Zion National Park (July 4-6, 2008)

Roanne and I have been meaning to hike the Narrows in Zion National Park for some time, and we finally decided to go do it on the July 4th weekend.  We headed down to Zion on Thursday night, and camped in some free camping at the Mosquito Flats just outside the park.  All of the slot canyons in Zion require backcountry permits, that can be either booked ahead of time or on a first come first serve basis on the day of.  We had booked a permit in advance for the Narrows on Saturday, so Friday morning we got up early and headed to the visitors center to see what other canyon we could get a permit for.  Our first choice was the Subway, but after getting to the visitors center an hour late due to confusion over opening times, we settled for our second choice, Orderville Canyon.  Here is a photo of Roanne packing up the gear after we obtained the permits:

Most of the slot canyons require a shuttle, since they are point to point hikes.  This is best done with two cars, where one is left at the finish point and the other is driven to the starting point so that upon finishing you can drive back to the start and pick up the other car.  We, however, had only one car, so I had brought along my commuter bike to leave at the visitor center so that upon finishing I would ride back and pick up the car, then drive back and pick up Roanne.  With this in mind, we left my bike at the Visitor Center (where we would finish the slot canyon) and drove towards the trail head.  The trail head ended up being about 40 km (with about 20 km on dirt roads) from the visitor center, which was a bit longer than I had envisioned, but there was nothing to be done about it at this point.  We parked the car and set out down the trail, which started with a few miles of steep dirt road (too steep for PT).  You can drive this if you have a 4WD, and luckily partway through some people drove past in a pickup truck and let us jump in the back for the last part.  We then started hiking along a trail, descending into a wide canyon on steep sandy trails:

We then continued along the canyon, it was pretty hot in the sun but the canyon soon started to narrow and things got cooler:

As we progressed, the walls became higher and closer, and the hiking became more fun:

The narrow slots and bright sun made for some nice lighting in the canyon:

At one point the slot canyon was blocked by a giant boulder, which I easily picked up and moved out of the way:

As we progressed we started hitting some patches of water that we had to wade through:

There was also some interesting wildlife, like this shiny metallic frog:

We had to do three short rappels that were fun, and a few spots where we had to jump into the water:

The last of these involved jumping into a deep pool beside a water fall and swimming for the other side.  We had brought dry bags with us, so we used these to stow our gear and keep it dry before doing these sections.  Finally the slot canyon emptied out into the lower section of the Narrows, and we hiked down this (among the throngs of people who walk up from the Temple of Sinewava shuttle stop) to the shuttle stop, and returned to the visitor's center on the free park shuttle.  We arrived at the visitors center at 6:30pm feeling pretty tired and hungry, but unfortunately the car still had to be retrieved from the trailhead 40 km away.  Roanne stayed at the visitor center to wait, and I headed out on my bike.  The ride started with a switch backed climb up to a 1.1 mile tunnel called the Mt. Carmel tunnel.  I was a bit worried about this stretch, as it was not lit and not very wide.  As I rode towards the tunnel I saw a sign posted saying that there are no bikes allowed in the tunnel, but as I rode past the ranger standing outside the guard house before the tunnel, she didn't say that I should stop, so I thought maybe people just ignore that sign and ride it anyways.  It turned out that I was wrong, after I was about halfway through a car pulled alongside me and told me that the ranger had asked them to tell me that I should turn around as there are no bikes allowed in the tunnel.  At this point I was halfway through, and if I turned back I would have to ride the same distance through the tunnel as if I kept going, and then I would still be faced with the problem of needing to get through the tunnel, so I decided to keep going and beg for forgiveness from the ranger on the other side.  It was really dark, so I stopped to put on my headlamp, and continued through to the other side.  The ranger there told me to stop and wait by the side of the road in a stern voice, so I was a bit worried that I might get fined or something, but she just told me not do it again, and even made some jokes about it so that wasn't too bad.  I then continued on my way, and after a jarring ride along the washboarded dirt road I finally reached the truck at around 8:15pm.  I then sped back to the visitors center to retrieve Roanne who had been waiting patiently, and we went to look for some food as we were both famished.  We ended up at a Thai restaurant just outside the park, which was way overpriced with mediocre food, but it was fast so it served the purpose.  We then headed back to Mosquito Flats and hit the sack.

The next morning we once again rose early and made it to the visitors center by 6:30am to catch the commercial shuttle that we had wisely arranged for the Narrows hike.  We drive there with two other people, a couple in their 30s and a pair of women.  We started hiking just before 8:00am, walking first on a dirt road and then on a trail along side the Virgin River.  Here is Rosie on the first part:

After a while the sandstone walls appeared on both sides of the river.  At one point there was a log across the river which we crossed.  As Roanne was taking this picture I informed Roanne that I was Trapeezio the stunt man, and she told me that I should jump up and down on the log, but I politely declined.

As we continued the canyon deepened, and we began moving through some narrow sections where we were forced to walk through the river:

After a while we came to a waterfall that we hiked around:

Here is a picture of us with the waterfall in the background:

From this point on the canyon alternated between narrow sections and sections that were wider with some vegetation:

About halfway through the Narrows we came upon the Big Spring, which had water flowing out of the sandstone walls with a lot of vegetation growing:

We had a camel bak with us for hydration purposes, and stopped regularly for water breaks as it was pretty hot by the early afternoon:

At some points it was quite deep, and it was nice to have the poles with us to stabilize us as we waded through:

The combination of the orange sandstone walls and blue-green tinted water made for some nice scenes:

Here are a couple of "landscape shots":

Here is a shot of me pondering the climbing possibilities with some nice light in the background:

As we began to get closer to the bottom there were more and more people who had hiked up from the Shuttle Stop (permits are only required for through-hiking), and the atmosphere became less and less like a wilderness slot canyon and more and more like a crowded beach.  This was too bad, because some of the more spectacular scenery occurred in this stretch, but the trampled vegetation and screaming teenagers floating down the river in inner tubes detracted from our enjoyment of it so we put the camera away and moved quickly through this final section to the shuttle stop where we returned to the visitor center.  Unlike the day before, we had lots of time to spare, so we went to a park and relaxed in the shade while reading our books before going to the Bit and Spur restaurant in Springdale for dinner.  This was apparently a local favorite, but while the atmosphere was nice (and we were able to watch the Tour de France stage on the TV) the food was pretty disappointing.

I had brought my mountain bike along and was interested in trying to ride the nearby Gooseberry Mesa, so we decided to drive there that night and camp.  We found it without too much trouble, and decided that the best plan would be for me to get up super early and ride for a few hours while Roanne slept in.  This would work out well since Roanne didn't have a bike, and it would be well over 100 degrees at mid day so it was better to get my riding done while it was still reasonably cool.  I got up early the next morning and did the ride, which was super fun.  The trail is mostly over slick rock, with a painted trail similar to the slickrock trail in Moab, but unlike that trail which was designed for motorbikes, this one was designed with mountain bikes in mind.  I covered most of the trails in a few hours so it is not that extensive, but the trails are really fun and I would recommend it if you are in the area.  I got back to the tent just before 10am, and we packed up and started the long drive back to SLC.