On our first full day in Zion we got up early and made our way into the canyon. We rode up to the end of the shuttle line with our special boots and our trekking poles and waded out into the river, heading into The Narrows. At first there were a few other people around, but fairly quickly we got to the point where we were nearly alone in the canyon. Though you can never see far, there is an incredible amount to see. The canyon is quite varied. The hike itself was also a lot of fun given how different it was from what we normally do. We ended up going over 4 miles back into the canyon, a good bit more than we had expected we would do.
On our way out we discovered where all of the others were. We passed a steady stream of hikers heading up river as we were on our way back out. The scenes unfolding ahead of us got stranger and stranger as the hikers we were passing were less and less prepared for what they were doing.
After returning to town for lunch I drove up the highway through the tunnel once again to check out the Canyon Overlook trail. Although short, it offers quite a reward at the end. The views down into Zion Canyon are quite impressive. It really showed off the color and size of the canyon walls.
