Backpacking The Narrows (Zion National Park)

Back in May, Andy and I had the chance to go backpacking in Zion National Park.  We hiked the entire narrows (camping one night in the actual narrows).  It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g!!!

You can read a shorter summary at my sisters' and niece's blog The Merrythought.  Click here.

The food we packed:

-car snacks

-oatmeal (breakfasts)

-granola bars, apples, trail mix (snacks)

-bagels and tuna and salami (lunches)

-Trader Joe's Indian Food pouches (dinner)

The first night (a Friday) we arrived at 1:30am since it was about an 8 hour drive for us.  We forgot that there would be a time zone change, so it was actually 2:30am.  We already knew that the campgrounds were full at Zion since it was Memorial Day weekend, so we found a spot off the road in National Forest land outside of the park.  By the time we fell asleep it was 3:30am.  We knew we wanted to be the ranger station as early as possible to ensure we could get a permit, so we only slept until 5am.  We got to the ranger station in the park at 5:30am.  It opened at 7am so we just hung out with the other brave souls waiting to get a permit.  We were the 5th group in line.  The way it works, you get your permit for the following overnight, so we weren't actually backpacking until the next day.  

Since we knew we would need to both hike out and drive home all in the same day, we intentionally chose sight Narrow's number 11 so it was further down the river and therefore a shorter hike out.  The sights are AWESOME!  It is totally worth overnighting in the Narrows if the water level is in your favor and you have the gear to do so!  We recommend renting a $5 walking stick from any of the local outdoor stores (there are plenty just outside the park).  We got ours from the Zion Adventure Company.

Since the road to get dropped off at the top of the Narrows is a 1.5 hour drive and not on park land, there are private companies you must contact to get shuttled up there.  There were some options provided by the Park Rangers, so we took those numbers and headed to get some coffee (since we only had 1.5 hours of sleep).  There is an AWESOME coffee shop (which we went to every day...haha!) in Springdale, UT called Deep Creek Coffee Company.  It had very good coffee and food.  We stopped at a local grocery story there in town too to get some fruit and other misc. items.

We then set out to find a shuttle to reserve for the next day.  It turned out that THIS was the most stressful detail of our trip (had we known, we would have called days in advance to reserve it).  We called and every place said that their vans were already full.  We even visited a couple of the places in person hoping it would make a difference...it didn't.  A couple hours later, we started calling all the places a second time.  One, Red Rock Shuttle, said - you're calling again? You must be desperate.  I'll start a second vehicle.  Meet us tomorrow morning at the Zion Park's visitor center flag pole and we'll drive you up there.  We thanked them profusely and were finally able to go about the rest of our day.

We did two days day hikes that day: one less-than-four-hour hike to Angel's Landing (which is not for those afraid of heights, but TOTALLY WORTH IT!!) and a shorter less-than-an-hour hike to Emerald Lakes.  

Angel's Landing Photos:

After these hikes, we were then super tired from our shorter night, so we decided to go find a place to sleep.  So that night (Saturday) we again found a spot in the local National Forest just outside the park to sleep.  This time it had a fire ring (we didn't have a fire due to the drought) so it was a way more official site than our first night. It was off the side of the road just about 3 miles outside Rockville, UT (if coming from the Park).

We had our camp all set up by about 6pm and went to bed shortly after.  The next day, we woke early, went to the coffee shop again, and went to the Zion visitor center to meet our shuttle.  Only one other group was doing The Narrows hike.  The rest of the groups were getting dropped off along the way to go canyoneering.  

We started hiking on Sunday around noon.  The hike began as simply walking down a road.  Eventually it began to go along a creek and then eventually the trail was the creek itself.  The water was a perfect level.  Only one time did it go hip-level.  The rest of the time it was at our knees or below.  You do hike with your hiking shoes on because it provides better grip and ankle support.  Each of the 12 campsites in The Narrows are by the river and a good distance from each other, so you truly feel like you have the place to yourself!  

We arrived to our site (#11) at about 7pm.  We brought dry clothes to change into at camp, including dry shoes, which was heavenly!  I hiked with my bathing suit on, knowing I would care less if I got wet that way.  As you can read here, the water level was definitely in our favor on our two days in The Narrows.  We even went for a swim to clean off before getting in our dry clothes.

At one point we had debated doing the entire 12 mile hike in one day.  I am SOO glad that we didn't because my feet were SOO tired by the time we got to our campsite.  The next day it was hard to put wet clothing and shoes back on, but since the hike immediately started in the water, that sensation soon dissipated.  

It was quite the work out, especially in the currents.  As you can see in these photos: 

At one point we saw search and rescue getting a hiker who appeared to have broken his leg.  We hiked out with the crew and even saw him getting loaded into an ambulance at the end of our hike as we were taking the Park-provided shuttle from the end of the Narrows back to the Zion Visitors Center.

As you can see from our photos, the views were unbelievable. The canyon walls were so tall!  I would put it on my top 5 hikes in the USA!  It was grand!

On our way out on Monday we, of course, stopped at the coffee shop one last time and then made our way home.

We went to work the next day (Tuesday) exhilarated and pumped from our unbelievable weekend!

If you live anywhere near Zion/The Narrows or are able to make the trip, we HIGHLY recommend it!  Of course you'll certainly want to connect with the Ranger Station to ensure water conditions are hikeable and ALWAYS be mindful of the potential of flash flooding.

For those who know you won't ever do this trip, we hope you enjoyed living it vicariously through us! :)