Zion National Park: A Hiker's Paradise

A May 2006 trip to Zion National Park by hstanfi

Watchman View 1 Photo - Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah

Quote: After spending Memorial Weekend in Zion NP, I can honestly say it is one of my favorite National Parks. Join me as I hike my way through it.

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Angel's Landing

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Our first day in Zion, we hiked Angel's Landing--what one of the bus drivers called the "testosterone hike." This is an excellent description. Throngs of people hike to the top of Angel's Landing to prove their manhood (or womanhood in my case). The 5-mile trail is rated strenuous and is not recommended for anyone fearful of heights. There's a point where you hike along a narrow, 3-foot-wide ridge with a 1500-foot sheer drop on either side to the canyon below. One false move, and S-P-L-A-T. It is probably the most hairball hike I have ever done. My heart was racing, and I actually began doing this slight hyperventilation thing that I do at extreme heights. It also didn’t help that the wind was blowing...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on August 25, 2006

Angel's Landing
Zion National Park
Zion National Park, Utah 84767
(435) 772-3256

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Zion National Park

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Attraction | "The Subway, Bottom-Up"

Dinosaur Track Photo - Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah

Quote:

On the second day, we hiked Subway, which is Zion's second most popular backcountry hike. We had lined up at the backcountry window starting at 3:20 AM the day before to get 7 of the 20 walk-in permits available for this hike. There are two ways to hike Subway. We decided to do the non-technical hike, which is a 4.5-mile trek to the Subway and back. It took us 7 hours to complete the hike -- much longer than a 9-mile hike on land would take, due to the wading and boulder hopping involved while navigating back and forth across the creek. It is a long, exhausting hike in the hot sun that is rather unspectacular most of the way, until you reach a series of beautiful cascades over red rock formations and “The Subway” -- a narrow tunnel-shaped canyon carved out by the Left Fork of North Creek.

We learned three things on this hike:

1) Don’t put on wetsuits until you actually have to swim (hiking 1.5 miles in 90°F in a wetsuit is unbearably hot & sweaty). Plus you just look plain goofy.

2) Wetsuits aren’t even necessary if you hike out-and-back from the bottom up, since you only ever wade knee deep. The special neoprene socks & canyoning shoes were nice to have though, preventing our feet from going numb in the icy cold 40°F water.

3) Hiking the Subway would be much more fun as a through hike, from the top down. This route requires some rappelling with a 60-ft rope and swimming through deep pools. However, serious photographers lugging their tripod and other equipment would be better off hiking out-and-back from the bottom up.

Luckily, we ran into a ranger who confirmed #2, so we only hiked a few unbearable miles in the wetsuits before peeling out of them and leaving them behind at the cars. That guy at the rental shop had swindled us out of $30! Oh well. We got some good laughs and some goofy pictures out of it.

About two miles into the hike we saw dinosaur tracks fossilized in two huge slabs of light grey mudstone. They were so inconspicuous that we would have passed right by them if my hiking book had not mentioned them. They are definitely worth looking out for.

As you get closer to the Subway, you have to scale several beautiful cascades. Make sure and bring sturdy shoes with good traction, as the cascades are often slick with algae. I’d recommend renting a good pair of canyoning shoes and neoprene socks, especially in early May when the water is frigid from snow melt. However, we did see several people in old tennis shoes or water sandals.

The turnaround point for the bottom-up hike is the Subway. Beyond this point, technical canyoneering is required. The prehistoric-looking pools inside the Subway are quite breathtaking. Glimmers of sunlight reflect off the water, and algae grows on the polished rocks, giving them an almost eerie green glow. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on August 25, 2006

Zion National Park
Zion Boulevard
Zion National Park, Utah 84767
(435) 772-3256

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Zion National Park

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Attraction | "Watchman Trail"

Quote:

On our second trip to Zion, we wanted to pick a day hike in the main canyon that we hadn't done before, and there weren't too many! So we hiked the Watchman Trail, which was a nice, moderate 2-mile hike with about 500ft elevation gain. It took us approximately 3 hours at a leisurely pace, and we stopped to take quite a few pictures along the way.The trail starts at the bridge just beyond the shuttle bus stop at the Visitor Center. It first follows along the Virgin river and then meanders through a canyon and climbs a series of switchbacks. It ends on a flat, red-dirt bluff with a viewpoint of the Watchman spire, which is a famous landmark rising to an elevation of 6545 ft. I would not recomm...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 14, 2006

Zion National Park
Zion Boulevard
Zion National Park, Utah 84767
(435) 772-3256

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About the Writer

hstanfi
Phoenix, Arizona

"I'm on a mission to visit every National Park as soon as possible."
2 journals
28 photos
4 reviews

Zion National Park

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Riverside Walk / The Narrows

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Angel's Landing

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Weeping Rock Trail

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Canyon Overlook Trail

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