West - The Narrows (slot-canyon) hike at Zion NP

I haven't seen any threads about this on USA-West, but this hike is definitely worth going to. I recently saw this featured on National Geographic's best hikes: http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/trips/americas-best-adventures/hike-zion-narrows/

It's an amazing slot-canyon hike that you can either do top-down (2 days; requires permit), or a day trip (from bottom-up). You will be hiking in ankle-deep to waist-deep water so a good pair of 5.10 canyoneering shoes will make the hike much more manageable. The views of this hike are truly amazing.

I flew in to Las Vegas (LAS) and it takes about a 3 hour drive to Zion. Some places to stay are either in St. George, Hurricane, Springdale, or Zion NP itself (it gets much more expensive the closer you are to the park). I would recommend the Best Western in Springdale. You can rent all your canyoneering gear in Springdale (ie. Zion Adventure company). There are free shuttles from Springdale to drive you to Zion NP (and free shuttles within the park to get you around the park).

I've wanted to do this. It looks so inviting when you get to where the slot begins. I love Zion. It's more appealing to me than Bryce.

Bobette

I did this hike several years ago. It is possible to do it top-down in a single day. My companions and I parked our car at the lodge, rode a pre-arranged shuttle from there to the trailhead above the narrows, and hiked 14 miles downriver. At the bottom of the narrows we rode a park shuttle back to the lodge and our car.

While you can rent specialized equipment near the park, this trip generally does not require a lot of it. I did it with a day pack, a waterproof bag, a pair of water shoes, and a hiking pole. The water shoes were the only thing I had to specially purchase for the trip.