The weather forecast showed a 0% chance of precipitation in southern Utah for this entire week, a safe opportunity to hike The Narrows, a slot canyon in Zion NP created by the Virgin River. Tuesday was our fifth hard work day in a row; we wanted to leave quickly to make our time off as long as possible. We left for Zion about 2:00 and arrived with time to hike the short Canyon Overlook trail.
On a map, the trail looks like just a squiggle along Pine Valley Creek's canyon but it held several nice surprises. Along about a third of the route there are seeps providing enough moisture to support maidenhair fern, rockmat, penstemon and hummingbird trumpet as well as a bit of shade and some relief from the heat. Then there's a boardwalk built atop steel beams driven into the face of a sheer vertical cliff. And a final short scramble over slickrock to a sweeping down-canyon view.
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| View From Canyon Overlook |
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| Jan on Canyon Overlook Boardwalk |
Back the trail to the Jeep, through the tunnel, a stop at the Human History Museum--attractively presented history-lite, a check on trail conditions and forecast at the visitor center, then a quick dinner and finally the motel in Hurricane. Whew! Busy day.
The weather report said the temp in Zion would reach 101* on Wednesday afternoon so we decided to hike the Hidden Canyon trail early in the morning and tackle The Narrows and its cold water in the heat of the day. We had to go 3/4 mile up (500' elevation gain) the Observation Point trail in order to reach the Hidden Canyon trailhead.
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| View From Observation Point Lower Trail |
The route across slickrock quickly became so narrow and angled that chains had been installed to assist crossing safely. Turning into a sandy space between soaring rock walls, we found a sign announcing the end of the maintained trail and warning that proceeding further required major scrambling. This was the best part of the hike--the constricted canyon was cool with lovely hanging gardens (found a variety of rattlesnake plaintain in bloom!), challenging but fun scrambles and a beautiful little free-standing arch. Beyond the arch the scrambling required more climbing expertise than we possess so we turned around and traveled the same route out and down.
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| Jan on the Hidden Canyon Trail |
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| Hidden Canyon Trail |
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| Jan Hiking the Cliffs |
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| Jan at the Arch |
A shuttle bus soon appeared and we got a brief rest while riding to the Temple of Sinawava, departure point for The Narrows hike. Zion is a wonderful, beautiful, amazing place; unfortunately, millions of people--many of them from Europe--have discovered that. The mile walk to the river (on a concrete sidewalk!) was clogged with those intending to hike the river as well as those who already had and those who had come to watch. At the end of the sidewalk, you begin the hike by crossing a 'beach' of round, smooth river rocks and wade across the river. From then on, you are in the river whose depth varies from mid-calf on sandbars to chest-high at the first bend.
We found walking in the river more demanding than expected--the water is cold, the current swift, the footing uncertain. In addition, the throngs of people increased the difficulty of moving upstream and made the 4-mile round-trip to Orderville Canyon seem more punishment than pleasure. I immersed thigh-high and Fred waist-deep before we turned back.
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| In The Narrows |
We 'hiked' the sidewalk to the shuttle stop, rode to the parking lot, found the Jeep and drove to Cedar City for our second night away. Long, hot showers, clean clothes, a big Mexican dinner and a DQ treat for dessert--we were happy campers! With our hiking agenda completed, we allowed ourselves a relatively late breakfast and an interesting visit to the Pioneer Heritage Museum. Now all that remained was a quick trip to Walmart and the gas station. Lucky for us, the route home is astoundingly scenic so it's hard to complain about returning to Tropic.
