Hiking in Zion

[kevinmcdonough]

Hello everyone. In the second week of March I will be doing two hikes with a friend in Zion. One hike is the narrows and the other is the subway. From what I understand, the subway hike has several possible routes, some of which are very challenging. Just FYI: the subway route we will take is the easier one as we are not expert hikers.

My question is: Have you done either of these hikes (especially at this time of year), and can you make any recommendations to help us get great shots? We will both be travelling with tripods, two bodies (camera bodies, that is!), a range of lenses with focal lengths 16mm to 200mm, plus NDs, Grad NDs, and polarizers.

I'd really appreciate advice from a photography, as well as from a hiking, standpoint. Thanks!

[Todd Lambert]

Not having made the hike myself, but I can tell you, the subway hike is NOT an easy hike. Many underestimate how demanding of a hike it is.

Anyways, have fun and definitely post your images, I never tire of shots from there.

[sparker1]

The Virgin River may be too full at that time, and would definitely be too cold for me. When I was there in March one year, I was shooting snow and never considered hiking The Narrows.

[Win]

You're going to need to do the Subway from the bottom up and will need permits. I think it's about 4 miles to the Subway, one way. We stopped at the TH on Sunday and there was a large family group preparing to start the hike, I don't imagine they had permits and had no idea what they were in for!

You might be able to do the Narrows, just rent dry suits in Springdale. Check the flow at the Zion VC before you do and you should be fine.

[pudgy_groundhog]

If you haven't already done so, check out the official Zion NP webpage to see what you need to do to get a permit for the Subway:

Zion Permits

You might want to check trail conditions - I'm guessing they are okay since they haven't had much snow this year, but don't know for sure. But there is a steep ascent/descent and if it's icy you will want some kind of traction device.

This webpage has some beautiful pictures from the bottom up route:

The Subway

Just an FYI since people don't always seem to know this, but the larger Subway section with the famous North Pole is not reachable from the bottom up.

Before doing the Narrows you will want to check the flow. Right now it looks good, but you don't know how that can change (for reference they close the Narrows at 120 cfs and it's around 70 cfs now):

Virgin River Water Flow

No matter the flow you are going to want to rent a dry suit for the Narrows.

Have fun!

[bps]

Originally Posted by pudgy_groundhog

This webpage has some beautiful pictures from the bottom up route:

The Subway

I really enjoyed checking out the link you posted. There are some great photographs! I will have to hike this one day.

Thanks!
Bryan

[kevinmcdonough]

Thanks so much for everyone's advice so far. It's a really big help to know what I'm up against before I get there. Hopefully I'll have some decent pics to post when I return!

[bps]

Have fun! It will be an amazing experience!

Bryan

[-AP-]

Kevin, have you made this hike?

[kevinmcdonough]

Hi. I did do the hike and here are some of the key points:

-get a permit at the visitor center (we got it the day before...cost something like $10)
-trailhead is about 30-40 minute drive from the town of Springdale just outside the park
-wear sturdy hiking shoes...you'll be going over sand, small and medium size rocks, huge boulders, and through the river at times (water is pretty shallow...mostly)
-just follow the river upstream and you'll be fine...choose whatever side seems easiest to walk on (cross over - or walk through river - if you need to)
-hike begins (and ends!) with an 800 foot scramble down/up the canyon wall...it's pretty steep so be careful (and the rocks are pretty loose)
-it took us 2h 45min to hike each way (this is considered quite fast), and we spent about 2.5 hours at the subway taking our pics
-we each drank 2L of water, though if it had been hotter (it was only about 65 degrees when we went) we'd have needed more
-bring at least 3-4 meal bars each

Enjoy! Let me know how it goes and write back if you have more questions.

[flyfisher]

My Wife and I did the subway in the fall the first mile you go almost straight down remember you have to come back up at the end of the day make sure you mark you spot where you enter the river as coming back out it is easy to miss, also think about what camera gear that you want to use as you will not want to carry anything that you don’t need to. Try to stay in the river as much as possible as it will save you some scrambling over house size boulders. We went from the bottom up and it took us about 7 hours round trip although we do hike slowly we are in our 50’s and in average shape. As all of the above have said bring more water than you think you will use.

[Strnge]

Thanks for the info. I will be there in August...

Mike A.