Hiking the Narrows in Zion

Apparently the big deal with Zion is "The Narrows". It's where the canyon walls come together and are just wide enough for the Virgin River to flow through. Actually it just sort of meanders. Anyway, the hike to The Narrows begins with a one mile river walk alongside the river and then they plop you into the river and you walk up as far as you can stand it and turn around and come back. Unless you're a maniac and hike like 18 miles, including some spots you have to swim, and stay overnight. We did not do that. We woke early to beat the unseasonably high temperatures and where walking in the water a little after 9. 

Not only did we beat the heat but we were hiking during the prime time for hypothermia. Special. There was no sun overhead yet to warm us, so it was shaded our whole hike upstream. The water is about 60 degrees and after about an hour and a half we were legitimately concerned that Marcus was getting too cold. We were lucky enough to find a rare strip of sun and got him warmed up. Then somebody (Jason) carried him through any water that was deeper than an ankle. We sort of forget that he's a mini person and that when the water is up to a full size person's knees it's up to his waist. 

We hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked. I can not stress how long we hiked. But people on their way back kept saying, "oh it's only another half hour and it's so worth it." We hiked until the walls were about 30 feet apart and were assured by one man (and a map) that we in The Narrows. You see when you enter the trail you're not in The Narrows per say. You need to hike for an eternity, in freezing water, to get to the beginning of The Narrows. The man also said that the water was chest deep just around the nearby bend. Well we sure as heck weren't taking the boys swimming in the hopes that the walls got closer. We were done. 

We turned around and it seems at that moment that the sun rose directly over the canyon. At once I literally felt myself step from the cold shadows into the heat of the sun. And dang was it hot. Like immediately. 

We went from scrambling from rock patch to rock patch trying to avoid the cold water, to finding the deepest portions of the river and wading/swimming. The water was now our sanctuary. 

At the end of the trail we had a one mile hike back to the bus stop. It was so hot we were almost completely dry by the time we got there. We had hiked from 9 am until almost 2 pm. 

Naturally we did not take lunch (we had snacks) and were starving to death. We paid way too much money for food at the cafeteria and ate outside behind a sign for shade. 

By the time we got back home it was after 3 pm. I had hoped to sneak a "quick" drive to the Grand Canyon in, but upon learning that the drive would be three hours one way we ended up playing in river and going to bed where we slept like hot dead horses.