You are here

A National Park Classic: Hiking Zion's Narrows

Share
Alternate Text

Not long into the first day of your top-to-bottom hike, the canyon walls close in on you/Michael A. Lanza

We splash downstream in The Narrows of the North Fork of the Virgin River, deep in the backcountry of Utah's Zion National Park, mostly craning our necks up like turkeys hypnotized by falling rain. But our fascination is not with rain, but red walls on both sides that rise hundreds of feet overhead. The sun does not find us in this deep canyon, where the air temperature approximates the inside of a refrigerator, and the ankle- to calf-deep water feels about the same.

Then we round a bend in the river and the walls abruptly draw in really close.

My friend David Gordon and I grin and wade slowly into the first true 'narrows' section of The Narrows. Sheer, roughly 200-foot-tall walls pinch in to maybe 15 feet apart. While we've been in the river more often than walking beside it since we started the hike three hours ago, and have forded it dozens of times, now the river spans the entire gap wall to wall. It's still only calf-deep, but darker and even cooler in here, and funereally quiet.

David and I have come to Zion to finally scratch the itch I've had for years, to backpack one of the National Park System's greatest and most enduringly popular routes: Zion's Narrows. A 16-mile hike from the top at Chamberlain's Ranch, outside the park, to the bottom at the Temple of Sinawava in Zion Canyon, The Narrows canyon reaches depths of more than 1,000 feet, while its walls at times squeeze in to just 20 feet apart.

Hiking The Narrows is, in a sense, both a macro and a micro sensory experience. You gaze up in awe at sculpted walls rising into a cobalt sky, the red rock streaked black in places where water briefly pours over them during a rain, and only the very tops of the cliffs kissed by sunshine. From that perspective, the scale humbles.

But it's also very much a close-up, intimate environment: chilly river water fills your boots, and your feet stay wet from the first river ford —less than an hour into the hike— until you pull your boots off at the Temple of Sinawava trailhead. (We wore special canyoneering boots that drain water, and warm, 4mm-thick neoprene socks.) Hanging gardens of greenery sprout from sandstone walls, nourished by natural springs pouring from cracks in the stone. Much of the way, you step from one slick, rounded river stone to the next, ankles working harder than any other body part. In autumn, the leaves of cottonwood trees growing in wider stretches of the canyon burn a brilliant golden against the burgundy cliffs.

Leaving campsite No.1 on our second morning, David and I hike another two hours downstream before encountering another pair of backpackers, the first people we've seen since we got dropped off at the trailhead yesterday. But then we begin running into day hikers coming upstream, a flow that starts as a trickle, but grows into a steady stream. We're glad we backpacked The Narrows instead of day-hiking it from the bottom up, for the solitude you get in the upper section.

Still, despite the growing numbers of hikers, we're transfixed by the canyon. Beyond the incongruously lush ferns and plants growing out of the wall at Big Spring, where water erupts from rock as if by black magic, we pass through the Wall Street stretch of The Narrows, the most-famous and most-photographed leg of this hike. Dark, vertical walls barely 30 feet apart shoot hundreds of feet straight up out of the water. Even at midday, the light in here is as dim as dusk.

Below Wall Street, the canyon widens and we walk in warm, bright sunlight for the first time in some 24 hours, a stark contrast with the sometimes-chilly innards of The Narrows. Now there's a parade of day hikers filing past us, also in striking contrast with much of this adventure. But it's OK. We've seen one of the special places of the National Park System, and for much of the time, we had it to ourselves.

Alternate Text

Campsites bring you almost on level with the Virgin River flowing by/Michael A. Lanza

Backpacking The Narrows

The 16-mile descent of Zion's Narrows can be done in a day or as an overnight backpacking trip. Because you're walking in the river much of the time, on slippery, rounded rocks, total walking time can run 12 to 16 hours or more. Camping a night in the canyon is a unique experience, and allows you extra time to explore tributary canyons and take a lot of photos. Because the canyon receives little direct sunlight and the water can be cold, the prime season to hike it is late spring and summer. Flash floods are a danger, so do not enter the canyon when rain is in the forecast.

A backcountry permit is required to hike The Narrows from top to bottom, whether you're backpacking or dayhiking it, and it's difficult to get a permit for this popular hike. You can reserve one up to three months in advance, enter a drawing for a permit reservation seven to two days in advance, or go to the park's backcountry office in early morning the day before you want to start the hike and apply for a first-come permit. For details on how to apply for a permit, see this website.

The road to the upper end of the hike, Chamberlain's Ranch, is long and rough; shuttling vehicles yourself can take hours and risk damaging your own vehicle. Shuttles, as well as rental gear for Narrows trips (dry suit, canyoneering boots, and neoprene socks), are provided by:

Nama Guides www.namaguides.com

Red Rock Shuttle www.redrockshuttle.com

Zion Adventure Co. www.zionadventures.com

Featured Article

Comments

Thanks for sharing this, Michael.  The Narrows hike is an adventure that's hard to describe and you did a fine job of catching it in words.  I'm gonna have to go do it again someday.

Just a point of information, there's an outfitter in Springdale who will rent dry suits and other equipment for Narrows hikers that might make trips possible even in cooler weather.  I don't have details, but anyone interested can easily find them right there on Main Street.


Add comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.