Zion Narrows- Happy Father's Day!

    Today, we got the kids up at 5:30, hoping to get up to the visitor's center and hit the Narrows by 8:00. As it worked out, we didn't actually get there that early, but we did get parking under a tree (for a bit of relief from the heat of the day) and were on the shuttle by 8:30.

   By the way, both Kira and I had a bit of trepidation about this excursion, but for very different reasons. Kira was concerned that she would be in water that was too deep because of her height. (All the photos of the Narrows, and the video clip that is running on TV for the National
Parks of Utah,  show the water being waist deep; she thinks her waist is too close to the ground for that to be a good idea!) I don't swim, so I was concerned that I would slip on the "slippery bowling ball" river rock that all the details about the river mention and go into the water. Turns out, neither of us had anything to worry about. (I was also thinking about the flash flood issue- but every sign said that there was very little chance of that, so I was reassured!) The water flow, less than 70 cubic feet per second, was listed as ideal, meaning that most crossings would be around knee-deep.

    Once you ride the shuttle bus to the end of the line, the Temple of Sinawava, you have a 1 mile Riverside walk to the access of the Virgin River. Although Kira was not pleased with her walk (swim suits have issues with staying put during anything except swimming), we managed to get there with little complaining.

   After sitting down to swap out our footwear for the rental stuff, we were off.

    The water, which is described as being cold enough to cause hypothermia, was much warmer than the Pacific Ocean. There were no blue legs or toes to be seen! It was mostly a clear aquamarine blue, although when the sand was stirred up, it was a bit latte in color.

   We were not there as early as we had hoped, but the air temps were very pleasant and our rented shoes/neoprene socks and walking sticks made the walk into the river pretty easy; we did lose the advantage of being early and had plenty of company joining us on the walk to the river.

Koen immediately headed off in the center of the river, while Joe was a bit more thoughtful. Kira and I watched Koen take off and people coming out and going in, and went where the water was about mid-shin deep.

Kira and I  had a mutual understanding that our goal was not to get in too deep. I watched other people crossing and judged based on where the water came on them- sometimes there were two people, and one was obviously going into the deeper section, so we knew where NOT to go, which made it all good. Koen and Joe didn't worry about it!

The rocks were round, but not slippery for the most part. There were lots of tippy ones, though, which caused interesting rotations of feet and ankles. Scenery was amazing and people for the most part were friendly and respectful of nature. It was something I will remember. Joe truly enjoyed it all- though he fell a couple of times and banged up a knee and a hand- he went into deep pools, swam a bit, trekked up the center of the increasingly narrow canyon and reveled in it all. It was a super way to spend Father's Day.