Hiking a River- Day 14

Our day started out early yesterday! We woke up at 5:00am to drive to Springdale, Utah from Hurricane, Utah to catch a shuttle for our next adventure! We planned to hike the Narrows from Top to Bottom at Zion National Park, it's a strenuous 10-12 hour hike. I was very nervous, Matt was pumped!

This was at the very beginning of the hike. At this point it was pretty easy because the water was calm and shallow.

We rented these shoes for a very fair price from an adventure company. It was a great investment because they kept us from slipping, we didn't have to ruin our hiking shoes, and the socks were made of scuba gear so they kept our feet warm in the cold water.

There were some portions that had a trail along the edge of the river which made it a bit easier at times!

We were surrounded on both sides of the river by beautiful, colored rocks.

The rocks were so large, they were hard to capture!

The rocks contained a lot of reds, browns, and blacks. It was easy to get lost in the beauty.

The Narrows were so spectacular, we felt so small.

Clearly, Matt is loving it!

We came across these beautiful waterfalls. It was so peaceful and tranquil. 

After hiking 9.5 hours, we finally reached the end. It was such a beautiful hike. The rocks were very slippery so it was a bit difficult and we looked down often to jump from rock to rock to balance on. When we remembered to look up, we were always in awe and amazed by the beauty. 

After only eating a Cliff bar and a handful of trail mix on the hike, we were starving when we finished the trek so we decided to splurge and try out a restaurant that locals were suggesting. We went to a place called Oscar's. I ordered a burger and sweat potato fries, they were heavenly. Matt ordered a quesadilla/flatbread thing. I'm not sure what was on it but it was delicious!

This was our view from our table at the restaurant. We love the town surrounding Zion. It's small and full of one-of-a-kind shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. There seems to be no chain businesses in the town, which is refreshing! 

After filling our stomaches, we went across the street to reserve a campsite for the night. I was so excited to get a long, hot shower and to go to sleep! When we registered, we were handed two tokens for the shower. Each token allowed for 6 minutes of showering, we only got one token a peice. I was very upset. I'm not sure if I got all the river water and dirt off me but I managed to take a 6 minute shower! It was so nice to be clean and to finally be able to rest after such a long day!