This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise on the mountains of Zion NP that can be seen right from our front door. Because we didn’t have the earliest of starts this morning, we decided that hiking the Narrows (bottom-up day hike) would be best. (Our hike tomorrow – Angel’s Landing requires an early start due to heat and crowds). We purchased some neoprene socks to keep our feet warm and a pair of used canyoneering shoes for myself (my weak ankles need all the help they can get); they were less expensive that the rental version, plus, who knows, maybe we’ll get the chance to do something so awesome again.
The Narrows can be reached by riding the canyon shuttle ALL the way to the back of the canyon, to the Temple of Sinawava. Thankfully the weather and water gods cooperated and the river conditions were perfect for hiking. If that last sentence confused you, check out the pictures. 2/3 of the 6 miles round-trip that we did are in knee to waist deep (cold) water though a slot canyon. There are many other slot canyons to be explored in Zion, this one just happens to be the most easily accessible and doesn’t require winning a permit in a lottery held 6 months in advance of hiking. (Zion has 3 Million visitors a year, so it’s quite a crowded place). As you can see from the pictures, this hike definitely won the “totally unique experience” award. It was cool, refreshing and beautiful. What it may have lacked in cardiovascular rigor, it made up for mentally (every step was a careful choice) and sore legs and muscles (fighting the current all day does take its toll on your legs). Hiking poles definitely helped out a ton, allowing us to probe the water depth to make sure we never stepped off a ledge in the Virgin River (even though we had everything water-proofed, we didn’t particularly want to go swimming).
We made our way back to the hotel via the shuttle around 6 pm, and picked up a pizza from across the street, as well as a salad and baguette from a cute little food market right down the road. We feasted and watched the sun go down from right outside our motel door. We relaxed bit in the saltwater pool (again, sunset on the red rocks), took a warm shower and are ready to hit the dusty trail again tomorrow to tackle Angel’s Landing.
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