Zion Narrows

[Bo_Beck]

Re: Kayak: Zion Narrows Trip!


Actually Tanya, the trip was as dangerous as you would want to make
it. I went into the day with a HUGE amount of apprehension, but
quickly found that the apprehension gave way to total focus. The only
reason I was injured is because we didn't take the time to discuss
proper river procedures before starting. We did discuss that we'd pull
over and scout any and all questionable spots, but soon we got lax and
one person would stop and either flag the others over or flag the
others to run it. Thats where we needed to spend some time....the
proper signals for "Stop" or "Go". I saw Michal posed and pointing
below. I "assumed" (ass out of you and me)he meant for me to go. Big
mistake. We discussed it after my incident however. There were
numerous portages after that and none of which were close calls. There
was generally ample time to get to one side or the other before any
hazards. The Deep Creek section was narrower and faster moving than
the actual Zion Narrows, and also had several waterfalls that could
have been really dangerous (one was for me because of lack of
communication). Once we arrived at The Narrows the water level was
pretty low and the trip was much more "laid back", but not to say it
couldn't have been dangerous?! I was paddling a Tomcat with a
partially inflated right chamber, and yet really didn't have problems
maneuvering to avoid obstacles, or arriving ashore to portage
dangerous spots. I certainly felt more comfortable in the Narrows than
I did in Deep Creek though. My plan is to learn how to paddle a
Hardshell this summer and next year repeat a similar trip on a
different boat. I would suggest the paddling trip through the Narrows
(accessed via Chamberlain Ranch to anyone interested, but am an
advocate of some good training beforehand. I think an ideal water
level for a first time-novice would be 200-250 cfs though. We went
through the Zion Narrows and it was somewhere around 170? and I had to
drag the duckie a few times. A bit more water would have made it less
physical.

--- In Zion_National_Park_Hiking@yahoogroups.com, "~tanya" <gotta>
wrote:
>
>
> So the whole thing is dangerous! [:D]
>
>
> --- In Zion_National_Park_Hiking@yahoogroups.com, "Bo" <bbeck>
> wrote:
> >
> > It wasn't really any more dangerous, you just had to do a lot more
> > paddling to get around the rocks and trees.
>