So Brittany got permits to do the Narrows, and who am I to say no to a pre-arranged trip where all I have to do is show up? The temps were supposed to be some of the hottest of the summer so far, around 108. We took a shuttle to start the trip to make things easier, and it was pretty cheap.
I didn’t know what to think of how things would be outside of the slot canyon sections – the upper portion of the trail are in a forest, walking along cow pasture, that looks like it’s being primed for development, on a dirt road. Soon enough we’re walking along the river, and the cliffs start working their way up into the sky. The heat of the day wasn’t that bad up at that elevation, and as the day went on, the canyon produced more and more shade, plus walking along the river, things were naturally cooler.
The waterfall didn’t disappoint. The water was pretty warm for a mountain stream, and the water was nice to play in.
Soon after, Deep Creek joined up and things got gnarlier. Well, not that much gnarlier, but the terrain got much rockier, making all the river crossings much slower.
Our campsite was at the mouth of Kolob Canyon. It was really nice. The temps didn’t drop below 60, and there were hardly any bugs around.
The next day I was totally prepared to go for a dunking, but with enough route finding, all deep pools were avoided. Midway through the Narrows section, I hit my first day hiker, then another, and another. I stopped taking pictures at that point. Where the canyon widened up, the temps were in the 90’s and I went swimming to cool off. The paved trail started shortly soon after, and within 15 minutes, I was at the Narrows trailhead, ready to chill in the shade with the air temps well in the 100’s.
I’m kind of undecided whether I’d want to go through the painstaking river crossings again, I might to do one of the technical slot canyons which drop into the main canyon.