Recently my family took a little adventure. I have wanted to hike this particular hike for a long time but because of schedules, weather and the process of acquiring permits, I just never made it a priority. Last year around March I finally filled everything out, bought the family some good hiking shoes and we were going to do this hike!
The day finally came and the weather was AWUL. Thunderstorms and rain which isn’t a good combo to be down in a canyon. I was terribly upset but we cancelled the trip. Summer wasn’t really an option for me because it’s s hot here and the lottery for the permits fills up super fast when its the busy tourist season. Fall came and went and I’m not a huge fan of cold so I was hoping to try again in the spring. Then covid hit. They stopped permits and entry into the canyon.
I’ll be honest. I don’t take great care of my body. I don’t go to the gym. I eat brownies for breakfast. I have weak hips, knees and ankles from finishing 2 marathons without proper training, and I’m just getting old. I hate to admit it. I think I can still do things like completing a marathon without training. The truth is that I just can’t anymore though. So, when I saw that they had opened the permit system back up, I knew it was kind of now or never and never wasn’t really and option that I was ok with. It was mid Oct though and I wont lie, I was nervous it would be cold.
So round two. Applied and was granted a permit for 6 of us to hike the Subway. Typically you should submit your lottery application at least 30 days prior to your visit. We missed that window and attempted for the 7 days prior lottery. We lucked out and 2 days before the date I had chosen we got an email letting us know we were good to go. I filled out some information, checked off boxed that went over several safety issues and then the day before I headed out to the Zion National Park Visitor Center to pick up my official permit.
The things they ask you are pretty easy to answer but as with any back country type hike, they want to know who, when, what vehicle, have you prepared properly and then warn you of all the dangers The questions and concerns they have should be a good indication that this is not something that is easy. This is not a hike that just anyone can walk in and out of. This is a dangerous and difficult undertaking and they want you to know upfront so that they don’t have to send a rescue team after you.
I have been on tough hikes in my life. Nothing super difficult because well, as I mentioned above, I don’t really keep myself in the best of shape. I don’t train. Hikes like Angels Landing in Zion National Park are known to be dangerous, and tough. You don’t have to jump though hoops to get a permit for it. You start and you hope to finish. I’ve done it, it is amazing and I totally recommend it but those “Wiggles” did kick my trash. People die every year on this hike and yet no 20 questions before you start so, again, the list of things to answer and check off should have been a clue to me that this was not going to be easy.
We got up to the trail head around 9am. We hit the one bathroom before we headed out on the trail. As we wandered through the nicely trailed trees and mountain side for about half a mile, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the weather was. We were mostly all wearing shorts, shirts and hoodies to start out with. The paper I read said it would be full sun the whole day. It lied. We were in the shadow of the mountains all but maybe 40 mins the entire day. However, we were super lucky to have picked a day that turned out perfect. The sweatshirts came off shortly and the wind was not blowing in the canyon besides and occasional breeze that felt great. When we had left home in the morning the wind was fairly gusty and I was worried it would be even worse down on the canyon floor but it was just the opposite. We were perfectly sheltered from the sun and the wind.
Just after our leisurely stroll we hit the good stuff. By good, I mean horrible awful steep bolder and and sandstone decent into the canyon. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a short like .1 mile or something but in addition to being hard on the knees, as a mother, my fear for my children to go sliding down the mountain or just into a huge rock to start our day was real! Of course the kids were all eager and their energy was high so they were cruising right along and I was very nervous. Luckily we all made it down without any harm done. I knew though, that was going to be a beast to climb back up.
From the bottom of the hill, we carried on down finding out own trails or those that others have created over time along the river. Basically there is no official trail. You follow the river and you will eventually get there. That’s what we did. We crossed back and forth across the river multiple times, climbed over boulders and mud. We walked in sand and dirt. We dicked under trees and sometimes into them. We had a few slips on the slick rocks bet eventually fund a flat rock to sit and have our lunch.
The 6 of us included my wonderful husband, myself, my 15 year old son, 14 year old son, 13 year old daughter and our 8 year old daughter. Lunch at school is at about 11 so my 8 year old’s internal clock was going off big time and we were much slower on this journey than my family had hoped. I figured some food and rest might be just what we needed. After the we fueled up, my 8 year old was “hyped” and ready to go again. I however could tell that old age stiffness from sitting had set in already and it was tough to get back up. We carried on.
We had seen a couple of groups of people at this point but mostly it was just us. We found some fall colors, gross algae bubbles, frogs, lizards, and snakes along the way. We saw beautiful Zion towering over us. The river sounded beautiful and the company was great. eventually we got to a place called the Red Falls. We had about1 minute of just us and the falls. Then out of nowhere people came from both sides. People heading back out, and people from behind us. There were probably 15/20 people all in that same majestic area in the 5 minutes we were there. I will say, this could have been where the hike ended and I wouldn’t have been disappointed. It was gorgeous and magical.
We knew we still had a little ways to go, about half a mile from this point to the Subway tunnel. We moved on, still feeling pretty good. My oldest son that was with us went ahead of us early on and came back and met up with us at this point. He let us know it wasn’t much further and showed us the way. We walked though water from this point to the Subway. The tunnel was beautiful as you approached but once inside the pools were breathtaking. The rocks were slick in spots and the water was very very cold. As we walked back into the tunnel, we came to a spot where you had the option to turn around and go back or get in the water and see how far the tunnel would take you. When i say get in, I mean commit fully to swim.
I saw a couple who had just gone back there and was swimming out. I asked if it was worth it. They both agreed eagerly that it was totally worth it. So, I said I was doing it. My husband thought I was nuts, my sons started to head back to the car, and my girls and husband decided to go with me. The water was COLD!!!! We made it back to the end where there was a small water fall and a beautifully colored log. Now I don’t mean to be a negative Nancy but, it was not, in my opinion, “worth it” I would have always wondered if I hadn’t taken the trip back there though, so I am glad I did it. I took a could cell phone shots s they aren’t great, but you get the idea.
We got out of the frigid waters and headed back toward the car. We again seemed to be mostly alone. We were heading back a bit later in the day than most and certainly later in the day than we had hoped. We had been hiking about 5 hours or so, and it was probably 2-3pm by now. We tried walking through the river for a good chunk of the hike back. It seemed to make sense since we were already wet. however there would be parts were we it looked fairly deep and we weren’t trying to be soaking wet the whole way back ( especially since the fear of being out there after the sun went down was getting real ). After a few tears and another food break we made it to the bottom of the steep hill climb.
My legs were tired and weak but worse than that, my knees, ankle and hip were completely shot at this point. The .1 mile seemed like 3 miles. Each step was my last one. My husband was a huge help in pulling me up the big rocks, to be truthfully, he pulled me up just about every rock which was basically the whole hill side. My point of telling you all this isn’t so much that you all need to know that I am a weenie, but that you need to make sure you hike with someone if you ever try this hike. Please do not do this alone. I needed help and I’m not sure I would have made it all the way back up without him there.
The trail appeared again and flatted out mostly. We finally made it back to the car where our older two sons had been waiting for us for nearly 2 hours. I know that sounds awful that they had to wait that long but, we are all on our own journey walking our own pace. I couldn’t help but connect that to our life. I have hit many tough spots that I went into thinking that I would be just fine. I am sometimes overly confident or stubborn about what I can and can not do. I have hit spots where I just need help and even though i can’t or wont ask for it, I need it. I have been blessed by having angels in my life who will drag me along until I reach a place I can walk on my own. I have been passed by people who aren’t struggling, I have also had moments where I have been the ne passing. I hope and pray that as I pass by others, I am making sure that they don’t need my help. I pray that I am not in such a hurry that I miss those chances, or the single flower growing our of a rock. I also pray that I recognize that I need to prepare a bit better. The world can be rough and I need to stop walking out into it without training and preparation to meet it’s challenges. There are so many beautiful and amazing places, people and opportunities in this life, get out there and find them, even if it takes a lot of hard work and a few tears.
