After having yet another amazing breakfast at Novel house Inn, we packed up our backpacks, put on our boots, and headed over to the park. When we got there we purchased an annual pass for all US parks. We'll hopefully get good use of it this year, as we will end up using it at the Volcanos and Haleakala National Parks in Hawaii this year, as well as a couple of the ones closer to home.
We got to the head of the Narrows at about 10:15am, which was a little later than we wanted, but still early enough to have a decent day of hiking. At this point we switched over to our water shoes (basically sneakers decided for going in water that drain quickly), stowed the boots in the water-proof backpack, and headed into the water. Since we didn't rent the water hiking boots (special boots with neoprene socks and a better grip on the bottom), we just about froze our feet when we stepped into the 67 degree water. Thankfully, because the outside temperature was about 100 degrees, the water started to feel nice after the second time of crossing the river.
At the head of the Narrows, the water is moving relatively slow and is pretty shallow. Because of that, it is pretty easy to get your footing and not slip all over the place. We were able to move through this section pretty quickly, as were most other people. While walking, we would cross from one side of the river to the other depending on where there was dry land. At some points you just have to move upstream in the middle of the river, as there are mini-rapids on either side while the middle is more on the calm side.
As we went further in, the river starting getting a little narrower, deeper and faster, with rapids in more places. The faster water made maintaining balance a bit trickier, but overall it still wasn't that bad. Something we noticed is that AM and I have completely different styles of moving in unsure footing. AM will go very slowly, picking where to place her feet very carefully. I will go somewhat rapidly, and will often momentarily be off-balance while I shuffle around to regain footing. AM had a couple of slow controlled falls, while I (somehow) managed to avoid landing on my ass. This isn't too surprising, giving that I can generally regain balance faster than she can so I am a bit more reckless.
At about 1:30pm, we were about 1/2 hour from the mandatory turn around point. We were also at a point in the canyon that we could see the sky to the north and it looked as if there might be rain heading our way. Since we really didn't want to be in a slot canyon when the rain started, we decided to have our snack and start heading back. The trip back out was just as fun, but a little more difficult. First, because we were walking with the current, the water was trying to push our legs out from under us. Second, since the water was hitting the rocks on the "front" side this way, the parts we were stepping on where very smooth, so it was hard for our shoes to get a decent grip.
We made it to back to the head of the canyon at about 3:30pm or so, and got to the inn about 5pm. Once there, we took showers to get the grim of the river cleaned off of us, returned our rented water-proof backpack back, and went out for pizza. The Zion Pizza & Noddle Company has a great recipe for their pizza dough, which is also used for their garlic bread. Definitely a nice dinner. After dinner we sat on the portico of the inn and watched the sunset, then went over to the Pioneer Lodge to get a snack. Once we had eaten, it was time to head back to the inn and get some sleep.