Stats for the day:
· 2034 steps (on pedometer), plus the 8-9 miles of hiking in the Virgin River
· Virgin River Stream Flow Rate Peak: 136 cubic feet per second
· Wall Streets I’ve hiked: 2
· Times I nearly got carried away by the water: 1 (I slipped way more than this, though.)
· Value of sharing this experience with Brian and Matt: infinite
The Narrows hike is officially open, at least the Bottom-Up Hike. The Bottom-Up Hike starts you at the bottom of the Virgin River (as opposed to going in from the top and hiking 16 miles downstream), you hike up as far as you’d like (up to the 5 mile point and Big Springs site), and then return the way you came. While it’s a shorter hike than the top down, you’re hiking upstream against the current for half of the hike AND the stream flow rate doesn’t have to be as low as it does for the top down hike. But, I’m comforted by the fact that it’s relatively flat (nowhere to fall like yesterday) AND the cold water can soothe my aching joints.
This hike was unlike anything I’ve ever done. For those of you unfamiliar, The Narrows is a hike that follows the Virgin River riverbed, with high canyon walls on either side of you (often very narrow), and during much of it you are at least calf-deep in water (I think the official stat for the today was 70% of the time you were in water). Within the first 100 yards we were waist deep, then soon chest to neck deep wading through the water. I only really noticed the cold when my whole body was under the water. Your feet and legs become pretty accustomed to the cold (or numb to it) fairly quickly.
A ranger at the Backcountry Desk told us the hike was open to Big Springs which was 5 miles up, but we wouldn’t make that. I’m proud to say that we made it through “Wall Street” (my second one, and again an area where the canyon walls are extremely narrow) and up to about the 4 mile in mark. We eventually came to a large rock blocking our path. There was an opening on one side we could’ve swam through, but it was very deep with a really strong current to swim against. Matt, whom I’ve discovered is half mountain goat, half fish) scurried up the rock and scouted for us. Our options were to climb up the rock, jump to another rock, and then jump off that rock and swim to a shore. All of which seemed pretty sketchy. OR, we could swim through the deep water against a strong current, only to be met by rapids on the opposite side. We decided for a third option: turnaround point.
Matt climbed down the rock about half way, gave me a look, and then jumped. He came up from underwater, a bit surprised that he came nowhere near touching the bottom. I was sad I didn’t capture the moment on camera, so he climbed up again, and this time jumped from the top of the rock. He surfaced completely intact, though he did break a buckle on his waistpack, as well as lose a latch on one of his water bottles. And he touched the bottom and confirmed it was deep.
On the way back, we took a half mile to mile detour into Orderville Canyon. I think the huge rock that was seemingly impassable came at a good time. It takes a bit more than you’d think, even hiking with the current, hiking in the water on what’s likened to slick, slimy bowling balls. Brian and I both had our trips deeper into the water than we’d like, mostly as we were working through currents. Matt seemed to prefer falling in the super shallow, not at all fast-flowing water. To his credit, he hadn’t fallen previously, and at this point all of our legs were pretty tired. Matt had swum through a lot of areas where Brian and I maneuvered around the deep water. As we approached the end of the hike, he once again jumped right in to swim around the rock and was watching, waiting patiently for us to climb over the rock. He was pretty shocked to see us floating/swimming around the rock! We figured we’d might as well, and this was probably our last option. I find it strange how unnerving it is to swim through really deep water, unknown depth water. It’s not like it matters because you’re swimming, but somehow you can still feel it.
Our sopping wet selves hiked the Riverside Walk back to the shuttle stop. There, Brian proceeded to take off his neoprene socks spraying a gross combination of foot soaked, river water all over himself, Matt, me, AND an unsuspecting gentleman napping near us (who sat up and moved away) and a very properly dressed lady standing behind us. Good thing neither of them realized what had just hit them. When we got back to “town” we rewarded ourselves with massive amounts of carbohydrates at Zion Pizza and Noodle (pizza, pasta, and beer).
Math thoughts for today:
· The force of water baffles me. There is some math involved in comparing rates of flow of water (how many times as fast, is any of it exponentially larger, etc). Also, we can get some force problems in there.
Shout-outs:
· Peter and Judi Haines – I met Peter and Judi by chance at the campground and discovered they were both former principals. It was nice to talk shop (aka education) with them, and though they are from British Columbia, I think we’ve had similar experiences. AND, we did it. We hiked both Angels Landing and The Narrows and came out alive (and unbroken). Hope you guys enjoy The Narrows in September.
· Uncle Ron Block – This trip doesn’t include Glacier National Park, but anytime I see someone working in a park, I think of you. The two (I think it was two) summers you worked at Glacier must have been incredible. And I hope you’ll share stories.
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