Andrew Yeckel > Stories > A singular adventure

Virgin River Narrows

Our biggest adventure in 1987 was hiking the Zion Narrows. Not many people get the opportunity to do this hike. It is a one way trip, 16 miles long, down a narrow canyon starting near the headwaters of the Virgin River. Flash floods are a serious risk in summer. Permits to spend one night in the canyon are issued one day in advance, and only in favorable weather conditions.

We picked a week long window to wait for a good day. On the fourth day it came. We hired a local resident to drive us to the trail head, found at the end of a long dirt road beyond the outskirts of the park. After a hiking a few miles across flat ground, the Virgin River becomes more of a river and less of a creek until you reach this point where walking down the stream becomes a necessity.

Slender stretches of bank appear and disappear, but sometimes the canyon is just a narrow channel through solid rock.

            

The large arch here was formed when rock slid into the riverbed, but the rock has long since been washed further downstream by the massive flash floods that inundate the canyon from time to time.

The rock is pitted and scoured high up the canyon walls, a constant reminder of the danger.

One stunning view overtakes another along this amazing hike. The canyon grows ever deeper, nearly 2000 feet at its deepest, and barely 20 feet wide in some places.

            

About 10 miles into the hike a large tributary greatly increases the flow of the Virgin River. Things get a bit hairy from this point on. The only way home is down the river bed, and there is no bank to retreat to if you get stuck in the canyon after dark. This next picture shows a long stretch where the water is overhead and we had to swim, pushing our backpacks ahead of us.

Further down the river things being to settle down and the entrance to Orderville Canyon opens up. This dramatic side canyon adds a few miles to the trip, but contributes much to the already unique experience of this hike.

          

A short distance past Orderville Canyon, the Narrows hike rejoins civilization at a paved trail choked with park visitors wandering up from the nearby parking lot where we left our truck the day before (back then, it was still allowed to drive private vehicles into the park).

This sort of magical, mystical experience can be habit forming. The following year, 1988, we got married and hit the road to find more.