Hiking The Narrows Bottom-Up

Map from ZionGuru.com

In order to get to The Narrows trail (the beginning of it is also called “Riverside Walk”), you will have to take a shuttle to the last stop, stop 9, “Temple of Sinawava”. When I went, I had to get shuttle tickets for the time frame I needed. Click here for information about the Shuttle tickets. It took 30 minutes to drive up to stop 9 and the majority of stops were closed the day I went. This is why I don’t recommend to try any other way to get to Temple of Sinawava. It’s not walkable!

Since there isn’t a set “end” to this trail, your party can turn around at any time. Some people walk one mile then head back and others try to go as far as they can. According to Nsp.org “Upstream travel beyond Big Spring or in Orderville Canyon is prohibited”. I had stopped right before Orderville Canyon (past Wall Street) before turning back.

Starting at “Temple of Sinawava” (shuttle stop number 9), I hiked six miles round trip which took me 6 hours. Keep in mind, this includes Riverside Walk and The Narrows. Riverside Walk is about one mile long and I hiked two miles at The Narrows trail (to and back).

The water level goes from ankles to your waist. The photo on the right is Mystery Falls.

Wall Street

In the afternoon the current picks up and it gets hard to navigate with the rising river line. The trail goes from being completely submerged in water to being dry with only rocks.

Where I stopped and turned around. I made a right on Wall Street and walked further down.

The part that makes this hike very hard is having to feel around for the rocks underneath the water. Sometimes it’s easy because there are only small rocks and other times there are huge rocks that you have to feel around for. I love hiking The Narrows. It has gorgeous views. There was never a dull corner.

Some people had rented hiking sticks and hiking boots. I wore standard hiking boots and the other two people I went on my hike with, Max and Gali, had on sneakers. In the Summer, this worked for us and we didn’t think it was necessary to have a hiking stick because you aren’t going up any hills during this trail.