Southwestern Burnup Tour - Zion: Angel's Landing and Virgin River Narrows Dayhikes - September 2011

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Day-hiking Zion: Virgin River Narrows

Friday, September 30

As the last little bit of outdoor exploration before heading back to Las Vegas, we decided to do a dayhike up Zion Canyon from the end of the Zion Canyon Road. It was a there-and-back dayhike, and we had no particular turn-around point. We would simply hike up-canyon until time dictated that we turn around.

Bussing under monoliths

Temple of Sinawava

After a bit of lunch at the Grotto Picnic area, we hopped onto the next up-canyon bound shuttle bus. This we took all the way to the end of the Zion Canyon Road - at the Temple of Sinawava stop. Here, an easy paved trail leads further up the canyon, and it was upon that trail that we started our hike. Along with, once again, a throng of other people.

Temple of Sinawava

Riverside Walk

Pastoral Virgin River

The easy paved path, which parallels the Virgin River, ended after a little more than a mile. The canyon narrowed further, and the Virgin River began to take up all of the canyon bottom from wall to wall. From here, any hikers wishing to continue up-canyon needed to get their feet wet. So... we changed into our water shoes, put all of our electronics into dry bags, and splashed into the clear, flowing water of the Virgin River.

courtesy AHyndman

Pastoral Virgin River

Into the Water

courtesy JInnes

courtesy AHyndman

Andrew, Zion Canyon

Cool, Clear River

The first few hundred yards of splashing up the Virgin River weren't too deep. Then, a test: a section that narrowed slightly and which was somewhere between waist deep and chest deep. This section only lasted for a hundred yards or so, but it was enough to weed out many day-hikers who weren't prepared to get more than their feet wet. Suprisingly, there was still a sizable number of hikers above the deep spot.

Immediately upstream from the deep section, we observed a party rappelling down from mystery canyon.

courtesy AHyndman

Busy Waterway

Deep spots

Mystery Canyon Rappel

Zion canyon continued its sinuous course, cutting into the high plateau to the north. The river covered most of the canyon floor, but where there were curves, a strip of dry land was usually present. Short sections of footpath often crossed these short dry sections. More than half of the time, though, we were fording across the river.

courtesy AHyndman

Many crossings

Sunny section

Water level view

Big Walls

Watery Bend

This slot canyon hike was quite different from our previous one. Compared to Buckskin Gulch, Zion canyon was more yellow than red; There was a fairly large stream flowing along the bottom of the canyon, and the water was relatively clear and blue, unlike the pools and muddy flow of Buckskin and the Paria. The walls, too, had different textures, and the small clumps of trees here and there attested to the more continuously moist nature of this canyon. There was very little mud about - the riverbed was mostly a continuous jumble of eroded, rounded stones. Having a hiking pole while fording the river was quite useful.

courtesy JInnes

courtesy AHyndman

Watery Bend

Arn and Gosia

Rock Island Pose

courtesy JInnes

High Navajo Walls

Dwarfed by walls

Andrew Explores

Our objective had been to get as far as Orderville Canyon - significant side drainage a few miles up from the end of the trail. We probably made it to within half a kilometer (500 yards) of the canyon, and then we reached our designated turnaround time. Too bad, because I had heard the real "narrows" of Zion canyon were just above that point.

Turnaround point

Riverside walking

Undercut Corner

We turned around and briskly walked and forded back down the river, then back onto the paved trail, reaching the Temple of Sinawava bus stop at the end of the Zion Canyon road not long after 4:30pm. This was a great taste of the watery, shady hiking in upper Zion Canyon, and gave us incentive to come back some day and properly do the 2-day backpack from Chamberlain's Ranch down to the Temple of Sinawava.

Wall to Wall water

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