The Subway

[tekewin]

This is a popular canyon hike in the Left Fork of North Creek in Zion National Park, UT. It can be done top down or bottom up to an oval shaped section carved out of the canyon resembling a subway tunnel. My wife and I opted to do the non-technical bottom up hike. About half way to the Subway, there are two gray slabs on the left side with petrified dinosaur prints. A nice bonus. I had a waypoint marked for the dino prints, but there was also a small cairn with a stick set up next to it to point it out.


Descending into the canyon


Leisa leading on the use trail




Past the dino prints, the canyon started to get narrower. Another mile upstream, we ran into the first cascade. These are gentle shelves of red rock with sheets of water washing over them. The whole canyon was picturesque. We walked up the cascades and learned to avoid the black algae growing on the rock. It was less slippery to stay on red rock, even if there was more water flowing over it. After a longer set of cascades, we came to a 10' waterfall. It was easiest to go up on the right side of the waterfall. A few more twists in the canyon and we arrived at The Subway. The curved walls start wide, then close in, maybe 20' apart. Water has carved pools out of the floor creating some interesting effects. We continued further until we ran into a pool that was too deep to get over without swimming. I wanted to continue up to the next waterfall, but didn't have extra dry clothes with me. An oversight. We turned around and started back, looking for a place to rest and refuel. We had no trouble finding the exit point, but it was a hot climb out. My GPS clocked just over 10 miles for the round trip. It was a great hike to one of Zions many attractions.




Alcove waterfall










Algae in the pools and on the walls creates eerie lighting effects, even with my low end photo gear



Swimmers only past here

[Sean]

Thanks for posting this. You really captured the stunning beauty of that canyon. I enjoyed the entire Utah series of reports on your blog.

[David R]

If you would have shown me these pictures without identifying the location, I would've said West Fork in Sedona, it looks that similar.

[AW~]

If you would have shown me these pictures without identifying the location, I would've said West Fork in Sedona, it looks that similar.

Just to add though: This is not "the Subway", which refers to a section upstream of this part of North Creek.. At one time, it was reachable from the bottom by some who could handle the spiciness, but now its out of the question. When I visited there was one guy who got to it from the bottom because some rope was left behind that he climbed up class 4/5 hand over hand for 30ft. He wanted to reverse the entire canyoneering route, but clearly was hypothermic, wearing only shorts.

The start of the top to bottom permit also has a similar section to the ending too hehehehe. "The Subway" not the best experience usually....the civilized way is to spend under 5 mins there. I was lucky to see it without anybody around, so I got in half an hour without interfering with anyone's solitude, aka 'photo with a human in it'. Half an hour of wasted time I should add, because even though I encountered it at 99% photogenic primetime, my 5 megapixel camera couldnt get anything to capture its scenic value at that time. Really difficult to capture if you arent knowledgeable about photography and bring the entire filter set.

Subway section:

[tekewin]

Hmm, the deep pool where we stopped had a log that looked like that, but might not have been the same log. Either way, I know there are a lot more views upstream from where we turned around. This guy has some professional photos from both routes:

Joe's Guide to Zion

[Uncle Rico]

I don't know if where you went was technically the Subway or not. But I know it was cool looking nonetheless.

[Girl Hiker]

I agree with Mr. Green, those pictures really capture this beautiful area.

Thanks for the TR