The Narrows in Zion National Park is a very unique hike. It’s unique because the river is the trail. You have to hike in the river, sometimes up to your waist.
The Narrows
The force that created the Zion Canyon is the Virgin River. During spring rains it can blast through the canyon with considerable force. After a heavy thunderstorm, flash floods can develop and the Virgin River can increase in volume ten times. These flash floods are what carved out the canyon and created these amazing scenes. There is a section of the canyon that is called the Narrows where the river extends from canyon wall to canyon wall. Hiking up this narrow canyon has become a must do hike for those visiting Zion.
During summer when the water is warmer, many people do this hike just wearing shorts and some cheap tennis shoes and stay wet for most of the hike. During fall the water is much colder. It was 56 degrees when we took the picture above in early November. There are some brave (or crazy) souls who still do the hike in shorts at these temps but they get chilled to the bone. Karen and I bought waders and water shoes a number of years ago just for hikes like this. You can see us suited up below.
Another step we take is to put all our gear into dry bags that fit inside our backpacks. The river bottom is covered with large rocks and in some sections you have to wade in waist deep water. With the river current and the unsure footing, taking a dunk in the water is a distinct possibility. Keeping the camera gear dry is a must. I saw many people hiking with their camera on a strap around their neck. That’s just asking for trouble. It may slow you down having to retrieve the camera from a dry bag but I’d rather do that than recover my camera from the bottom of the river after a fall. Besides, what’s the hurry? Slow down and enjoy the view!
The Glow
The hike up the Narrows is pretty cool all by itself but there’s another reason that photographers make the trip. The famous Narrows glow. It’s caused when the sun hits the red sandstone wall of one side of the Narrows and gets reflected onto the opposite wall. That reflected light takes on a warm orange color that makes the canyon wall glow in the right conditions. It’s a pretty awesome sight. In our previous trip to Zion a number of years ago, I caught the glow further up in the Narrows. You can see it in this post here. For this hike I was after a specific scene I had tried to capture in the previous trip. It’s the featured image above.
Zion in the Fall
Fall comes pretty late to Zion. The end of October to the first week of November. That’s what we targeted this year. The cottonwoods along the Virgin River turn bright yellow and in the right light can be spectacular. Like last weeks image of the Watchman with the backlit trees from the setting sun. Inside the Narrows there are river bends where these cottonwoods survive despite the floodwaters in the spring. When the leaves turn yellow in the Fall, they contrast nicely against the sandstone canyon walls. That’s what caught my eye with this scene. Even though this particular bend doesn’t catch the glow I mentioned above, it still makes a very nice image. I had to set up my tripod in the river to catch the water flowing over the rocks. It looks shallow here but it drops off right after the rocks and I was standing in thigh deep water.
Image details
Light levels in the Narrows are generally pretty low making longer exposures necessary. Needless to say a tripod is required. To smooth out the water even more I added a six stop neutral density filter to slow it way down. This was a ten second exposure at f/11. Another key element is the addition of a polarizer. To get the silky smooth look of the water a polarizer is generally necessary. It takes the glare off the water and allows you to look through the water to the river bottom. It also cuts the glare off the wet rocks making them look smoother as well.
A word about tripods. For a shot like this a tripod is a must. I use a tripod for 99.99% of my images regardless of shutter speed. For a ten second exposure there’s no other way unless you have a rock to put the camera on. Most of the people I saw in the Narrows with cameras around their necks had no tripod. It just makes no sense. You may as well just use your iPhone. It takes a pretty nice snapshot and is much lighter than a DSLR. If you go to the trouble of carrying a DSLR into the Narrows I would presume you’re going for a better shot than is possible with an iPhone. To accomplish that you need a tripod. Okay, rant over.
Final Thoughts
Karen and I have done four or five hikes into the Narrows now and it never gets old. Due to the flash floods rearranging things there are changes from year to year. The light is always changing, the color of the leaves is different, the water levels are higher or lower from hike to hike. In other words no two hikes into the Narrows are the same. It’s a special place. We’ll be back.
Another river based hike in Zion is to a magical place called the Subway. It’s a tough hike. More on that next week.
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Nikon D810 with Nikkor 16-35mm @16mm. f/11 at 10 seconds. ISO 31. Six stop ND filter.
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