Hiking up a River

7/2/2018

Today was one  of the coolest hikes ever. We woke up at 4:30am to pack up our camp and head to the Narrows trailhead about an hour away. We got into Zion fairly early, but no one was there yet to answer any questions. We weren’t sure if there was a flash flood warning, or anything else we should have been concerned about before hiking into a narrow, water filled canyon.

We figured out that lots of people were hiking the Narrows, and that we needed to take a shuttle to get there. Without any second thoughts we ran back to the car, made PB&J sandwiches, packed our hard boiled eggs, and ran to the shuttle line. It was surprisingly long, but moved fairly quickly. We nodded off for a bit before arriving at our stop. Fortunately, a bunch of other people got off before the Narrows.

We all had our boots on, and thought we were prepared for the hike. I knew a lot of it was walking through water, but I was not expecting most of it to be through water! The hike was incredible, weaving through tight canyons over rocks and through waist deep water. The water was cold, but the perfect kind of cold for this day. We were able to spend most of our time in the shade due to the nature of canyons and light rays.

More photos of the canyon at the bottom - worth a look!

We wandered in for about two and a half hours before deciding to turn around. Our entire hike in was pretty quiet with a few other people hiking near us. On the way out, it was a different story. Obviously most people do not get up at 4:30 to hike, most people get up later. The closer we got to the trailhead, the crazier it got. There were way too many people in this space, so when we got back to the paved area, we got out of there as quickly as possible. 

Fortunately, there was no wait for the shuttle, and we headed back to our cars, then our campsite. Our campsite is walking distance to the shuttle stop and visitors center, which will be convenient if we do some more hiking in the canyon tomorrow. 

We set up camp, but quickly made our way down to the river for a swim. Between the heat, and the early mornings this past week, we were all moving a little slow all afternoon, but the water was a much needed relief. 

We struggled through the heat to make our delicious chicken curry noodle dish for dinner, and tossed the frisbee around until it got dark. Despite the relief of the cool evening, we had to make a fire. This may be the last place we can have a fire, since it’s heating up and forest fire season is upon us. We sat far away from the fire, and made some fancy s’mores until it was time to call it a night.

Tim and Elyse are going to a bunch of cool things tomorrow, while Alex and I rejuvenate a bit after a morning hike in the cool air. Tomorrow is another Zion day for me and Alex before heading to Arches to meet up with our friend Brian!