The Narrows Hike at Zion National Park, Utah.

Overview & Quick Tips

The Narrows is an iconic Zion National Park hike. Appropriately named, it follows the Virgin River through a 16 mile narrow canyon that’s 16 miles in length, frequently less than 60 feet wide, and hemmed in on either side by walls over 1000 feet.

Detailed information

The Main Points
–You’ll need a permit if you wish to hike the full length of the Narrows—some hikers rush down it in a day, but this Top-Down hike is far more rewarding as an overnight trek.
–Alternatively, you can do a return day hike from the downstream entrance. A permit is not required for this Bottom-Up day hike. The downstream section of the Narrows is best for photography.
— Once you’re in the Narrows, there’s no way out aside from hiking to the end of watercourse between the towering stone walls. If thunderstorms create a flash flood you’ll have no way to escape and in all likelihood you will die…I make apology for being blunt. Deaths do occur here, and I’m sure you don’t want to be among them. Check the weather forecast prior to committing yourself!
–Even in the dry season, water levels in the Narrows are still waist deep in short sections, and you’ll be walking though water for the majority of the trek. Wear footwear that encloses your toes.
–A waterproof bag for your camera is a essential, as is waterproofing for your backpack items.
–I found the water cool and refreshing in the summer heat, but I wouldn’t want to do this hike in cool weather–of course some people are like polar bears!
–Experiment with exposures of around half to four seconds for some nice shots of water flowing around rocks, be sure to bring your tripod and a polarising filter.

River Safety !
–Flash floods can occur any time of the year in the Narrows, sending a twelve foot high wall of water rushing though with logs in the flow— don’t hike if rain is forecast!
–The base of the Narrows is a bed of loose, smooth rocks, some are slippery. You’ll need something to keep your balance – I took along one hiking pole and used my tripod as second.
–With submerged feet you won’t be able to see where you’re steeping, so please protect protect your toes!

Monitoring the water flow. 
–The US Geological Survey monitors the North Fork Virgin River / Narrows water flow volume in cubic feet per second (CFS).
0-50 CFS is considered easy trekking. 50-100, mild. 100-150, moderate. Above 150 CFS the going gets tough!
Top-Down permits are not issued when the flow rate is over 120 CFS. Bottom-Up hikes are not permitted with flows above 150 CFS.
Fortunately the Narrows flow rate is less than 75 CFS for ninety-percent of the year, but still people
You check the current conditions water conditions in the ‘link’ section of this listing.

Routes
You have three choices for hiking the Narrows:
1/ Full length, Top-Down in a day – a permit is required. Begin at Chamberlains Ranch, end at The Tempe of Sinawava.
2/ Full length, Top-Down overnight – a permit is required and camping is restricted to a preselected site. Begin at Chamberlains Ranch, end at The Tempe of Sinawava.
3/ Half length, Bottom-Up: return day hike, no permit is required. Begin and end at the The Tempe of Sinawava, turn around no later than Big Spring.

Shuttle busses within the National Park travel between The Temple of Sinawava and the park entrance at the town of Springdale, don’t miss the last bus one home!
I would not consider doing the Top-Down route in a day unless you enjoy rapid hiking and don’t mind hurrying your photo stops. With low water levels it takes at least twelve hours to hike Top-Down—but if your’e like me and want time for photography, then to plan on around fifteen hours. If you can’t go overnight, just stick to the Bottom-Up route and the lower section of the Narrows. This is more spectacular and has a greater volume of flowing water than the upper section, so don’t worry about missing out on too many good shots if you don’t hike the full length from Chamberlains Ranch.

For me the major advantage of the Top-Down, overnight route, is that you can wake early on the second day and be in the best section of the narrows before the day-hiker crowds meet you head-on from downstream. It’s difficult to take a photo after mid-morning in the Narrows without having other hikers in the shot. It’s a popular trek! One or two hikers in your frame is not always bad, it can help to scale the scene and add human intrigue, but when it’s too busy in the Narrows, the tranquil atmosphere is lost.

A permit is not required for the ‘Bottom-Up’ day-hike route,  but you must turn around return back along the same lower section of the Narrows to complete your hike where it began. The latest turn around point is Big Springs—a small but lovely cascade that flows from the side of the Narrows canyon and into the main water flow. This is one of the prettiest features of the Narrows but you’ll need to allow at least ten hours for the return trek from The Temple of Sinawava.

Top-Down Permits
Two thirds of the permits for the Top-Down route are available online, they get snapped up months in advance.
One third of the permits are available at the Zion Visitors Center, strictly one day in advance. If you don’t book online and want to secure a permit, make sure you’re first at the front desk of the Zion Visitors Center, near the Springdale entrance, when they open in the morning. You’ll have to pay a small fee for your permit.
Note: the permit rules are now being reassessed in the wake of the 2015 flood related deaths.

Hiking Gear
–Cannoning shoes can be bought or hired from outfitters in Springdale, along with waterproof backpacks, camera cases and dry bags. Personally, I wouldn’t use second-hand, rented footwear for a long hike. To lessen the risk of blisters used only your own tried and tested footwear. Even then I found my feet suffered from being in the water for two days, so bring along a few waterproof bandages and plater your feet as soon as you feel them rubbing.
–In summer you can splash about in t-shirt and shorts, but in cold weather, from October to April, the water temperature is just a few degrees above freezing and you’ll need to wear a wetsuit, if not a drysuit.
–purchase a waterproof bag for your camera and one of the Springdale outfitters.

Camping & Overnight Gear
–Camping is restricted to twelve sites along the Narrows. The first camp is around five hours hike downstream from Chamberlains Ranch, camp twelve is situated another three hours beyond that, close to Big Springs (the Bottom-Up, day hike, last turn around point).
–You can only stay in the one camp allocated when you obtain a permit.
–Camp 1 is the prettiest, being at the junction of Deep Creep and the Virgin river, however if you stay in camp further downstream you can be alone in the best sections of the Narrows the follow morning.
–Don’t drink from the Virgin River upstream of Camp 1 as it’s contaminated by cattle, instead carry two liters of clean water when you start out from Chamberlains Ranch. The water is ok after Camp 1, where the Virgin River is dilute by the Deep Creek Junction flow, but even then purification tables are advised.
–Unless you need a warm winters meal, just bring along prepared food and snacks that can be eaten without heating and leave your pots and pans at home.
–You must not leave anything behind in the Narrows. All body waste and used toilette paper is to be carried out in a sealed bag that will be issued when you collect your permit.
–Although I feel the cold quickly I was comfortable sleeping in the Narrows without a sleeping bag in summer. A long-sleeve sweeter, long pants kept me warm enough. Although no rain was forecast, it poured down briefly the night I was there, which was rather concerning! I was thankful I’d brought along my bivy bag to stay dry, and a lightweight air-mat for comfort.  The combined weight of my Outdoor Research Helium Bivy and a Q-core air-mat is just 41 ounces, or 1.2 kgs. Good luck if you can camp outdoors, dry and comfortably in summer rain, with a lighter kit than that!
–If you do plan on camping, you’ll need a 50 litre waterproof backpack in summer, and a larger one for winter provisions. You can purchase a 50 liter waterproof backpack liner for $20 in Springdale, or you could waterproof the inside of your pack you can use with garbage bags as a cheap option, but I wouldn’t risk them tearing.
–take along a small flashlight.

Photography
Now for the fun part! I used the wide end of my 24-70mm lens for all my photos in the Narrows other than at Big Springs, there I took a few shots at 18mm (12mm on my ‘cropped’ NEX 7 sensor). I also used a 3-stop N.D filter at Big Springs to achieve a longer exposure time and allow the flowing water to merge into a lovely white stream. An exposures times of around 1 to 2 seconds worked best at Big Springs for me.
Throughout most the Narrows high walls keeping the lighting relatively dark, you can take exposures of a few seconds without needing an N.D filter—a polarising filter is dark enough. If you don’t want to take long espousers, still be sure to bring along a polariser so you can alter water reflections to your liking—but seriously, why wouldn’t you use a slower shutter speed in the Narrows? Water cascading and swirling over a rocky bed cries out for long exposures! You’ll need a tripod of course. Make sure it’s sturdy enough to handle standing in a few feet of flowing water—and when your pricy kit is locked upon it, always keep a grip on the camera strap, just in case!
Look for rocks visible above the waterline and place your camera low and close behind them to create an interesting foreground. Long, straight Logs can add contrast when lying over a multitude of round stones. And don’t forget to look back over your shoulder frequently to see how the scene appears behind.
I generally prefer landscapes photos with no sigh of humanity, however to give a sense of scale in the Narrows, it can beneficial to have hikers in your photos, though they seldom arrange themselves conveniently! If you take several shots from a tripod as hikers are moving though you’ll be able to blend figures in or out of a composite photo later on.
There isn’t much vegetation in the Narrows, but you’ll find some occasional greenery. Use it help to add some colour, contrast, texture and life into your shots.
I preferred shooting in the Narrows when and where there was no direct sunlight shinning in. When the sun is high, if you expose for the lower part of the canyon the sky and upper walls of the Narrows overexpose. You’ll have to bracket your shots and combine them at home. Alternatively, you can simply compose photos of the lower half of the canyon—there’s no need to show the entire height of the side walls from water to sky.
That said, a high sun really isn’t much of a big deal when shooting in the Narrows, and in fact I spoke with people who prefer direct light coming in. The main influence of the time of day in the Narrows has more to do with the number of hikers pushing though rather than lighting conditions.

Most important of all, keep your camera dry! I slung a waterproof camera case over my shoulder and placed a small, lightweight dry-bag inside of that. Don’t trust a solitary layer of waterproofing to keep an expensive camera safe; double-bag all your gear when traversing deep water! It’s a good idea to place a small hand-towel between the two dry-bags so you can wipe-off your wet hands before opening the inner bag to reach for your camera. I found it somewhat tedious to repeatedly bag-up my camera only to take it out again moments later and reseat it on my tripod— but falling into the water with my camera unprotected would have completely ruined my trip!

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