some of the most spectacular and narrowest parts of the canyon. You can hike in the river for an hour and have a great experience, or you can hike as far as Big Spring, a strenuous, ten-mile round trip, all-day adventure. Now, we are all pretty sure that I wanted to hike for an hour and have a great experience and NOT have an strenuous, ten-mile round trip, all-day adventure.

Most people hike The Narrows in the late spring and summer when the water tends to be at its warmest and the water level drops. However, this is also the time of year that storms can cause life-threatening flash floods. This is late spring and if this is the warmest this water gets, wow.  The water is 56 degrees.  Can you say cold?  Also, The Narrows does not get much sunshine so we had already been told to dress warm and in layers. We changed into our water shoes when we got to the start of the water journey.  Our water shoes have a hard, walking sole but they have holes throughout that let the water in.  Someone asked me what it was like hiking in water that cold.  I told them that once my feet were numb, it wasn't bad at all! :)

Me starting off

Right at the beginning, there was a few dry spots that you could walk on dry land for a few feet before having to get back in the water.

See how tall the canyons are?  Also notice how narrow it gets.

Mr. W standing by one of the canyon walls.

Remember Ranger Zach and the tour on the bus?  Well, do you also remember that there were a couple of Rangers in training on the bus?  OK, one of those Rangers told us that not too far into The Narrows was a waterfall.  Mr. W was set on going at least that far.  We made it.

Mr. W went a little further to see if there was anything around the next bend worth walking to and to see how deep the water got.  There were a couple of spots where the water had gotten to his knees and to my lower thighs.  I did not want to get any deeper than that.  That water was cold and me being wet was making me colder.  He didn't see anything that made him want to continue on, so we started back.

See again how narrow

We found someone who would take our picture.

Water level fluctuates greatly from year to year and day to day depending on many factors such as rainfall and snowmelt. When the river is running below 70 cubic feet per second (CFS), walking is moderately difficult, with knee deep crossings on the slippery and uneven river bottom with frequent pools up to waist deep.

When the current goes above 70 CFS, walking against the current becomes challenging and crossings of mid-thigh deep are frequent with pools that can be chest deep. If the flow goes to over 150 CFS, The Narrows will be closed to all travel. The Narrows also closes when a Flash Flood Warning is issued by the National Weather Service, and remains closed for two hours after the warning is lifted.

The Narrows are susceptible to flash flooding because much of the surrounding area is bare rock that does not absorb water. During storms, runoff is funneled rapidly into the Narrows. During a flash flood the water level rises almost instantly--within seconds or minutes. Flash floods are common in Zion and hikers have been stranded, injured, and even killed by venturing into narrow, flood prone canyons such as The Narrows.  You can see how there is no place to go if a flood started racing down The Narrows.

The Visitor Center has all the information you need before your hike into The Narrows written on a board for hikers to check out.  The water temperature, possibility of rain, possibility of flash flood, etc. are all listed.

Once we got back to where the Riverside Trail ended, we toweled off our feet and put our shoes and socks back on for the hike back.  About that time, the sun decided to come out.  It felt good.  It probably took til we got back to the shuttle bus stop for my feet to start feeling normal again.

We got about half way back and saw this little lady having a snack right by the trail.  All the humans stopping to take her picture didn't seem to bother her at all.

I'm glad I went hiking in The Narrows.  I was worried about the cold water and if I would be able to tolerate it long enough to hike back to the falls.  It really wasn't that bad.  There are companies all around the park that rent closed waterproof shoes and wader pants for hiking The Narrows.  I overheard one lady say that she was completely comfortable and never got cold or wet at all.  If you really didn't want to brave the cold water, that is certainly an option.  However, if you are in Zion, at least give it a try. Hey, you can at least get a T-shirt that says, "I hiked The Narrows."  Who could ask for more?