Walk On

We continued our walk upstream. Naturally the farther we walked the fewer people we saw. By now we were meeting people who were doing the two day hike down the river. Most often the first thing said to us was, "How much farther?" They always looked tired and, of course, wet. Hiking downriver requires a permit and one night of camping on the river bank.

We also continued to enjoy the scenery around us.







I'm channeling Ansel Adams with this version of the previous photo.




Don't forget to look up!




As we walked further upstream the river was narrowing and the canyon walls were becomig higher and steeper.




We walked to a section of the river called Wall Street. At that point the water deepens as the river narrows and the canyon walls go straight up. I was too busy concentrating on not falling so I have no pictures of that part of the hike. Plus it was a real pain to have to stop and take my camera out of my backpack and then out of two plastic bags. There is no shore line at this point so it would have required more coordination than I am capable of. I value a working camera over a couple of photos.

While waiting for a more photo friendly spot I will take a break and let Dave model the three essential items required for this hike: good sturdy shoes, a walking stick and long sleeves.




After three hours of walking upstream we decided to turn around and head back.

The scenery continued to amaze.




Ironically the deepest part of the river occurs near the beginning of this hike. The hike ends early for those unwilling to get their clothes wet. That's too bad because the canyon is spectacular. The last time we had hiked up the Narrows we had reached a point about three hours up that would have required swimming. It is amazing how much the river changes from year to year.

This is as deep as it got this year. Last time at this spot it was chest high. Who knows what next time will bring?




By the time we got near the beginning the air temperature had warmed up (109 in the park) and had gotten much noisier. The afternoon hikers were out and about.

We really enjoyed our day in the river and would strongly recommend this hike for anyone looking for something different to do for a vacation.




Next we are going to climb, zip line and rappel down those canyon walls.

To be continued....