The most notable feature at Zion National Park is the canyon of the Virgin River. Above the core area of the park (where the lodges and building and RVs can be found), the canyon shrinks down to only a few meters wide but several hundred deep, as the river snakes through the red rock of the Utah desert. This river canyon can be hiked, but only by wading in the river bed itself in many locations. In the summer, a pair of hiking boots that you don’t mind getting soaked, along with shorts, is perfectly workable, as I’m sure the cold river water is refreshing. But at this time of year, that would lead quickly to hypothermia. What you can do is rent “dry pants” that have gaskets at the ankles and go up to your torso, and rent some amphibious hiking shoes and wet-suit-type-material insulating socks. That’s what we did.
We went up The Narrows: an all day hike.
I’m making a video, which I’ll post here later [Update, 2011 – I never made this video, did I?].
[this is a “back-post” written 2009-11-30]