Welcome to my article on hiking The Narrows at Zion National Park. I had the great pleasure of taking on this epic hike in May of this year and wow – it did not disappoint! In this article, I would love to share with you my experiences at The Narrows and provide you with some recommendations.
But first of all, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Philadelphia five years ago. I have always been a creative person and had careers that allowed me to express that creativity. To start with I was a hairstylist. Then I slowly moved into interior decorating.
After being forced into unemployment due to the closure of all salons during the pandemic, I started posting my home on social media. People loved it and started asking me to decorate their homes. So I decided to start a business. Now I am a part time hairstylist and interior decorator!
My passion for travel started after high school. Growing up, we didn’t travel much as a family on planes. We spent a lot of time at the Jersey Shore. Once I was old enough to make my own money I realized that I could go anywhere in the world and so I did! My first international travel experience was to Italy. I have kept my passion for wanderlust ever since.
I also think that the Internet and Instagram played a big part in my passion for travel. I saw other people my age traveling the world and realized that I could too, even if it wasn’t what my family did when I was growing up.
Two Epic Days at Zion National Park
My fiance is national park obsessed and he has been to 16 without me. Zion National Park was one of the parks he hadn’t been to yet, so we wanted to go together. Our trip lasted seven days and the first two were spent at Zion. We then spent one day at Capitol Reef, one at Arches, one at Canyonlands and one at Bryce before heading back to Vegas to catch our flight home.
Getting passes to Zion is hard but we were lucky to snag them for our first day. You can only get them 15 days in advance and we were originally only able to get them for our first day. The tickets sell out in seconds. You can get a second chance for tickets the day before at 4pm and again we got lucky! We were able to secure tickets for our second day the night before.
This ended up being a lifesaver because on the first day of our trip we didn’t make it to Zion in time to enter the park. We were able to hike Watchman Trail that day instead which you don’t need trolley tickets to do.
We watched the sunset from the peak of the hike, got ourselves a delicious meal at Kings Landing and headed to our Airbnb for the night to get some sleep knowing the next day would be action-packed full of adventure.
The next day we headed into the park to catch our 8am trolley. We headed to Angels Landing and spent four hours hiking to the top and back. What a beautiful view! Once we worked up a sweat at Angels Landing, we headed to The Narrows to cool down with a hike through the river.
After hiking The Narrows, we were pretty exhausted. So we headed back to our accommodation for the night – Under Canvas Zion. I can’t recommend this place enough! It’s the coolest glamping experience with the most beautiful backdrop. Check them out here: www.undercanvas.com.
Our Experience Hiking The Narrows
The Narrows was on our list for a while. I won’t lie, I’m not one to voluntarily get into the water. At the beach I might take a dip to cool down but I’m not a fan of water. However, hiking The Narrows is a bucket list thing – so I knew I would suck it up and enjoy the ride. My fiance was not going to let me leave Zion without doing the hike! I embraced it and I’m so glad I did.
We had a fantastic experience. We started our trek at noon and came out at 4pm. The terrain was a bit slippery but we rented wooden walking sticks which turned out to be a god-send! Some of the rocks can be very slick.
I wore chacos because we hiked Angels Landing beforehand. It was easy to change out of my hiking boots and into my chacos (both were light enough to carry in a bookbag). The scenery on this hike was unreal! Every time you turn a corner at The Narrows, you are amazed all over again.
It was pretty busy the day that we were there. However, a ton of people were turning around once it started to get deeper. After that, the crowd thinned out. We were lucky enough to find ourselves alone (for very short periods of time) and we strategically used that time to snap some photos!
Highlights & Challenges of The Narrows
The highlight for me was the smile on my fiance’s face every time I looked over at him. The Narrows had been on both of our bucket lists but it was on his longer than mine. For the entire time, we kept on saying: “I can’t believe we are here! I can’t believe we are doing this”! It’s moments like these where you just look up and can’t believe your eyes that are the best.
The biggest challenge was keeping my balance. Like I mentioned before, the walking sticks were life savers. Between the current and the rocks, the walking stick kept me from falling multiple times. I did witness a few people fall while we were hiking. No one got hurt and they laughed it off! Luckily, it was a hot day. So getting wet wasn’t going to ruin anyone’s day.
Essential Information for Hiking The Narrows
My biggest tip is to make sure you are dressed properly and have good footwear. It was hot when we were there. I wore a pair of moisture wicking biker shorts and a top. I was fine wearing Chacos but probably would have felt more secure with waterproof boots. You can rent waterproof shoes at the entrance to the park (you must do this before getting on the trolley).
If it’s cold when you visit, you can also rent waders which I probably would opt to do in colder weather to make the hike more enjoyable. Also, I can’t recommend renting the walking sticks enough! Total game changer for us.
No permits were needed to hike The Narrows. However, in order to get to the trail you need to take the Zion National Park trolley and tickets are needed for that. They were difficult to get and we saw a few disappointed people at the park’s entrance who weren’t able to secure tickets.
If you plan on doing more hikes at Zion National Park, you have to do Angels Landing. There aren’t many hikes quite like this one and the view from the top is like no other! It’s that stop and stare “woah” moment I mentioned earlier, when you realize just how small you really are compared to nature. Thanks for reading and enjoy your experiences at Zion!
