The Narrows

A wade up the Virgin River through a slot canyon with 1,000-foot walls

The Narrows is the upper section of Zion Canyon, where the gorge closes to perhaps six metres wide between walls that rise three hundred metres straight up. You walk in the river itself; there is no other path. From the end of the canyon road, the route runs upstream as far as a side canyon called Big Spring (a sixteen-mile round trip) or, with a permit, the full length from the top down (a two-day trip).

Equipment matters. A walking pole helps in the current, and shoes that drain and grip wet rock are essential — outfitters in Springdale rent canyoneering boots, dry pants, and neoprene socks. Water temperature is around 10°C even in summer. Do not enter if rain is forecast. The light through the walls in midday is golden and overwhelming, and the experience genuinely matches the hype.

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Pictographs found in the slot canyon side-chambers show that the Anasazi were using this route a thousand years ago. The river has cut down through six hundred metres of Navajo sandstone at roughly the rate of a sheet of paper a year. In summer the rangers close the route on any forecast of thunderstorms — a flash flood through the slot will move at twenty miles per hour and the walls are too sheer to climb.

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