Zion National Park offers many hikes, but there are two bucket list worthy ones: The Narrows and Angels Landing. My friends and I were lucky enough to get to do both.
We hiked the Narrows Bottom Up trail which is a 8.9 heavily trafficked out and back trail through a river. We decided to hike a little past "Wall Street" which is the narrowest section of Zion Canyon. It took us about 3 hours to hike a little over 3 miles, but we did stop A LOT to take pictures, snack, and rest. Plus you go pretty slow against the current.
We hiked in November and the water was predicted to be about 40 degrees. We rented dry pants the day before from Zion Outfitters, conveniently located just right outside of the park. The package includes neoprene socks with canyoneering boots and a hiking stick. It's true, the dry pants keep you dry from the ankle and the neoprene socks keep your wet feet amazingly warm. The stick was a lifesaver for balance and kept us from falling.
It was very cold when we started the hike in the morning, but it warmed up as we finished. It's about 10 degrees cooler in the canyon. I wore fleece lined leggings under the dry pants and three layers on top. I stayed warm with a beanie, gloves, and hand warmers. At one point, I did have to shed my jacket and beanie, but then at another point, I was cold enough to put it all back on. The waterproof backpack I rented from Zion Outfitters wasn't necessary as the water reached only about thigh high for us, but it was really nice to have. The only junk thing is that you can't use it with a water reservoir.
The hike was amazing and it's hard to describe its beauty. The hike definitely gets more crowded as the day goes, but you'll see less people the farther you continue on the trail. Just be sure to save enough energy to make it back in time for the last shuttle to the Visitor Center or you'll have another 8 miles ahead of you.
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