Day 12, Monday, June 29, 2026
Didn’t I say in yesterday’s post that we saved the best for last? We definitely saved the best hike for last. Today’s hike is going down as my favorite of all time.
The Narrows is one of the most popular hikes at Zion National Park. Especially for those of us who lack the guts or skill to hike the most popular hike, Angels Landing. The Narrows is an out and back hike that takes you down the Virgin River, deep into Zion Canyon. And when I say takes you down the Virgin River, I mean you are literally walking through the middle of the river for the majority of the hike.
The hike starts with an easy stroll down a paved path along the river. You see the gurgling river to your left and then the canyon walls to your right. One mile in the path ends and you step down into the river. It is now your choice on how long and difficult you want to make your hike. Some people go a mile or so down and turn back around. While others hike the full 5 miles into the canyon and then 5 miles back. We took it easy on ourselves, we only walked 4 miles in and 4 miles out…LOL! Yes, we hiked a total of 8 miles, six of which was in the river.
The hike can be strenuous at times. Not because of elevation gain but because of the many boulders you have to navigate as the cold river rushes past your legs. There are times that the river can get chest deep depending on the rainfall. We only experienced waste deep wading. And yes, the water is very cold. However, it did not take long for us to either grow numb to the cold or to be so warm from hiking that the cold felt good.
I suggest that anyone who is going to do this hike go ahead and rent necessary gear from one of the many outfitters in town. We rented special hiking boots, neoprene socks, and wooden hiking sticks. I do not know that we could have survived the 8 miles without these items. We did see people in tennis shoes or sandals and we saw people without hiking sticks, but they were all struggling to get down the river.
We set out around 9am intending to only go maybe a couple miles in. However, with each mile we would all say we weren’t ready to turn around. Then it became a challenge. Can we make it to what they call the Wallstreet area, which is one of the more difficult sections because the canyon walls close in on you and the water gets deeper? Unfortunately, the maps we had downloaded were not very clear so we were never sure exactly where we were. We were relying on our Apple Watches telling us how far we’d gone and trying to remember how far each section supposedly was. Around mile 4 the girls asked another hiker how much longer it was to the Wallstreet section. He laughed and said, “your in it and you’ve been in it for a while!”. Yep, we had just kept trucking along, enjoying the sights and laughing at each other. We contemplated going the last mile. He told us we were a little less than a mile from the “end”. Which is not really the end, its the part where the rangers won’t let you go any further without a permit. I think the realization that we still had to hike 4 miles back hit us at that point. We all decided it was time to start the trek back.
Thank goodness we had seen everything else we’d wanted to see in Zion the day before. I don’t think any of us could have done another hike or even short walk at this point. Instead we turned in our gear and headed back to camp to relax for the afternoon. Tonight we found another cute restaurant for dinner and did some souvenir shopping.
Tomorrow we’ll begin our drive back home. We’ll take our time, likely taking 3-4 days to meander our way back to Arkansas. Tonight though, I think I’ll take some ibuprofen and crash!
