Zion Narrows Campout

This past weekend I had the opportunity to hike the "Narrows" in Zion National Park with 6 Boy Scouts and 3 other adults. We began our trip on Wednesday Aug 20th leaving in the evening from Las Vegas arriving in Springdale Utah (a small town at the entrance to Zion Park). Wednesday night we camped outside Springdale along the Virgin River. Early Thursday morning we closed up camp and drove about 1 1/2 hours to the Narrows trail head in Chamberlains Ranch. From there we began our 2 day trek spanning 16 miles where approximately 60-80 percent of our time was spent hiking in water. There are twelve campsites in the Narrows and the park limits top to bottom hikers/campers to 80 per day. We stayed in campsite number 12, which meant we had the most ground to cover the first day. The pictures that I have posted below do not even come close to doing this hike justice. I didn't want to bring along the nice camera since I figured it would end up in the water at some point. So, it is what it is. Those of you who have hiked this trail know how beautiful it really is and for those of you who haven't . . . this should be a must do on everyone's list in life. Also, I know that many of Rachel's friends reading this are thinking . . . "how could Andy leave his sick pregnant wife at home alone with a 23 month old?" She was well taken care of by her parents as well as little Andrew while I was gone.

Me at the trailhead early Thursday morning just about to start out.

Scoutmaster Bulloch trying to get a signal on his GPS with the boys hiking right along as the canyon begins to deepen.

More of the boys trying to hop from rock to rock through the canyon. Really soon it became impossible to stay dry on this hike.

Did I mention the water was 50 degrees!

Aaron Leavitt is one of the scouts who braved the hike. This is a picture of him early Friday morning. The sleeping pad isn't doing to much "padding" up there. These boys were too tired to care what they were sleeping on after the first day of hiking. In fact we got to camp about 6 pm Thursday night and by 7 pm they were out cold. That is until about 11 pm when one boy woke up with a giant "daddy-long-leg" spider crawling on him. When he turned on his flashlight he saw a bunch more and decided to wake everyone up. Victor saved the day by stabbing them (the spiders) with his Rambo knife he brought with him strapped to his leg.

These are all the photos I was able to get since the battery on my cheap camera doesn't last that long. Some of the best part of the trail went un-photographed. Again, if you have not hiked this canyon, it is well worth any and all effort to do so.