My first trip to the Zion was with my pal Justin Julander, who without his friendship my life wouldn't have been the same. He introduced me to backpacking and many other things that has enriched my life to which I am deeply grateful. Along with us was his dad, my dad, his sister Tara, and their foreign exchange student Kaori. This trip was in October 1989 and the leaves were all Fall colors and beautiful as could be. Justin and I thought it would be a good idea to get ahead of the rest of the group and found that skipping was an effective way of moving quickly. Skipping with a backpack on is not a good idea across rocks and trees through water and mud. We were very sore after sleeping on ground that night. We camped on a small piece of high ground with small mice all around us. We sucked on Jolly Ranchers as we hiked and ate Dinty Moore Stew with flour tortillas that night for dinner. The second day in was most exciting, that's when we discovered things like Orderville Canyon and Big Springs, also the sand slide and all the deep water. We hiked the Narrows from outside the park in or from top to bottom though, so if you start from the Gateway to the Narrows from inside the park you'll see these awesome features a few miles in. For more info on the Zions Narrows check out this website.
The Narrows has a lot of hanging gardens and some little caves to climb to. It was a fun hike and a good time. I've been down the Narrows many times since, usually just to Orderville Canyon or so for a day hike and back or just inside the gorge for some pictures of the waterfall in early spring. There's a lot of peace to be found in Zion Nat'l Park, especially inside the breezy gorge of the Virgin River's Narrows. Good Times...
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