Backpacking the Narrows Top to Bottom

There are two options for hiking the Narrows. Option A is a 10 mile round trip, day hike to the Big Springs starting at the Temple of Sinawava. Option B is a 16 mile in-out backpacking trip, starting outside of the national park at Chamberlain's Ranch and ending at the Temple of Sinwava.

Start the two day journey at Chamberlain's Ranch, located outside of Zion National Park, just about a 45min. trip to the trail head.

Large, open grassy fields cover miles and miles of land as the Virgin River flows as our only guide thru the Narrows. For the first 3.5 miles, you will be hiking along side the Virgin River, with very little river crossings.

By the 4th mile, you will start to notice the dramatic change in scenery. The canyon walls become more apparent as the banks start to rise on each side of the river. You have now reached the Upper Narrows. Leaving the dirt trail, be prepared to waddle thru some waist deep water!

For the next 3 miles, you feel as if your hiking through a fairy tale. The canyon walls tell a story; the history of it's becoming. From the colors of the rock, down to the flow of the river. Everything is just surreal about this trail!

At the 8th mile, marking the half-way point- you will start to reach the campsites located inside the Narrows. There are 12 campsites and each site requires reservations prior to your trip. The campsites are spread out over a 3 mile span. Camping in the Narrows is a whole different experience! The stars that we saw from our tent, the sounds we heard sleeping near the river, simply amazing! No campfires are allowed in the Narrows.

Once you're up on day two, pack up and continue for a couple miles passed the first set of campsites and you will find Big Springs. Over the next 6 miles, scenery changes into more dramatic canyon walls. The water rises waist deep in these sections of the hike. Reaching the famous Wall Street of Narrows, a 1 mile passage that makes you feel so small in a canyon of red rocks so large.

And finally, after 16 miles we reach the end (or beginning) at The Temple of Sinawava. Waddling out of the river and back onto a dirt trail, you have reached the parking lot where it all began.