We didn't do Angel's Landing, the most notable hike that reaches its apex at a dangerously thin mountain edge - a hike so popular that you have to apply for a permit lottery to be allowed to hike it, and so dangerous that they had to install a wire-rail on the thinnest stretch. We both didn't have the stomach, the desire, nor the willingness to play with the lottery gods, to consider Angel's Landing as a serious option.
Instead we did two hikes, one standard in that it was a winding traipse up and down to a natural lookout that stood high above the whole park, and the other as abnormal as it was great, a galoshing walk through the Virgin River on The Narrows hike. Both great, and adding to my overall love of Zion.
The first hike was to Observation Point, of which the trailhead we started at was actually tucked away at one corner of the resort to the East of Zion that our AirBNB was nominally in. It has a truly small parking lot so we took the shuttle that the resort offered (for a fee, nothing was free at the Zion Ponderosa Resort) to the trailhead.
The trail to Observation Point is 7 miles out and back, with an elevation gain of about 700 feet, so not super difficult. The only real difficult stretch is the last mile or so on the way out, which is very downhill and therefore the first mile on the way back is a full uphill sprint for a mile. It was brutal, made worse by the elevation. But that one mile stretch shouldn't ruin the rest of hte hike which was relatively fine, and of course the great view from the end point. Observation point is more a crest of a hill or cliff, with many great views of the canyon park in all directions. It is not as surreal a view of say the Grand Canyon, but isn't too far off.
Anyway, enough about Observation Point, let's get to the real highlight, the incredible walk through The Narrows. What do you get if you conbine the Siq of Petra, with the beauty of the American west? Well, you get the Narrows, which is in the deepest part of the Park at ground level. It starts with a mile or so paved walk alongside the river.
After that mile, you have to enter the river, and you will be in and out of the river, only escapting for little stretches of land that are on the banks and various curves, for miles. Technically you can go about 3.5 miles of river until a point where it reaches a waterfall. We didn't go that far, because it is astounding how slow you go wading through a river (even if it isn't really "hard" in any way), but we did go about a mile in the river before turning back and it was amazing.
We rented airtight socks and shoes which kept the feet relatively dry throughout, even as the water often goes above the knees. We rented a stick which helped stay somewhat in structure despite at times some pretty strong currents. It was just a fascinating experience, made better by being in this river with canyon walls on either side. Truly the photos are beautiful but don't come close to capturing the beauty of just how it looked and felt.
There are way more hikes in Zion, way more that are probably all great and amazing and beautiful, but I'm so happy we pushed through to do The Narrows. Wading through a canyon river was better than I expected, and it sounded great. In theory we turned back before the views got even better, but you know what? I'll live with knowing maybe I do more when I inevitably go back.
