Introduction:
What? :
This is a complementary blog describing our August 5th 2025 hike to the Narrows.
I wrote a full detailed blog on this hike and the park visit, for more information looks for:
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Few notes and recommendations:
Come early, it gets extremely crowded mid-day.
You must come with good close hiking shoes, I do not recommend sandals, crocs or alike, you want good tight holding to your feet.
Ware pants that can get wet and you can still hike in them when they are wet (shorts are a good option).
Hiking pools are recommended for helping with balance when walking on the slippery rocks.
Most of the hike is in the shade canyon, hat and sunglasses are not a must.
You can rent water hiking equipment the day before your hike in Springdale.
Bring water for a day hike and also carry food for the day with you. You can’t drink the river water, even with a filter, it is unsafe.
You can put your water sensitive items (camera, wallet, car key, phone, food,...) in a waterproof bag.
No cell reception anywhere in the canyon.
You do not need a trail map, you can't get lost in the canyon. Distance measurement with GPS is not accurate in narrow and deep slot canyons.
No need for any hiking permit or shuttle reservation.
Restrooms are located at the trailhead shuttle stop.
Overnight camping is not allowed and you can only hike upstream up to Big Spring (4.5 mile from trail head one way)
For hiking time estimation: this will be a much slower mile/hr than regular trail.
Spring with its cooler temperatures is a great time to visit Zion Park but The Narrows trail is probably close due to water level. Water levels are low during summer and fall. Winter can be very cold.
Check water level or summer flush floods warning at the visitor center.
The hiking conditions may vary depending on the water level and current flow.
When hiking with kids make sure they are always safe.
Pets are not allowed on hiking trails in Zion National Park.
Hiking the river in the dark is very slow and not safe, plan to complete your hike during daylight hours and make sure you are not missing the last shuttle bus, it is a long walk down to the Zion Lodge.
This was our second day in our visit to Zion National Park.
The day before we hiked in the hot summer temperatures all the way to Observation Point so today we enjoyed the cooler temperature of the canyon and the river water.
We arrived at 7:30am to the visitor center and the parking lot was already nearly full.
My recommendations are to come even earlier when visiting during the peak summer months.
We took the shuttle bus (no waiting at all) all the way to its last stop and started to walk the paved trail following the river.
We reach the end of the trail and from here you need to get your feet wet.
At this section of the river there are many other hikers, it was full of people and families, overcrowded for me.
It was mid summer and the river level was low and the waters were not running strong.
After a relatively short walk in the river you reach a point with deep water that you must cross. This is not a long section but the water reaches waist level. For kids it was challenging to cross without help or to swim.
This was the deepest section of all our hike in the main Virgin River canyon.
If you plan to go deep into the side canyon Orderville Canyon, as we did, there are waterfall pools that are deeper.
We walk fast passing many hikers on our way.
Soon we pass Mystery Falls on our right (120 feet tall), a tall cliff that waters from the creek above flowing and creating a wet wall.
It was crowded but the canyon is always impressive !
The tall red colored rock cliffs towering from both sides of the narrow river.
The trail progresses with walking sections in the river and sections crossing to the dry area on its both sides. The river twists in the canyon but you do not see this when walking inside the narrow canyon.
You will pass a section where the river curved alcove in the canyon walls, this will be Garatto Alchov.
After walking for 1.6 miles from the point you start to walk in the water (2.6 miles from TH) you will see on your right a clear entrance to a side canyon, this is the only side hike you can do so you can’t be wrong. This is the entrance to Orderville Canyon.
This was my first time exploring this side hike and it was the best part of our hike that day.
Highly recommended side trip !
Not only is it a beautiful canyon with waterfalls overcoming challenges, it is also a lot less crowded compared to the main canyon so there are almost no other people hiking here.
Orderville Canyon is much smaller and with less water flow compared to the Virgin river.
It is narrower and the walls are not less impressive.
It starts with an easy walking section in the river.
Along the hike here you will enjoy the view of the lush canyon walls vegetation fed by canyon side springs.
After a short walk the canyon floor became rocky and soon after the canyon bend you will reach the first waterfall.
Safety note: Don't climb up a waterfall if you cannot climb it down safely. And do not jump into the water if you do not know how deep they are.
There is some challenge involved with overcoming the waterfall, you must climb the large log on the center of the narrow fall.
There is a deep pool and you need to climb the tilted log.
Be careful because the logs can be very slippery from the running water.
Keep walking up the canyon and you will climb up a few smaller waterfalls and crawl underneath large boulders.
After that you will reach another large waterfall, Veiled Falls.
Here there was a very large log right in the waterfall.
The log was extremely slippery and even with the help of the rope that was there it was challenging to climb up without falling into the lower pool.
We notice a few Moki steps curved into the rock surface on the right side of the waterfall and we use them instead. Be careful because even here the rock might be slippery from the running water.
We kept hiking and the canyon became impressively narrow where it looks like the walls are “connected” somewhere up there… It was relatively dark during mid-day in this narrow canyon section.
Soon after we reach another small waterfall.
We saw another hiker coming down and he told us that it was not so much to see up the canyon so we decided to turn around here.
We went back down.
At the tall waterfall with the log we use the rope and we use the log to sleep down the waterfall, the rope that was there helps to keep it safe.
We hiked back to the confluence with the Narrows.
This was a fun part of the hike, highly recommended to do this side trail.
We lost track of time but I think it took us about 2 and a half hours to hike here and also to do the Orderville Canyon.
We kept hiking up the Narrows.
Although the Virgin River canyon is impressive all the way from here, start a section called “Wall Street”.
It is named like that because here it becomes narrower and the river fills the entire canyon floor and the canyon walls are towering straight up.
This section of narrow winding canyon is about a mile long.
Because of the fast distance from the hiking starting point you will see less people here.
After a short walk up the river you will reach a point with a huge smooth boulder in the middle of the canyon, this will be "floating rock”.
I do recommend hiking after the rock location, the next half a mile is probably the narrowest and the most impressive section of Wall Street.
You can keep hiking all the way to Big Spring, this will be the last point you can hike upstream for a day hike without a permit.
I recommend turning around where you see that the canyon walls begin to open up.
You know that you are there because the sunlight is penetrating all the way to the river floor, you might enjoy this to get warm.
The total distance to Big Spring is about 3.5 miles of wet river walking, 9 miles round trip from the shuttle bus stop trailhead.
From here you need to walk back downstream, it will go faster but it is still a long walk back.
As you walk back you will notice how you will see more and more hikers, mid-day near the paved path it is completely packed with people.
This hike will take you, including the Orderville Canyon side adventure, at least 5 hours or more, depending on your group hiking abilities and how many rest you did along the hike.
You will reach back to the paved trail and walk one mile back to the shuttle station. From here you can go and visit another location in the park or take the 30 minutes shuttle drive back, all the way to the visitor center, great timing to take off the wet shoes and pants off.
You will enjoy your time here, it is one of the most unique and fun hikes you will ever do.
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