Hiking The Narrows

We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Our town is less than an hours drive from Zion National Park. There are some amazing hikes in Zion, but my favorite hike of all hikes has always been "The Narrows".
For a day activity we went with a group of family and friends to hike the lower part of the Narrows. It's not too strenuous and a permit is not required. The main thing to worry about it the weather. If there is any kind of storm, even with in 50 miles, there is a danger of flash floods. We picked the perfect day to hike. The sky was blue, the temperature pleasant, and the forecast for floods was low.


When we first got to Zion we parked at Lodge, and were required to take the shuttle to the bottom of the canyon where we started our hike. There is a paved trail for about a mile before we reached the trail head leading into the water. Because we had summer storms move through a few days before we found the water quite muddy. It made it difficult to see the rocks as we went up stream. On person said "This is like hiking in Braille! A requirement is a good hiking stick and shoes that support the ankles.

The views through the slot canyons are spectacular. Some cliffs are a sheer 2000 feet up. Pictures just don't do justice to the experience.

We saw beautiful waterfalls along the way.

Ricci and I tried to stay as dry as possible. She succeeded better than I did. I biffed it over one tall rock and have some wonderful bruises that are turning lovely colors today.

This is one of our all time favorite hikes. We even got my 16 year old son to go with us "old people". His dad could keep up with him, but not the rest of us.

My brother lives in California. When I called him a few weeks back to invite him along, he immediately said "Count me in!" This is an experience he has wanted to have for years. He had seen pictures of the Narrows and said it was on his "to do" list. As we were hiking I said "Is it what you expected?". He said it was. He even anticipated it would be a little more difficult. We took 2 1/2 hours in the water to get up to Orderville Canyon (the stopping point before a permit is required) and 1 1/2 hours to get back down. The water level varied from knee deep to high thigh in places. Lots of crossing the creek back and forth.

Part way up we stopped for the lunch we brought in our back packs. My husband always likes to bring strange things to eat along the trail. (Yes, it's from his side of the gene pool my kids get

the same ideas). Today's treat was Herring Fillets. Must be his Norweigen ancestry!

Coming back down you hike with the flow of the stream. My husband and son liked to jump in the deepest parts and ride the river down like a water slide.

At first my brother just watched my husband and son in the deep parts. After a while he said "Hold my things, I'm going in too!" He figured he may never do this again, and didn't want to by pass an opportunity. Those silly boys!

Coming back we were tired, and our muscles felt the 5 hours we had trudged over bolders, through swift currents and down trails. We were also very grateful for the experience of seeing this amazing canyon. Nothing else like it anywhere in the world.