The Utah Redemption Tour: An Unfinished Odyssey in the Zion Narrows

When we travel to earlier time zones, Anthony – already a natural early riser – adjusts his schedule to take early morning work calls with coworkers and clients on the East Coast and Europe. I, however, am a night owl through and through. By nature, not by choice. The earlier time zones allow me to bump my sleep schedule a little earlier, but I need to train myself. Year 4 on the road, and for the first time ever, I've successfully maintained an earlier schedule, waking up by 7:30am most days. This has been great for us on our Utah Redemption Tour. We've been able to hit popular trails before the crowds pour in, and early morning is just so peaceful, especially in places this gorgeous. This is why hiking The Narrows in the morning was a no-brainer. The temperatures would be a bit cooler, but we could start our hike with less crowds. Usually, the early hikers are also serious, and this typically means we're all respecting the trail, everyone's pace, and the beauty around us.

Unfortunately, our plans only get us so far. Sometimes, external forces come into play, and we have no choice but to ride them out. We attempted to reserve our gear rental – kits that include clothing and equipment for staying dry, warm, and balanced on the trail – but we were not able to pick up the kits the evening before as we were told. We'd need to wait until the outfitter opened in the morning, which would set us back on our plan to be on the first shuttle at 7am. To make matters worse, we had a frustrating evening followed by a night of poor sleep, thanks to rowdy and inconsiderate neighbors. I was recovering from a stomach virus and had on-and-off dehydration migraines, which made me worried if I'd even be able to hike at all.

I covered the details of the Zion Narrows hike in the last post, where I also linked to a great article by The Hiking Guy. To quickly summarize, though, The Narrows is one of the most popular hikes in Zion National Park. What begins as an easy 1-mile stroll along the banks of the Virgin River, ends in the river itself, as hikers wade their way through the fast-flowing water between the tall walls of the Virgin River Gorge. The hike is considered strenuous, mostly due to the fact that it forces you to engage muscles and neurons not usually typical on a hike. The "trail" is out-and-back, and most hikers do not go the whole way. The entire hike would clock just over 9 miles total, and with the added resistance of the current and slower speeds due to tricky footing, a mile needs to be treated as at least 2. Some hikers simply want to know the feeling of hiking through the water, and they turn around fairly quickly. Others set a potential turnaround point, with some of the popular choices being:

1. The first waist-deep section of water
2. Where the canyon begins to narrow
3. The river split, where going east takes hikers to Orderville Canyon and west takes them to Wall Street
4. Floating Rock, a feature on Wall Street
5. The end of Wall Street

We wanted to make it to the river split and perhaps go a little further to experience Wall Street, an area where the river gets deeper in more points, and the higher, dryer banks disappear. However, we would remain flexible, seeing how far we could go in the hours we had set aside. We couldn't be out for too long because we'd need to get home to the pupper (who, spoiler alert, was very happy to see us, and thought we smelled really weird after our hike).

My excitement for the hike helped dull the remaining headache pain I had upon wakening, and I assumed that like the day before, the headache would come and go. And so, we set off to Zion Outfitters and arrived just a few minutes after they opened. So much for the early bird getting the worm. Look at the line!

We wondered how many people already had "reservations." It didn't seem to matter either way. Anthony thinks that they did hold gear for us day-of, even if they had run out the evening before. I'm not convinced. Reservation weirdness aside, the staff are efficient. They have to be. The line moved quickly, and once to the front, it only took us a few minutes to get our appropriate size boots, be handed our garb, and run inside to grab a dry bag. The staff briefed us on how to put on the gear while we were waiting in line, so by the time we procured our garb, we were ready to suit up.

The way the bibs keep out water is by gaskets around each ankle. We were instructed to form a skin-tight seal just above our ankle bone. Then we secured the cloth part of the leg with a velcro strap. After that, we put on neoprene booties that, while not entirely waterproof, help to keep our feet warm and blister-free. We top those with canyoneering boots. The springtime gear kit doesn't include a dry shirt, but you can rent one as an add-on. Children, however, get one automatically because the water will more likely be past their waist. We wore normal quick-drying hiking shirts under our bibs. Finally, we completed the ensemble with walking sticks and the dry bag that we added onto our rental.

Our setback meant that we weren't able to pack our dry bag the night before as we had hoped, so we took our new looks to the streets and went back to our truck to pack. Then, we headed over to stop #1 on the shuttle, in front of the visitor center. Timing-wise, we did alright. We may not have caught the 7am, but after a short wait in a manageable line, we were in our shuttle seats before 8am. Our quick dressing allowed us to beat much of the crowd that had formed at the outfitter. To our surprise, when we were leaving, the line was only a few people long. Guess "backwards visitation" is in active swing here, too. Everyone got up early to grab their gear as soon as the store opened.

40 minutes up Zion Canyon Road to the last stop on the shuttle, and we were off to the Riverside Walk, the 1-mile easy trail that leads to the good stuff. Of course, if you aren't keen on river-hiking, you are welcome to just take this scenic walk along the Virgin River. The views are beautiful.

The start of the Narrows is where most people congregate. The riverside walkers get to soak in the scenery and watch all the intrepids take their first steps into the water. The intrepids engage in both their pre-hike and post-hike regroups. We drank some electrolyte water and snapped our picture, commemorating our last dry moments.

The first part of the river was only ankle deep, but the big struggle was learning how to walk on all the chunky rocks. The walking sticks come in handy for balance and for testing the area we were about to step on. Then, before we felt sure-footed, we hit a point of rapids. They pushed up against us, making it harder to balance. They also clouded the ground below so we couldn't see the rocks. Also, battling rapids with a migraine? Talk about disorientation! Thankfully, as expected, my headaches came and went, and overall I think the exercise did me good. Blood flow, baby!

We quickly learned a few tactics to help us along. Most of the time, the sides of the river were easier than the middle. We followed the people in front of us to see where they would go and if they stayed on their feet. If they did, we'd follow. In this part of the Narrows, if the water is low enough, there will still be points of dry land on the higher parts of the riverbanks. We headed to dry land every chance we could because we wanted to make good time getting to the river split. Mostly everyone opted for the easiest path forward, whether that was holding onto the canyon wall, heading to a shallower section, or walking on dry land. Ain't no shame in this game!

The downside to following the dry banks was that they kept alternating which side they were on. This caused us to zig zag, which not only led to more overall distance, but also meant some river crossings in precarious places.

Everyone tried to time their crossings at points where the rapids were calmer, but this wasn't always possible. One crossing in particular, we saw multiple people go down. All you can do is laugh it off and hope people help you back up! Somehow, Anthony and I stayed upright. We had a few close calls, but our sticks came in clutch. We thanked our Utah Redemption Tour for giving us ample opportunities to hike over the past month. We were feeling strong, covering ground relatively quickly and adapting to the strange sensations. The weirdest feeling was when we got deeper in the water, and while we couldn't feel the wetness on our legs and waist, we could feel the pressure of the water. At only 52CFS that day, the current felt so strong against us! Park staff close the Narrows when the current gets too intense, but that isn't until 150CFS. We can't even imagine getting anywhere in that level of flow.

Speaking of the flow, oftentimes the Narrows does close in springtime due to snowmelt. This past winter got surprisingly little snow, which has left the current of the Virgin River at extremely low levels for this time of year. Curious as to what the levels were two years ago when all hell broke loose in Utah? We were too, and so we looked up the river gauges on April 30 and May 1, 2023, the days we got flooded out by the Spanish Fork River. Looks like the Virgin River topped out at 3230CFS! We found a video that gives some sense of how insane that is.

So, we suppose we were lucky to delay our Utah bucket list adventures a couple of years, or else we wouldn't have been able to hike the Narrows. Even though water levels were low, we always need to watch out for signs of rain, because flash floods can occur at any point. The outfitters track the water levels and forecasts, as does the park staff. We had anywhere from a 0% to 22% chance of precipitation that day, and were given the lowest risk of flash floods. Still, on the lowest risk, we're reminded that our safety is our responsibility.

Over the course of the hike, we gradually adapted to our conditions. Our footing improved, thus improving our speed. We talked about how this hike is unique in its requirements of us. We need a whole different kind of physical stamina than a normal hike. The resistance of the current gave us a crazy thigh workout, and that's not usually the leg muscle taking the brunt on our hikes. We had to deal with the discomfort of our squishy neoprene booties and all the strange sensations of the water pushing against us. We also noticed our increased mental fortitude. We had lots of decisions to make all at once. Where would our feet step? Which side of the river did we want to hike on? Where did we want to cross to the other side? How could we best avoid the rapids up ahead? How far did we want to go? Critical thinking was key.

With all of this, we found ourselves focused on each step, but we had to remember to look up once in a while to marvel at the canyon walls.

We had found our groove, clocking a little under a 40-minute mile and feeling stronger with every step.

We kept a close eye on our timing because we knew we wanted to be back to the shuttle stop by 1pm. This meant we could hike upstream until around 11am, and at our pace, we would make it to the river split with time to spare.

Then, less than a quarter-mile from the split, the unthinkable happened. It started to rain. First just a little drizzle, and so we decided we would continue onward until and unless it started raining harder. About a minute later, it did. Not a downpour or anything, but definitely more than a drizzle.

We had a tough decision to make. While we knew the water levels and current were extremely low, we also knew that this rainstorm wasn't predicted. We looked up and could only see dark sky. We looked to see what others were doing, and most seemed to not even notice it was raining, or they were in denial. One mother, however, saw us contemplating and came over to ask us, "It's raining. Doesn't this place get flash floods?" Together, we debated whether or not to turn around. I told her that the chances of a flash flood were still low, but since Anthony and I had at least gotten to the narrower part of the gorge, we were satisfied. We decided to turn around, but the mother continued onward. We were part of a small handful who decided to turn around at the first instance of rain.

Was this extra prudent? Absolutely. But look at us with floods! We claimed the natural disaster as our own for a reason. Also, floods in Utah? Forget about it!

Interestingly, as we hiked back, we noticed some obvious changes. Higher parts of the river bank that were completely dry now had mud. Our deepest section of the river was below our belly buttons on the way in but over our belly buttons on the way out. More water was falling over the canyon walls. That little trickling waterfall in the photo above had gotten larger. It was scary to see how just a tiny bit of rain could make such a huge difference. We wondered if more rain had fallen further away and had started collecting into the gorge. Then, as we approached the last half-mile before the entrance to the river, the sun began to poke out. The hikers coming in had no idea we had hit rain, but if you looked closely at the sky, you could see that the clouds were competing with the sun.

We would have loved to experience Wall Street, if not for the beauty then for the added fun of going deeper into the water. But, we take "turn around, don't drown" very seriously. In total, we hiked almost 4.5 miles: 2 miles on the riverside walk and 2.5 in the river.

Wanting to maximize our time in the water, we kept a quick pace on our way in on the river walk. Now that we were out of the river earlier than expected, we took our time, taking in the scenery. The canyon walls get so much water that lovely green moss and plants grow on them. We also saw lots of colorful flowers and a plump squirrel that was way too comfortable with people. As Anthony said, "Someone broke the rule." Aka, don't feed the wildlife!

The clouds cleared, but between our arrival and departure from the hike, the current had increased 3CFS. Later that afternoon, our weather apps alerted us that thunderstorms were in the vicinity and we had more rain at the campground. Operations at the Narrows continued as usual, but we know from personal experience that it's not always about the numbers. Just a small change could make the rapids stronger, causing more people to lose their footing and possibly get injured. The CFS doesn't need to reach anywhere near 150 for it to be dangerous.

We're glad that as far as we know, everyone who continued hiking made it safely through. We don't regret our decision at all. We felt no need to rush back to the rig, and so we went into the visitor center after we returned our gear, so we could pick up our Zion national park pin. Those Mighty 5 pins are looking mighty fine on our board!

Finally, a fun and unique adventure to set us on the right track at Zion. And, as the cherry on top, we came back to our campsite to find that our inconsiderate neighbors had all checked out. Things were looking up!