AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VIRGIN
Back
at the Visitor’s Center we picked up our permit for our one-day thru-hike of
the Virgin River Canyon. Then we caught
another bus into Springdale. We got
burgers and fries for lunch (Christy had a veggie burger) before returning to
Zion Adventures, where we’d left our car the previous morning. There we rented gear for the next day’s
adventure. This included river shoes,
booties, and a walking stick for $21 each.
That was a good value, particularly for the footwear, which would be a
huge improvement over walking all day in wet leather boots. The walking stick wasn’t entirely necessary
since we have trekking poles, but it was included in the price. Also, the stick proved to be less prone to
getting caught between rocks, which can be frustrating with poles.
I
also rented a dry SLR camera case, just to be on the safe side. It was only $10, which is a good bit cheaper
than a new camera.
At
that point we had to decide how to spend our afternoon. Mostly we just wanted to avoid the heat, as
the temperature was now in the triple digits.
We contemplated several options before deciding to spend a couple of
hours in the river. We rented inner
tubes from Zion Adventures and headed down to the Virgin River.
We
were looking forward to a lazy float downstream. Unfortunately we got a rather different
experience. The river was low (38 cubic
feet / second), which meant that we were constantly trying to avoid, or get
unstuck from, the many exposed rocks.
Our tubing trip turned out to be more of an athletic endeavor that we’d
planned on, but at least we got to spend a lot of time in the 60 degree water.
After
tubing we drove 30 minutes back to the town of La Verkin
for a major grocery run. Although the
store in Springdale was adequate, the “Farmer’s Market” in La Verkin had a much bigger selection and cheaper prices. Then we drove back to the park and checked
back in at the Watchman Campground. For
our final two nights at the campground we’d had to settle for a walk-in site, as
the regular sites were all booked when I made our
reservations in April. This time there
wasn’t a tent in our campsite, although somebody’s car was in our parking
spot.
The
walk-in site (#7) was actually pretty nice.
It was close to the parking area, and it offered more privacy than the
regular campsites in the campground. The
only drawback is that it lacked shade.
We avoided that problem by arriving in the evening. We were hiking the entire next day, so the
lack of shade didn’t really pose a problem until our final morning.
THE VIRGIN, TOP DOWN
We
cooked dinner at our campsite and ate while watching mule deer wander by. After dinner we packed and made final
preparations for our one-day thru hike of the Virgin River Canyon.
Back
in October, 2005 I hiked part of the Virgin River Narrows from the bottom. That approach is less intense, since you can
hike upstream as far as you want (though no farther than Big Springs, per park
regulations) before heading back. On my
previous visit I hiked upstream to the confluence with Orderville
Canyon. This is generally considered to
be the most scenic part of the canyon, as it is the deepest and narrowest
section. I explored up Orderville Canyon a short distance before returning to
resume the hike up the river. I
continued until I reached the foot of a deep pool. At that point it was getting late and I was a
bit chilled. Going for a swim in 52
degree water didn’t seem like a great idea.
I turned around there reluctantly, and ever since I’ve wondered what
else lies upstream.
While
I only hiked a small portion of the canyon on my previous visit, current
conditions promised easier hiking. At my
previous visit the water temperature was 52 degrees. It was now 60 degrees, which makes a big
difference. Water levels were also a bit
higher for my previous hike. The river
level was now only 38 cubic feet per second, which is unusually low, even for
late June. The low water levels were due
to recent dry weather and a mild winter that had resulted in minimal snow in
the mountains at the river’s headwaters.
When
we first starting planning our trip, this was one of the hikes I suggested to
Christy. I almost immediately had second
thoughts though. There are two things
that really seem to aggravate her knee – steep downhills
and rough off-trail hiking. We wouldn’t
have many steep hills in the Virgin River Canyon, but most of the 16-mile hike
is off-trail hiking, and a good bit of it is rough. What if her knee blew up after our hike like
it had the previous year while we were in Wyoming? I spent the next several months trying to
talk Christy out of this hike, but to no avail.
She was actually rather enthusiastic about the challenge of it.
The
hike through the Virgin River Canyon starts at Chamberlain Ranch, which is
private property northeast of Zion National Park. The route is 16 miles, and there is no
official trail. A good portion of the
hike is actually in the river itself.
Zion Adventures claims that 68% of the hike is in the river. I’m not sure how they arrived at that number,
which seems to be considerably overstated.
Certainly 68% of the mileage isn’t in the river – more often than not we
were following a path along one side of the river or the other. On the other hand, it’s conceivable that 68%
of the time spent doing the hike is in the river. Hiking in the river was considerably slower
than along the bank.
When
we picked up our permit we were relieved to see that there was officially a 0%
chance of rain for the following day.
Thru-hiking the Virgin River Canyon requires quite a bit of
commitment. Once you are in there, the
only way out is downstream. The canyon
floods periodically, typically as a result of summer thunderstorms. Because the canyon is deep and has sheer
walls, it’s deadly during a flash flood.
We were relieved that we wouldn’t have to worry about that during our
hike.
On
the other hand, when we picked up the permit the ranger warned us that we would
need to swim in a couple of places. This
came as a surprise. I’d been prepared
for wading through deep water, but wasn’t anticipating having to swim. My guidebook hadn’t mentioned the
possibility, but apparently the nature of the canyon changes after each
flood. Some deep pools may fill in with
rocks and sand, while others may be carved out.
The
ranger told us that there were a couple of spots that required swimming
upstream from the confluence with Deep Creek.
My decision to rent a dry bag for my camera was based largely on his
information. That turned out to be a
good decision.
I
decided to carry my large backpack on the hike while Christy carried only a
Camelback pack. I would carry most of
our gear, while Christy hauled only 2 liters of water. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to swim with my
pack on, but I figured I’d manage one way or another.
My
only other real concern about the hike was finishing it before dark. Most books and websites suggest that the hike
takes most people about 12 hours. Since
our shuttle was leaving at 6:30, we wouldn’t start the hike until after
8am. Sunset in mid-June is actually
after 10pm, so we’d have about 14 hours to work with. However, because the canyon is deep and
narrow, it’s quite dark there in the evening.
I wasn’t real comfortable with the idea of hiking in the river in the
dark. We’d have to watch our pace and be
prepared to push ourselves if necessary.
We
went to bed early that night, but didn’t sleep well due to the excitement of
our upcoming adventure.
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
We
were up at 5:45 the next morning. We
made a quick stop at our favorite coffee shop for coffee and bagels before
driving back to the Zion National Park Visitor Center. We parked there and met our shuttle
driver. He’d suggested meeting there,
rather than at Zion Adventures, so that we wouldn’t have to catch the bus back
into town that evening. This turned out
to be extremely beneficial.
We
were supposed to leave at 6:30, but we ended up having to wait for a group of
boy scouts that were running late. The
scouts filled up the rest of our van along with an extra car that was also
making the trip. Another van of hikers
was also departing from Zion Adventures, so it would be a busy day in the
canyon.
We
finally left at 6:45. I was a little
agitated, since I knew that we might be pressed for time later on. Our driver promised to make up the time on
the road, and he didn’t disappoint us.
He drove like I do on windy, dirt mountain roads! The drive was scenic as we climbed up out of
Zion Canyon through a wonderland of slickrock. We passed through a long tunnel before
turning off the highway. The side road
led us up onto a plateau, and we drove on through woods and open ranch
land. At one point we passed a gated
residential community, which seemed way out of place in such a remote location. Later we crossed over the head of Orderville Canyon, which meets the Virgin River deep in the
narrows, a couple of miles upstream from the end of the park road.
The
pavement eventually ended, but the road was in good shape. It was almost 8am when we turned onto a
narrow spur road that led past Chamberlain Ranch. After another mile or so we reached the
official trailhead. There is a single
toilet here, which we made use of before starting our hike.
We
encountered our first problem when Christy put on her neoprene booties and
river shoes. Oddly, they seemed tighter
than they had when she tried them on the previous day. Technically they weren’t the same shoes as
the ones she’d tried on. We’d picked our
shoes up later that evening and had simply grabbed shoes that were the same
size as the ones we’d tried on earlier.
For some reason it hadn’t occurred to us to try them on again. Although they were the same size, it’s possible
that there may be some variation in size from one pair to another. At any rate, there wasn’t anything we could
do about it now. We hadn’t brought any
other footwear with us.
Christy
managed to get them on, but they pinched her feet enough to make her
uncomfortable. We were hopeful that they
would loosen up a bit once they got wet.
That
didn’t take long. From the trailhead, we
followed the continuing ranch road down to ford the river. It would’ve been possible to rock hop, but we
didn’t see any point in trying to keep our feet dry. We walked through the river, which is no
larger than a modest creek this far upstream.
Beyond the river we climbed a hill and continued following the road as
it parallels the river. Before long we
passed two women that were also dayhiking.
They’d come from Zion Adventures on the other shuttle.
We
reached Bulloch’s Cabin in 50 minutes. According to a pamphlet I’d picked up, we’d
come 3 miles. I knew we were keeping a
good pace, but I was still surprised that we were moving that fast. I guess that’s the effect that adrenaline
has! The guide suggests that the entire
hike takes 11 ˝ hours, and that the first 3 miles should take 90 minutes. 90 minutes for 3 miles of easy walking along
a dirt road? When I saw that, it made me
think that the overall times were padded.
I began to think that my concerns about finishing after dark were
unfounded. Shoot, I might even have time
to take a few pictures!
I
couldn’t have been more wrong.
We
followed the road a bit farther until it petered out above the river. At that point, there was no choice but to get
wet. We descended to the river and
picked up a path along the bank. Early
on the path persisted on one side or the other.
We crossed the river frequently, but the hiking remained easy. A bit later the canyon began to
constrict. To this point it was wide and
shallow, and there were plenty of trees and other vegetation along both
banks. Once the canyon began to narrow,
we encountered sheer walls along one side or the other. However, since the other side was more open,
we were able to hike along that bank most of the time.
We
took a brief break, which allowed the boy scouts to catch up with us. It was an interesting, diverse group, with
some older teenagers, some younger boys, and several leaders. We let them go ahead, laughing as the
splashed their way downstream. While
Christy and I were taking care to stay more or less upright, some of the kids
seemed to enjoy falling. While most were
doing fine, there were a couple of younger ones that were really
floundering. Some of them were wearing
leather boots, and Christy noticed one that hadn’t tied his shoes.
We
followed behind them, but caught back up when they stopped to wait for their
leaders. That was the last time we saw
anybody until lunch time.
Hiking
this part of the canyon reminded me of canoeing. I was constantly studying the river ahead,
trying to judge the best route. Should
we aim for the right bank, the left bank, or go down the middle of the
river? Early on we realized that staying
to the inside of the many curves in the canyon was most efficient, as sheer
walls typically blocked our progress on the outside.
The
canyon gradually grew deeper and narrower.
Before long we reached the beginning of the upper narrows. There are actually 3 sections of narrows
(where the river spans the entire width between the canyon walls). We were entering the first, while another
waited for us downstream, just above the confluence with Deep Creek. The longest and deepest stretch of narrows
would be encountered that afternoon, downstream from Big Springs.
Although
that lower section is what the Virgin River is most famous for, the upper
narrows were quite pretty as well. The
sandstone cliffs glowed red and yellow from the mid-morning light. The walking was still fairly easy, too, as
the river was still just a modest stream at this point.
Our
hike through the upper narrows stretched on and on. There are no landmarks through here, and I
lost track of the pace we were keeping.
I knew there was a 12’ waterfall ahead, and I kept expecting to
encounter it at any moment. It failed to
materialize though, and eventually the canyon began to wide once again. Finally I could hear the roar of the falls
ahead, echoing off of the canyon walls.
Finally! According to the guide
we should’ve reached the falls in 4 ˝ hours.
It was almost 1pm, so we were actually a bit behind schedule. Regardless, I knew we needed a break. We descended a steep scramble path that
bypasses the falls. At the bottom we
stopped for lunch.
After
lunch I worked my way back upstream to photograph the falls. This was a little tricky. I had to scoot across a log to avoid a deep
pool. Once beyond that obstacle it was
an easy walk upstream to the base. The
waterfall is only 12’, but it is scenic.
Unfortunately the mid-day light was terrible for photography. I’ve never seen a good photo of this
waterfall, and that’s probably because everybody passes it when the light is
poor. Hiking the Virgin River Canyon
isn’t advisable on a cloudy day, and being in the area early or late in the day
is unlikely due to time constraints. I
took a couple of photos anyway before returning to our lunch spot.
We
were getting ready to leave when the women we’d passed earlier caught up with
us. They stopped for lunch also, and we
chatted briefly. They seemed to be doing
ok, but I got the sense that they might be in a little bit over their
heads. Their pace was a good bit slower
than ours, and I knew they were concerned when they asked us if we knew what
time the last shuttle bus left the trailhead at the end of the park road. We were pretty sure it was 10pm, but none of
us were completely confident we’d make it there by that time. This was a little stressful. Aside from having to finish in the dark, a
late finish would mean an extra 7 mile walk along the park road.
DEEP
“Whoa, can't touch the bottom
In too deep, yeah, oh, can't touch the bottom
But he’s got a great view”
From “Deep”, by Pearl Jam, written by Stone Gossard, Jeffrey Ament, and Eddie
Vedder
We
resumed our hike. A few minutes later we
entered another, deeper section of narrows.
This was quite scenic as well.
Since the ranger told us we’d have to swim a couple of times before we
reached the confluence with Deep Creek, I figured we’d be getting wet soon. However, those deep pools never
materialized. We emerged from the narrows
into bright sunshine and arrived at the confluence with Deep Creek. We found the first campsite here, and stopped
to filter water. Drinking from the upper
Virgin River isn’t advisable due to pollution, but Deep Creek is considered a
safe source.
We
hadn’t encountered water any deeper than our knees to this point. I was a little puzzled, since the ranger had
told us to expect to swim a couple of times before we reached Deep Creek. I began to suspect that he was full of shit,
and that he just told people that to discourage hikers that were a little less
committed. I can actually understand
that now. It’s a long, difficult hike in
one day, even for a seasoned hiker like myself. I’m sure the park service hates attempting to
rescue people from that canyon.
Some
of the older boy scouts caught up to us while I was filtering. Apparently some of the younger ones were
really struggling and were way behind the rest of the pack. They planned to regroup there before resuming
their hike. They were bound for the last
campsite, #12, so they still had a ways to go, too.
The
filtering process was slow due to the silty
water. I frequently had to clean the
filter, which was tedious. Eventually I
sent Christy ahead, since I knew that I could catch up with her. She was tired and her feet hurt due to the
tight shoes. At lunch she took off the
neoprene booties, which made the shoes more comfortable. That strategy did result in a handful of blisters
though.
The
deepest, narrowest part of the canyon was still ahead. Also, Deep Creek carries a lot more water
than the upper part of the Virgin River.
We’d be wading in a lot more water the rest of the way.
I
was about to leave when the women we’d met at lunch caught up. They seemed to be keeping about the same pace
as they’d managed earlier. They seemed
in good spirits, but I was a little concerned about them. Unfortunately that was the last time I saw
them. Hopefully they made it out ok.
The
next stretch of the canyon was actually pretty easy. There was high ground on one side or the
other most of the time. I caught up with
Christy after 20 minutes or so. We
passed 11 more campsites, which made it a little easier to keep track of our
progress. One of the campsites was
occupied, but they were the only people we saw before the end of the hike.
We
passed the mouth of Kolob Creek and then the mouth of
Goose Creek. After three more campsites
I caught my first glimpse of Big Springs cascading into the river ahead.
Big
Springs is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. Several streams burst out of the side of the
cliff, creating waterfalls that cascade down into the river. The springs are surrounded by hanging gardens
full of lush vegetation. The gardens are
neon green, and wild columbine and an unknown variety of orchid were blooming. We saw more of those flowers in other hanging
gardens along the cliff walls farther downstream.
Big
Springs was too pretty for a few snapshots. I pulled the tripod out and sent Christy
ahead. I took my time here, which was a
rare luxury. For most of the hike I was
too pressed for time to use the tripod.
It was really necessary though, since it’s very dark down in the depths
of the canyon. I took photos of the
springs, waterfalls, and hanging gardens from every conceivable angle, and even
managed to include rapids along the river and a deep blue pool just downstream
in some of the pictures. I’m glad I put
some effort into those photos, as they ended up being my favorites from the
entire trip.
I
caught up with Christy a ways downstream.
The canyon began to get deeper and narrower, and we were now walking in
the river most of the time. We reached
the first deep pool a little later.
Christy swam through it, allowing the current to propel her downstream. I wasn’t eager to swim. Instead, I found a way to scramble over the
boulders on the right side of the river.
I descended to the river and we resumed our hike downstream.
A
bit later we passed the “sipping turtle”, which is a hidden spring that makes a
spooky gurgling sound that echoes between the canyon walls. Later we passed Hiccup Spring, which makes a
similar sound.
This
part of the canyon features some huge boulders.
Some of them were significant obstacles.
At one, the river is forced into a narrow channel. Just beyond the boulder it has carved a deep
pool. I gave it one glance and knew it
would require swimming. Christy jumped
right in. I tried to hike around the
right side, but found my route blocked by cliffs and boulders. I doubled-back to the left side, but quickly
encountered a deep pool. However, this
pool wasn’t as the deep as the main channel, and the current was
negligible. I waded in until it was neck
deep before doggy paddling a couple of strokes.
My feet regained the bottom, and I thought I was home free. I waded forward to the base of another
boulder. I scrambled up it, only to find
an abyss on the other side.
The
pool was so deep it was an eerie blue in the deep shadows at the bottom of the
canyon. There was no way around it. Even worse, there wasn’t any way to get into
it gracefully. I’d have to jump, or turn
back. But turning back meant wading and
swimming back through the pool I’d already traversed, and then swimming
downstream in the main channel.
I
wasn’t quite sure what would happen when I jumped. It was several feet to the surface of the
pool. Would the weight of my pack sink
me? At least Christy was waiting for me
on the far side. After all, she was a
lifeguard about 15 years ago.
I
double-bagged my camera and secured it in the waterproof case. I then stashed it in pack and cinched
everything down tight. Almost everything
else in my pack was already stashed in ziplock bags.
I
took the plunge. I hit the surface of
the water, and for a moment I thought I really was going to sink to the bottom
of the Earth. Panicking, I thrashed my
way back to the surface. Once I could
breathe, I paddled and floundered forward, the saturated backpack dragging
behind me. After a few strokes my feet
found the bottom again. I struggled out
of the pool, gasping for breath. Christy
looked like she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or come to my rescue.
Fortunately
that was the last place that required swimming.
We resumed our hike downstream, and the canyon walls continued to
constrict. Before long, we found
ourselves entering the deepest, tightest part of the canyon.
OCCUPY WALL STREET
The
final stretch of narrows is nicknamed Wall Street for the towering canyon
walls. I entered it with a bit of
trepidation. This part of the canyon is
beautiful. Awesome,
even. But it’s also a little
scary. It was getting dark down in its
depths, to the extent that it was getting hard to see where we were
walking. And we hadn’t seen any other
people in several hours.
We
continued downstream, walking in the river.
We occasionally switched sides to follow the shallowest water and to
avoid the current. We were both
exhausted, though I still seemed to be running on adrenaline. Finally, up ahead, I thought I spotted the
mouth of a side canyon on the left side of the river. We staggered forward, and I was relieved to
see that it was in fact the mouth of Orderville
Canyon. I finally knew exactly where we
were. We had a little less than 3 miles
to go, and it was a little before 8pm.
Fortunately, the last mile of the hike would be on a paved trail. We only had two more miles of hiking in the
river, and I recalled that the last mile was largely on one bank or the other
as the canyon widens out downstream from Orderville. So we only had about a mile of river wading
to go.
We
took a short break, consuming Cliff Bars for the final push. I then sent Christy ahead while I took the
tripod out one last time. This is the
most beautiful part of the canyon, and I didn’t want to miss out on photos
there. Unfortunately, there was very
little light to work with.
I
took a few photos and hurried after Christy.
We encountered one more deep pool at Mystery Canyon Falls. Mystery Canyon is a hanging canyon, and the small stream tumbles over a cliff and spills
into the river. That last pool was only
waist deep. On my previous hike, the
water had come to the top of my chest.
Beyond
the falls they canyon widened and vegetation began to appear on the banks. We were finally able to get out of the water
and picked up a path along the bank. The
next mile of walking was easy, though there were several more river
crossings. We came around another bend
and were forced to walk in the river once again. Then, far ahead, I spotted people. They were in the middle of the river. Other hikers? I saw a series of flashes coming from one of
them. Were they trying to signal
us?
It
wasn’t until we reached them that I realized that it was just tourists taking
flash photos. They were playing in the
river at the end of the paved trail.
Relief washed over me. It was
8:45 and we only had a mile of easy walking to go.
We
sloshed our way down the sidewalk, passing numerous tourists out for an evening
stroll. We reached the trailhead at
9:10, 13 hours after departing from Chamberlain Ranch. As luck would have it, there was a bus
waiting there, just getting ready to depart.
The front car was pretty full, so we sat in the back car. It was empty, which proved to be a good
thing. The first thing we did was take
off our water shoes and booties. As soon
as we did, the entire car was filled with one of the foulest stenches I’ve ever
experienced. It smelled like sweat,
river mud, and rancid feet, with an underlying hint of an outhouse in the hot
summer sun. We opened all of the windows
despite being a bit chilled, but the ventilation didn’t help a bit. Fortunately there wasn’t anyone else in the
car with us. At least there wasn’t until
the next stop. There, two folks made the
mistake of getting in our car. Boy did
they choose poorly!
We
got off at the Visitor’s Center. Before
returning to our car, we told the driver about the women that had been behind
us. Unfortunately we had no way of
knowing if they were still in the canyon.
It’s even possible that they may have decided to bivouac somewhere along
the way. The driver told us that he
would alert all of the other drivers to keep an eye out for them. He’d also alert a ranger, just in case they
didn’t make it out by the time the last bus departed from the end of the
road. I felt a little better about their
plight having told someone.
We
walked barefoot across the parking lot in the dark to our car. We then made a quick stop at the campground
to clean up and change clothes. Then we
drove into town, hopeful that we’d find something open for dinner. Our first stop was the Pizza and Noodle
Company. They were just closing (it was
after 10pm), but they re-opened just for us!
Apparently mentioning that you just finished thru-hiking the Virgin
River Narrows has its perks. The servers
were extremely friendly, and the pizza and beer were excellent. To be accurate, most any sort of food and
cold beverage would’ve been delightful at that point, but this place really was
good. Surprisingly, everywhere we ate in
Springdale exceeded our expectations.
We
closed down the Pizza and Noodle Company and returned to camp. Christy passed out immediately, while I
actually sat at the picnic table with a beer, enjoying a spectacular display of
stars while reflecting on our day. Our
hike through the Virgin River Canyon was one of the most amazing experiences of
my life. It was challenging, yet
spectacular. I wouldn’t do it again in a
single day though. In fact, I’d like to
return and spend a night in the canyon.
That would allow for a more leisurely hike and exploration of some of
the many side canyons. It would be nice
to enjoy that amazing scenery without worrying about having to maintain an
aggressive pace.
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