April 14, 2014 The Narrows of Zion, Utah

We have been up the narrows before, but it is such an awesome place we went again today. The whole walk is around 3 miles each way or less it is hard to tell in the winding canyon, walking in water. The first mile is on a paved trail beside the river. Crowded with people. The crowd thins when you start walking in the water, but still lots of people. The rest is walking up the river in the water most of the way. Tough going.

Here we are at the beginning of the water hiking. It is scary that we dressed alike this am. At least underneath all our layers we have different color T-shirts.  The falls at I think Mystery canyon.

There narrows are pretty crowded, these are some of the best narrows anywhere. On our way in there was sunlight in the beginning of the canyon, and spring green trees.  John is in both of these shots.

Red walls, lots of cool lines. The black lines are desert varnish, it is where water runs when it is wet. A nice tourist took  my photo. John is ahead of me.

The water is a pretty blue green. Contrasts nicely with the red walls.

The canyon gets very tight. The walls are about 2000 feet high on each side.

The narrowest section here  is called Wall Street and the walls get a close as 20 feet apart. The water has sculpted the walls in to beautiful fluted forms. It is impossible to take photos that show how deep it is, there is too much contrast between the deep shade in the canyon and the brighter top and the tops of the walls wash out in photos.

John in the wall street, with the convoluted walls. The second photo John is in Orderville canyon, it is a side canyon. You can’t go very far in it, there is a deep pool you have to swim and a waterfall.

Coming back down there is no sunlight in the canyon. The water is colder with out the sun shine on our bodies. Many people rent dry suits to hike in. As John says when you are dumb you have to be tough- we are tough! It really was not bad as long as we kept moving.

 

The colors of the light are pretty incredible. It is around 5 pm and the sun is turning the upper walls red and it is reflecting down.

Nearing the mouth of the canyon.

The wet walls from the water fall are silvery as you first come to them, and red gold when you look back at them.

At the end of the paved trail there is a crowd. People carrying their shoes and wading.  Last sun rays on this end of the canyon. It kind of boxes out and the rivers comes out of the narrows. It is called the Temple of Sinawava. It is a sacred place to the Indians.