Knee Deep in the Creek

One week ago today Cory and I stepped into the cold running water of the Virgin River in Zion National Park. We were compelled to make it out to Zion one final time this year to hike the Narrows, the slot canyon at the northern end of the shuttle route in the park. The Narrows is no ordinary trail. This hike requires water slogging - A LOT of it - and it can be quite chilly in a space that can easily be a wind tunnel and gets little sun.

Our goal was to hike five miles upriver to the campsites that hikers stay at when they through-hike the river from the top. For the first two miles we were joined by hordes of day hikers in everything imaginable - bikinis, barefeet, and even a big guy wading in his skivvies. Like I said, this is no normal guy's hike and it was frightening to see the number of people on the river unprepared. While you can rent special boots and pants for the Narrows hike, we outfitted ourselves and did pretty well. I wore: a sweat-wicking sports bra, a sweat-wicking tank top, Under Armour long sleeve shirt and tights, UV tank top, fleece sweatshirt with hood, light-dry cargo pants, wool hiking socks and Keens. We also brought along hats, gloves, extra clothing to keep our cores warm and extra socks.

At two-and-a-half miles, we came to a point where a second canyon joined the Narrows. After that, the hikers became scarce and the scenery became even more exquisite. Unfortunately, it is so dark in the canyon that it's difficult to take pictures, but the walls were covered in thick moss and ferns and waterfalls that sounded like timpani drums ran out of cracks in the canyon walls. We even found one section of the wall covered in insect exo-skeletons.

Around three miles into the hike we came upon Wall Street, an amazing portion of the hike where the canyon narrows significantly and sheer canyon walls rise straight up on both sides. It's the part of the hike where I really felt at the mercy of nature. If anything had happened at this point - flash flood, rock slide, etc. - we would have had nowhere to go. There were no sandbanks on either side of the river, and we had to carefully navigate our way up the rushing water through slippery rocks. At one point, the water was nearly up to my waist.

Four miles in we hit a portion of the river filled with huge boulders we had to scramble over and navigate around. At this point, we were only sharing the river with a few interspersed hikers and a significant number of trout. Not knowing what time it was, but knowing we'd been on the river for quite some time, we stopped at four-and-a-half miles to eat our sandwiches before turning around and heading back. Only two other groups of people passed us as far as we could tell.

Now, I would have thought getting downriver would be easier than the trek up it, but it wasn't at all. In fact, I moved so slowly and had to concentrate so hard on getting my footing that, once we were back in a place with other people, hikers were passing us right and left. Going back down the river I fell twice, but luckily just my arms were wet from catching myself and not my actual core.

Triumphant, we made it back to camp in one piece, though a bit stiffer than when we'd left. Who knew we had all these unknown muscles? We can check the Narrows off of our list of things to do in this lifetime - though now we're talking about taking the through-hike from the top of the river. Another day...

See more of our pictures from the Narrows here.

Wet and dirty,
JoAnna