Today was the day we all got to attempt one of the most sought after hikes in all of the Natonal Parks System….The Subway hike of Zion! As an overview, this hike is often featured in pictures regarding insane beauty of the world. It contains a long 9.8 mile hike that starts from the top of the Kolob terrace at the Wildcat Trailhead. From this point there is extensive route finding with cairns through woods, valleys, slot canyons, boulders, rivers, pools, and rappels that bring you up the ascent to Left Fork Trail head. This was a strenuous hike, and we had been told to use the rappels with some rope, but I also read we did not need these if you were in good athletic shape. I did not listen, but we were able to get the party of 6 through the Subway without the rope. This required a scary jump at the end but everybody made it.
Leading up to this hike required a permit, to which I was lucky enough to obtain for 8 people on a Saturday! We only had 6 people as two who planned on joining could not make it, thus we gave the other two passes away. The whole leg of the Utah trip climaxed at this part. We had finished all 5 National parks within the state, and the Grand Canyon before starting this hike.
In the morning we woke up on the ground in our tent and packed up our things. This was after I had cooked a large breakfast of a dozen eggs, and various meats and grits to fuel up for the hike. From here we had two cars, and we parked one at the ending trail head (at the bottom of the route, left fork trailhead) and another car we all hopped into to drive to the beginning trailhead call West Fork. We were able to ‘clown car’ our way in the second car all the way up to this trailhead where we would begin our descent.
We brought about a gallon of water each person, with some sandwiches, and had planned accordingly to get wet, even submerged in water. This was smart, as there were various times that we had to swim to get to the next part of the trail.
As we started down the trail by 8am, the excitement was starting to get to us. Everyone was in a good mood, enjoying the scenery and weather in the morning, and an added bonus was there were no people around us, and had the whole trail to ourselves.
The beginning trail had obvious pathway markings, but about a mile in we started to descend down into series of wavy sandstones marked by cairns, and from this point we headed into the slot area where we were stopped buy a 150ft cliff. We had to turn around as I realized this was not part of the trail but we quickly realized there was another route we were supposed to take.
Continuing on we finally reached our descent area, and went down into the base of the canyon. This was when we were presented with our first obstacle. A series of boulders, which were impassable unless by way of rappels. However we decided to try two routes around. One required going through an opening on the left side of the boulder, and the other included sliding down the rock wall on the right side. We were successful at both. The smaller people (girls) went left and the larger (guys) went right down the boulder.
We proceeded down the trail for about a mile and came upon our first pools. These were known as the triple pools, and because of a lack of rain the pools were stagnant and no flowing water was present. This presented us with very cold water to swim through. We were able to get through the water without getting hypothermia, and did not get our baggage wet.
Once we realized we were about half way done with the trail, we took a break and ate our sandwiches at a point where we could enjoy the beauty and serenity of the slot canyon in a rare patch of sunlight.
After this nice 10 minute break, we headed through the famous area of the trip….the Subway’s canyons. This required various points of swimming and jumping down waterfalls and careful footings on logs and rocks. This was by far the most unique portion of the trip and definitely took us a while to comprehend what we were looking at. Each turn revealed something even more inspiring then the other, and everyone was in shock of what water could do to create this area.
We finally came to the world famous area where photos were shared, but before we were able to take a picture we were presented with two obstacles. One was to jump a slot that had a 50ft drop to water that was unknown how deep, and presented clear danger. We had to do it though, if we wanted to get out. We all successfully made the jump, to our fears.
The final obstacle was a slick rock wall to which we had to slide on our backs and fall another 4 feet onto rock and flowing water. fortunately there were people at the base to help us by telling me where the deepest pools were, thus I was able to jump at a different point into a deep pool and after help grab people as they descended the rock wall.
This put us right into the famous Subway pools and we spent a good 15 minutes marveling at the extreme beauty and color in this section of the park. By far this was the highlight of the trip, and every bit as beautiful as any picture has ever dictated.
After we left this area we had some help finding our way out. It was hard to find the trailhead out, especially after assuming the trip was done. We were presented with a 3 hour hike to get out but once we were out we felt an amazing sense of accomplishment.
This hike is not for the handicapped. It does require agility, and the ability to find your way out of situations. But if you can do it, this hike will create a memory that will forever be ever in your mind. 5 out of 5 stars! This would conclude the trip for Utah, and after we went back to grab the other car, I was happy we finished but sad that it was over. This was the general feeling amongst the group, as we all were in the car, finally relaxing and about to head to Las Vegas to have a small party at the end of our trip. We talked about our experiences of the past two weeks, and all the amazing things we had experienced.
We finally reached Vegas at dusk, and checked into the New York, New York hotel. Once we were in our rooms, and cleaned up we decided to head out for a few drinks and dinner. What an amazing time, and incredible experience! This was the end of our friends vacation, but we were only a fourth of the way done with our road trip!
June 24 Expenses –
12.94 snack at gas station
16.86 gas
15.84 gas
8 dairy queen
26 vegas taxi
11.04 chipotle
10 tip
155.80 -80 from Brandon and Marlon
Total = 184.30
Miles Driven – 184 Miles