Map outlining options and times
The motivation for our trip to southern Utah was to hike the Narrows. The hike follows the North Fork of the Virgin River 16 miles from Chamberlain’s Ranch down to the Temple of Sinawava, the northern most shuttle stop in Zion National Park. It’s possible to hike up from the Temple of Sinawava’s Riverside Walk (the Bottom-Up Day Hike shown on the bottom right). We decided that the best way to do it would be to do it as a top down two day hike. September seemed like the ideal time for us to do the hike- warm days, low water, and most importantly warm water. The river was flowing at just under 40 cubic feet per second and the water was about 60 degrees F.
Before.
Monday morning we took a look at the weather and a cold front was forecast to hit southern Utah on Tuesday night- the night we were scheduled to camp. Early forecasts called for some chance of showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday with highs in the 60s F in the park- it would be colder in the river because the canyon walls are high enough to keep most of the hike in shadows. Talking to the rangers at the visitors center about the risk of hypothermia, assessing our clothing and gear, realizing we couldn’t cancel our shuttle and weighing the various options convinced us we should do the top down one day hike.
So, off we went in our 6:30 am shuttle. We got to the trail head around 7:45 am outfitted in our neoprene socks and canyoneering boots, carrying our walking sticks. It was early. And cold.
Brr... Michael, Damon and Kathy during the first 3 miles of the hike along the dirt road
The weather warmed up and we were lucky to have a warm breeze for most of the hike. We were able to hike along the stream bed along one side of the canyon or the other for a lot of the day. We spent a lot of our time crossing the river to get to dry stream bed. In places were the river filled the canyon it was typically calf deep or shallower except in a few places. The deepest pools we encountered were about waist deep on me .
Kathy, Michael, and Damon for scale
Through most of the hike the canyon walls towered above us- ranging from a couple hundred to a couple thousand of feet tall. It was really breathtaking. There were 2 other sets of hikers at the trailhead when we started off- 2 day hikers, 2 backpackers. We saw the other day hikers a couple of times during the first few miles but didn’t see anyone else again until we got on the shuttle.
The final hour and a half of the hike it was dark enough that we needed our head lamps- we exited the river about 12 and a half hours after starting our adventure and made our way down the final mile along a paved trail to the shuttle… 13 hours of hiking in total.
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- Map outlining options and times
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- Before.
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- Fall colors at the Chamberlain’s Ranch Trailhead
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- Brr… Michael, Damon and Kathy during the first 3 miles of the hike along the dirt road
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- Getting our feet wet
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- Crossing the river
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- Can you see Michael?
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- Can you spot Michael in this one?
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- Fall colors
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- Damon and narrow canyon walls
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- Looking up at the canyon walls
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- 12 foot waterfall. Fortunately there’s a path around it on the right.
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- Photo at our lunch stop
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- Kathy, Michael, and Damon for scale
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- Sunshine!
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- Entering the water at Big Springs. Notice Kathy’s shorts are wet.
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- Big Springs
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- Kathy for scale
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- Hiking in calf deep water
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- After.
