We spent the second day of our Grand Canyon etc. trip in Zion National Park. We hiked The Narrows, bottom up, and the Timber Creek Overlook Trail.

The Narrows

We woke up very early, hoping to leave the hotel by 6:00am. We managed 6:15ish. Our biggest concern was finding a parking spot at the Zion Visitor’s Center. We were definitely not the first ones there, but there were plenty of spaces still available. The line for the shuttle buses was not short and only grew while we waited. I think we made it onto the third or fourth bus.

The bottom of The Narrows is the last stop on the Zion shuttle. We unloaded, took care of bathroom needs, and suited up.

The Narrows is a section of Zion Canyon where the canyon walls get very close along the Virgin River. The hike is in and out of the river, with plenty of river fords required to progress. The bottoms up hike travels upstream. You travel as far as you want to go and then turn around to exit the same way you hiked in. My dad called it quits a few dry spots up from a waist deep section of the river. After a couple hours of hiking a couple of the nieces were done. They hiked back out with my mom and one of the aunts. The rest of us wanted to see if we could get to the “split,” where the the canyon forks. I committed to thirty minutes of fast-paced hiking. We still hadn’t reached the split, so I began my hike out. I collected the one remaining niece on my way, and we cruised our way out of the canyon.

All told, it was ~7.5mi/4.5hr adventure.

Timber Creek Overlook Trail

After getting back to the hotel and a little bit of recovery, my parents, an aunt and uncle, my parents, and Megan and me opted to drive to Kolob Canyon and hike the Timber Creek Overlook Trail. We understood the drive is a big part of the attraction, but wanted something to do while there. The 1 mile overlook trail seemed perfect.

The drive up the canyon was indeed gorgeous: magnificent mesas and rock formations in all directions. The trail is at the very end of the road. It was hit and sunny, but also breezy, and led to a wonderful overlook of both the rock formations on one side and the Pine Valley Mountains on the other. It was amazing to see the desert in one direction and turn around to see a forest.

We ate dinner at a sports bar right next to the hotel and called it a night.