The Narrows

Every now and then I get a crazy idea. It usually happens when I’m bored and frustrated. I get this urge to rub my hands in the dirt to feel that I am alive.

One such day, when I thought my head might actually explode from pure boredom – I decided that my friend Marie and I should hike The Narrows - a ‘strenuous’ overnight 16 mile hike, along a river bed through a slot canyon in Utah. This would jerk me out of my humdrum life; give me something to work towards. We would train until our bodies were toned, tanned walking machines. My butt would transform from a slightly squishy office chair moulded cushion, to something you could bounce a 50 cent piece off. Marie and I would conquer The Narrows and emerge Tomb Raider style from the canyon.

So I shot off an email to Marie. Was Marie up for heading back to Zion National Park in her home state of Utah? Training to hike 8 hours a day for two days carrying a full pack? Could we lift our packs over our head and wade through the water?

She was in! We decided to avoid hassle with permits, we would go after the school holidays - it wouldn’t be busy – no need to worry. We had our dates. I booked my flight to Utah.

Five months to train. I knew I had to carry 18 kilos in my pack, as the plan was to stay overnight in the canyon. Considering the most I had carried at this point was a bottle of water and some snacks – this was somewhat daunting. I could lift the bottle of water over my head though.

Luckily in another crazy moment, I had found Wild Women on Top, a trek training group for women. They were perfect for training for just this kind of thing. All I had to do was walk 2-3 times a week, for 2-3 hours each time, increase the weight each week and include a longer walk as often as I could, to build up the time on my feet. Easy.

It’s funny how enthusiasm can come and go. When trekking up a staircase for the third time, at night, after working all day, with 10 kilos on my back and a silly head torch on my forehead, one did wonder why my thirst for adventure couldn’t have been more targeted towards drinking cocktails in the Caribbean.

I did learn a lot though. I learnt that it is perfectly legitimate to poke yourself in the butt whilst walking around to ‘activate your glutes’. With this technique, I learnt that after several weeks of training, my butt was still squishy. There was clearly still a lot of work to do.

An interim challenge was in order. So I signed up for the Blue Gum Challenge. A full day challenge with Wild Women, 8 hours of walking in steep terrain in the Blue Mountains. I could digress here to detail another entire story – so lets just say this. It was slow, it was hard, it was scary, and by the end of it I was aching all over.

When I woke up the next day, my butt was still squishy. But The Narrows were in my sights.

With six weeks to go, I upped the training regime. Added a couple of day walks, and upped the weight .When I did a day walk for 10 km with 16 kg on my back I knew I would make it.

Three weeks to go. I get an email from Marie – she has broken her foot. Oh no! Marie assures me she will be ok. Hey she practically grew up in the mountains, it’ll heal in time, she’ll be fine.

The big day finally comes, its time to get on the plane to Utah. After a crazy week at work, only five hours sleep and missing my connection in L.A. I arrive in Salt Lake City. All plans to head out and buy gear are off until I’ve slept, Marie pours me into bed. Our plan was to drive down the following day, on Sunday, get the permit, and hike on Monday and Tuesday. After a slow morning, getting me a sensational new sleeping bag and some dry bags, we finally head down to Zion, a six hour drive from Utah. I was excited – it was really happening!

Zion National Park

We arrive in Zion at 7pm, waltze into the gear shop just before it shuts and tell the mountain guy that we are off to hike The Narrows in the morning.

‘Are you going to line up at 5.30am to get the permit?’

Um… Excuse me? Turns out that The Narrows, known as one of the top five hikes in the States, is popular even in the off season. If we want to hike tomorrow we would have to line up at 5.30am to get a permit – and then hike all day.

Ok – so we decide to get up early the next day, and get a permit for the following day, Tuesday. We would use Monday to go down and see the Grand Canyon, and hike Tuesday and Wednesday. It was all good.

We line up at the National Parks office at 6.30am on Monday morning. Get our permit. Yay! It’s really happening! There was a moment when we thought we should hire the gear ready for Tuesday – but decide it is better use of the day to head down to the Grand Canyon, and get the gear that night.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon was spectacular – wow. Truly enchanting. So was the trip back. We took a wrong turn, and got back to Zion with half an hour to spare to get our gear. With our gear in the nick of time, it was finally back to the hotel to get ready for the big day tomorrow.

‘Nim! We forgot to book the shuttle!’

Oh bugger. Bugger bugger bugger.

It was 8pm – all the shuttles were booked. We had no way of getting up to the trailhead. After all of this training – I wasn’t going to be able to go because we didn’t book the shuttle.

Plan B (or maybe it was C or D by now – I’d lost track) – Marie would drive up in the morning; we would follow the shuttle to the trailhead. It would be fine. Sigh. Ok.

We get up at 7am to follow the shuttle.
‘Nim – don’t worry, I’ve got a really good map. Let’s just head up there.’ Two hours later in the wrong direction – now I knew it was really not going to happen. There were tears. Mostly because I kept thinking; I can’t believe I wasted all that time on that bloody training! We should have just gone to Vegas!

We start the sombre drive back to Zion. There was no way we could do the two day hike now. We only had one day left in Zion. Marie had to be back for work.

Half way back to Zion Marie turns to me and says,
‘Nim, I think you should do it in a day on your own. You are fit enough. I’m not – I think you should do it.’
‘Ok.’

And so it was. Somehow, the next day I stepped off the shuttle and headed off into The Narrows on my own.

Well, ok, there were some other hikers with me for a bit. But the other hikers were staying overnight in the canyon, and I had to get all the way through in one day. I also knew that the hike was listed as a twelve hour hike, and I had to do it in under ten hours if I wanted to be out in daylight. Yes, you heard correctly. I had my headtorch in my pack, but I can tell you - the thought of being in the canyon after sunset, on my own, was not appealing.

I’m not a very fast walker. But after doing the Blue Gum Challenge I did know that I could make the distance. This was not steep, although it was tough walking on boulders in a riverbed. I was not carrying a full pack – but still a heavy pack, enough food water and a few emergency items in case I did get stuck in the canyon overnight.

So I headed off, with a bit of pace while I still had energy and the walking was relatively easy. Was feeling good, nervous but good – then I saw them. Cows. Cows? I thought this was a National Park for heavens sake? I lost some time waiting for the other hikers, so that we could walk through the cows together. It was necessary – trust me.

But then I was off on my own again. I seemed to be making pretty good time, as best I could tell from my map, so I stopped for some bagels and peanut butter. Weeed behind a tree, and headed off again.

After walking for about an hour or so, The Narrows began. The canyon seemed to gently grow around the river. It started first as steep river banks, sometimes a cliff on one side.

Then, I was in The Narrows proper. There was something special and quite spiritual about being in this place on my own, with nothing but me, river running over my feet and rock walls rising up into the sky either side.

Peacefully walking along, another hiker came up behind me. Hang on. I thought I was walking fast? How did they catch up? Oh that’s right – I took that break.

I picked up the pace a bit. Then a couple more hikers walked up behind me.
‘What campsite are you staying at in the canyon?’
‘I’m not, I’m hiking straight through.’ The worried look on his face was not reassuring.
‘You’ve got a long day ahead of you.’ Have I miscalculated? Am I not as far along as I thought?

I got the map out. If I kept going at this pace, I would be walking the last two hours in the dark. Oh shit.

The canyon didn’t seem so peaceful now. I did another wee and kept walking. If I just keep walking – I will get there.

And so I walked. And walked. And walked. It was beautiful. It was awe inspiring.

The further into the canyon I got, the deeper the water got. I was lucky; this was the driest time of year to be doing it. But still, walking in water is slow. Mostly it didn’t get past my knees, but I had to place every step with care, and use my poles every step. There were times when I was wading up to the tops of my legs. The training with Wild Women had been worth every moment.

I made it to the first campsite, and no one was there. This meant that all the other hikers were behind me now.

I got to the waterfall. I was happy to get there – it was good progress. But - how was I supposed to get around it? Am I supposed to go over it? No – no. Found the path up and around. I took a few minutes to look around. It felt amazing, the rushing water – the cliffs rising beside me. The calmness afterwards.

The Waterfall

After the waterfall, the riverbed was easier for a while. I was getting tired so I was glad for a little easy walking. I was still well under half way.

It’s hard to describe how beautiful it was. Photos don’t capture the scale and majesty of it. I couldn’t really stop to soak it up, but I felt like I was walking through a vast natural cathedral. I tried to breathe in the silence as I was walking.

I started to tick off the other campsites 2, 3, 4 …; ticked off the creeks Deep Creek, Kolob Creek, Goose Creek – half way.

I now hadn’t seen any other hikers for at least two hours. I must be way ahead of them now. I stopped to eat, wee, and check my map. That can’t be right. At the rate I was walking, I would still be walking at least an hour or more in the dark. Now I was scared. I was walking as fast as I could. I was tired. My urge was to get up immediately and keep walking, but I made myself sit and eat and drink some Gatorade – despite the lizards everywhere (my lizard phobia was getting a good nudge).

I got up and kept walking. The walking was tougher now, deeper water – slippery boulders. Pole, step, get my footing... pole, step get my footing… I felt better once I was walking again. I had my head torch – I’ve done plenty of walking at night. I calmed myself down, and tried to enjoy where I was. In some places I could walk on the path along the side. The colours in the rock were beautiful. The water was cooling on my feet, the air in the canyon fresh but not cold.

I walked for another couple of hours. I was getting really tired now. I didn’t seem to be as far along as I needed to be, but I was walking as fast as I could. I needed to keep walking to keep to time – but I had to stop and eat for a bit. I checked the map.

According to my best calculations, I had two to three hours of walking to go. And one and a bit hours of sunlight. I hadn’t seen any other hikers for at least five hours. I was scared and tired. Thoughts of mountain lions started creeping in. I didn’t even want to think about what might happen if my headtorch got wet. Alone in a pitch dark canyon overnight… And so I thought, Well, the good thing about being alone down here is that no one is going to see me cry. So I sat on a rock, and cried. Hey – I bet Lara Croft cries when no one is looking.

And then, I did something I haven’t done for a very long time. I prayed. Dear God, please let me get out of this canyon ok.

As I sat there giving into my pathetic little weeps, hearing them echo up the canyon, a buff friendly looking guy walked around the corner.

God - that was quick.

I quickly dried my eyes. He sweetly pretended not to notice my tears, gave me time to recover myself, and then came and said, ‘Hi’. I cannot tell you how good it felt to see another human being. And one that in no way seemed like a serial killer.

It turns out that Connor had walked ‘bottom up’ from the other end of the canyon. You are allowed to walk part way into the canyon from the bottom without a permit, but I was surprised to see him so far up the canyon so close to nightfall.

‘How long have you been walking?’

‘About an hour and a half.’

‘Really? Is the end that close?’

I was so relieved I wanted to hug him. I still couldn’t work out how that could be possible – I’d hit all the landmarks right on schedule. But hey – I wasn’t complaining. Conner said he’d walk up the canyon a bit, and said he’d meet me on the way back.

As he wandered off I, it did dawn on my that it would be just my luck to meet a really nice guy down the bottom of a canyon, with a day left on my trip, looking as least Tomb Raider like as may be physically possible. Oh well.

I gathered my cool a little, and trotted off again. Relief was flooding through me – it was going to be ok. And even if we didn’t make it out by nightfall – Conner also had a headtorch – it was going to be ok.

I could suddenly see the canyon again, in all its glory. It widened a little. A mother deer and her baby came down to drink at the water. They weren’t afraid of me at all, I walked so close I could have touched them. They watched me as I walked on, gentle quiet guardians.

After a while, Connor caught up with me on his way back. We chatted away for an hour or so. Despite the fact that the water was deeper, and it was just getting a little harder to see, the walking was suddenly easier.

He had just finished a stint of travelling up the coast, and was having a few days in Zion before heading home to Atlanta. We talked about how beautiful the canyon was, talked travelling adventures we’d have and liked to have. It couldn’t have been more surreal.

And then, just as the sun was setting – we are there. The end of the trail. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see a concrete path and a streetlight. I nearly cry again. I’d made it, in nine and a half hours. I’d hiked The Narrows.

I looked back at the canyon. I felt a strange feeling for a moment that I didn’t want to let it go.

But the real world was creeping in. Tourists were milling around taking photos and making stupid comments. I started thinking that Marie was probably wondering where I was, and whether or not I had been eaten by a mountain lion. It was time to go. Connor and I walked the last stretch back to the bus stop.

I sat on the bus as the world buzzed around me. Conner got distracted by a family of Australian tourists. My body was shaking a little – from relief or shock I’m not sure. As my aching legs sank into the seat I realised something. My butt was still squishy.

That’s the thing about adventures. They never work out the way you planned.

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