the zion narrows, an ultralight backpack - September 23, 2017
16.5 miles over two days, in one of the most beautiful places on earth. But a fairly serious endeavor as you are walking in water from 1 to 4 feet deep, on slippery rocks you can't see that feel like greased bowling balls. Spreading it out over two days makes it more enjoyable and gives you time to relax and take pictures, whereas the one day hike turns into a death march before you get out. The down side, and there is one, is that if you are going to spend the night in the middle somewhere, you are now talking about carrying overnight gear and provisions, which means you now have a real pack on your back that is, a) heavy and b) needs to be waterproofed. Or at least everything in it does. The trick is to go ultralight; every pound you put on your back decreases the fun level and increases the chance of potential mishap or injury. It's just an overnight backpack in an incredible place, but it must be taken seriously. Even just getting a campsite permit for the hike is a definite challenge, which is why I scheduled this for after the start of school. Since these permits are nearly impossible to get, I am planning to drive down Thursday afternoon in order to stand in line all night Thursday night to get a permit for a Saturday night Narrows campsite. Permits are given out at 7:00 am Friday morning on a first come first served basis. It would be nice if I could interest someone else in coming down with me for this vigil and to trade off shifts with during the night. Then, Friday morning with permit in hand, I would go over to South campground and grab a campsite or two for the rest of the group coming down Friday evening prepared to start the hike early Saturday morning. Those who go down on Thursday will do another hike on Friday. I plan to hire a commercial shuttle to do the hour and a half drive up onto the mountain to the Narrows trailhead Saturday morning so we don't have to do a two-way shuttle retrieval Sunday night before we can head home. We will spend Saturday night in the Narrows, complete the hike on Sunday and go home Sunday night.
| Level: | MOD |
| Miles: | 16.5 |
| Route: | Shuttle |
| Pace: | Moderate |
| Organizer: | Rick Thompson |
| Date: | Sat Sep 23 2017 — Sun Sep 24 2017 |
| Meeting Place: | Registration required |
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