Hiking through The Narrows

[IcameIsaw]

Virgin River has carved a spectacular sandstone canyon in southwest Utah. The top-down hike through Virgin River Narrows in Zion National Park is considered one of the 10 best day-hikes in America. A 16 miles stretch of the river passes through an amazing slot canyon which can be traversed when the river is flowing below 120 cubic feet per second. It is not a technical hike that requires any special gear, but involves some scrambling and wading through water. Flash flood warnings are common during summer which can make this hike a death wish. The National Park Service wisely stops issuing permits for the hike when there is a threat of thunderstorms in the area.

Even though we had reserved our permits in advance, this hike almost didn't happen for us. Skipping a 14er hike in Colorado with the rest of our hiking group, so we could focus on the top-down Narrows hike, my brother and I were able to reserve two permits for Sep. 20th. We had chosen a time of the year when the river flow is at its lowest and we felt pretty good about our chances. But as luck would have it Southwestern United States was hit by not one but two hurricanes in September. The first one, Hurricane Norbert, washed away a mile long stretch of a major highway between Las Vegas and Southwestern Utah. Fortunately the road was repaired in record time and was open when we travelled. However, when we arrived we encountered unseasonable rains from remnants of Hurricane Odile.

We landed in Las Vegas on Sep. 19th to sunny skies with a few white clouds. But by the time we approached Zion National Park we could see thunderstorms in the region. We kept our fingers crossed hoping the clouds would pass but the rain continued to pelt the area. We checked into our hotel in Springdale near the entrance to the park, and directly went to the Wilderness office in Zion National Park Visitor Center. National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning which meant no permits were being given and we had to wait for the next day to pick up our permits. That would make completing the day-hike highly improbable. Moreover, the private shuttle we had arranged to take us to the trailhead cancelled their trip due to bad weather. So we were forced to return to the office early morning and see if we could get permits for the following day.

After having a hearty pizza for dinner we headed back to the hotel and packed our backpacks, still hoping to do some hiking the next day. After a restless night we got up early to reach the Wilderness office. We managed to be first in line at 5:30 AM after a foot race through the parking lot. Soon there was a queue of other hikers behind us whose plans had also gotten affected due to the weather. With the rain still falling lightly we stood patiently for the office to open at 7 AM. We managed to snag two permits for Sep. 21st. Since we had nothing else planned for the day, we decided to drive up to Bryce Canyon National Park to do some sightseeing in the morning. The rains had stopped by the time we returned from Bryce so we did a short hike in the afternoon to Angels Landing in Zion. After a successful hike to the top we headed back to our room to recuperate for the next day's big hike.

Our shuttle pickup was at 6:30 AM and we were there early in the morning. The shuttle took 1.5 hours over some treacherous hilly roads to get to the trailhead at Chamberlain's Ranch. The final stretch of the road was barely passable and our shuttle driver did a great job driving over unpaved muddy road amidst dense fog. As soon as we got off the shuttle at 8 AM, my brother and I went ahead of the pack of hikers. The first few miles of the hike were through gentle pastures by the river side. It made for an eerie scene to catch glimpses of cattle grazing in the morning fog hanging over the area. We hiked faster as we had a long hike ahead of us. We had to catch the last park shuttle from Temple of Sinawava at 8:30 PM, which would give us little over 12 hours to complete the strenuous hike.

After 3 miles we took a fork in the trail heading towards the river and passed Bulloch's Cabin, an old dilapidated hut in a small pasture. At this point we entered the river and crossed it for the first of many times. The North fork of the Virgin River didn't seem to have much flow and we enjoyed the reprieve. The river passed through some amazing landscape. The Upper Narrows were bright and inviting. Certain sections are so narrow that you could touch both sides with your hiking sticks. The river bottom was covered with small pebbles and it was fun walking in ankle-deep water. The water temperature was supposed to be a frigid 56 degrees Fahrenheit but it felt tolerable. Where the river got deeper we looked for side trails to circumvent that stretch.

We kept a good pace through this section of the river knowing we would slow down when we get to the deeper section of the canyon. No sooner had we gotten comfortable with our hike, with no major obstacles, we reached a logjam of trees blocking the canyon with no clear way around it. But what looked insurmountable at first was overcome with some climbing over the fallen tree-trunks and squeezing through gaps. Feeling confident, like when you have solved a puzzle, we marched on and soon reached a 12-foot waterfall. We had read about this obstacle and knew that no matter how tempting it may seem to jump over the falls, the prudent approach is to take a narrow trail through some boulders on the left side. We enjoyed a quick cool down under the waterfall. It had taken us less than 4 hours to cover the first 8.5 miles but then this was the easy section.

After less than a mile we came to the confluence of Virgin River and Deep Creek, which had twice the amount of flow. We took a short break, admiring the wide canyon and how the sunlight falling on certain sections made it such a mystical place. The junction was littered with grey stones some as big as pumpkins. We wish we had time to explore the upstream section of Deep Creek but we knew we had to press on. We passed the smaller Kolob Creek and Goose Creek junctions at one mile intervals.

It was beginning to get warmer, as daytime high was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, but at least there was no threat of rain. We could see clear skies through the canyon walls. For the next couple of miles we encountered small campsites marked with numbers but did not see any camps. So far we had the whole canyon to ourselves and had not seen a soul except for 2 fast hikers who had passed us in the Upper Narrows, sprinting like cheetahs. The heat and exhaustion had slowed me down and soon a few hikers from our shuttle caught up with us. Together we headed towards Big Spring, the next major milestone in our hike.

At 3 PM we reached Big Spring which is the north-most point bottom-up hikers are allowed to hike. There we encountered some hikers who had hiked up that morning and we asked them about the river condition. Big Spring is a nice spot to sit and relax, watching water magically gush out of moss covered rocks. After taking a quick dip in the waters I felt rejuvenated and ready to tackle the next section of the canyon. We went around some big boulders and wondered how the canyon was still passable.

The river was flowing at a faster rate and we could feel its force as the canyon walls got narrower. After a considerably tiring and monotonous section we entered the Wall Street. With the canyon getting narrow and deeper, there was nothing but sheer walls of the canyon on both sides, with little sunlight filtering through. These lower Narrows were dark and foreboding. We heard strange sounds of Sipping Turtle and Hiccup Spring as we waded through the river. This section of the river is particularly dangerous as there is no high ground if a flash flood comes barreling down the canyon.

The river was flowing at 40 cubic feet per second which was above the seasonal level though still waist-deep. We reached the junction of Orderville Canyon and saw some bottom-up hikers turn into that section. We decided to carry on as at this point the end of the hike was only a couple of hours away and we were feeling tired of walking in the river constantly slipping over smooth rocks.

The canyon walls receded a bit and more sunlight came through. We passed an overhang by the side of the river and came across some people rappelling down into the canyon from top. They must have been part of some adventure group as we later saw them in wetsuits floating down the river. We were seeing a steady stream of bottom-up hikers coming up and knew we were getting closer to the end as we reached Mystery Canyon Falls, a sheet of water sliding down 100 feet over a smooth rock wall. In another 15 minutes we found ourselves coming out of the river on to dry ground at Riverside Walk. We added our hiking sticks, which we had found earlier, to the pile by the river side for other hikers to use.

The one-mile paved trail brought us to Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop at 6:30 PM where we boarded a shuttle which took us back to the Visitor Center and our car. In nearly 10.5 hours we had cover 16 miles of one of the most wonderful canyons that one could safely get close to. Once we got back to Springdale my brother and I sat down for a post-hike burger marveling at what we had just experienced.

[maarten.1975]

Its a fantastic hike, isn't it? I've done it couple of years ago.
It's so beautiful how this little stream becomes the Virgin river.
Great man!

[tjrun]

Enjoyed reading your report. My daughter and I did the hike through in June and it was awesome!