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Ever since I saw the ”Secret’s of Zion and Bryce” on Travel Channel earlier in the year I have been wanting to hike the Narrows and Angel’s Landing.  My friend Nui was going to be in Salt Lake City for work and I made a trip up there to see my townhomes.  So we also planned to visit Zion for a few days.

It was a 4.5 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Zion National Park.  We had reservations at the Pioneer Lodge which is located just a mere 1/2 miles from the entrance of the park.  The lodge is in a great location if you are visiting Zion and want to stay outside the park.  Staying at the Zion Lodge would have been ideal, but the had no rooms available.

In the morning we ate breakfast at the Pioneer Lodge restaurant and then caught the free Springdale shuttle bus which took us to the entrance.  From there, we paid the park entrance fee and caught the Zion shuttle which brings you deep into the park.

The Narrows

The Narrows is hike is a like none that I’ve ever been on.  You hike up the Virgin river in a deep canyon.  This hike is about 75% in water.  The beginning of the hike is an easy paved 1 mile trail called the Riverside Walk.  When you get to the end of the trail, the fun begins.  I highly recommend getting hiking poles and some shoes made for water.  If you get a nice pair of hiking poles you can travel up the canyon alot faster, which will allow you to go further in.  Zion adventure company also rents equipment and we saw many people with their shoes and sticks.  If you don’t have a stick, look around, you should be able to find some walking sticks laying around at the first water crossing.

The park ranger told us that most people travel about 1 mile an hour on this hike.  It is slow going because you are stepping on wet rocks and are going against a pretty decent current.  We hiked about 2 miles in, ate lunch and then turned around and hiked back.

We did not get to Orderville Canyon, which was our goal.  In retrospect, we had plenty of time and could have easily made it there.  However, people coming back kept telling us it was still another hour or two’s hike out.  We were very close to reaching it.  Oh well, this leaves us a goal for the next time we do it.

Now, time for some pictures!