The Narrows
Zion National Park
Utah
May 2013
This was Kellisa's second visit to Zion National Park
Our goal for this trip was to hike/raft part of the Narrows trail. The National Park Service makes it clear that flotation devices and rafts are not allowed in the Narrows. I wrote to the chief ranger and explained our situation and provided a link to this blog. The ranger responded that her first thought was to answer no, but after looking at our experience, she decided that if anyone could do the Narrows with a disabled person, it was us. The ranger had one condition, we needed another hiker for safety reasons. This wasn't a problem because we had already recruited Primo Matt to be our partner.
We used the Freedom Push Chair for the mile long paved trail to the start of the Narrows:
Getting the 1 person raft ready:
Kellisa loved the raft:
Safety first:
The entire hike in the water was like hiking on wet, slick bowling balls. Every foot placement took careful thought and consideration.
Here we go:
The first rapids we encountered:
Calmer waters:
More rapids:
It may not look like much, but the water was really flowing on this beautiful afternoon and the rapids below were a little too strong for my liking. I had to play it safe and carry Kellisa around the rapids:
Of course, Kellisa didn't mind:
Back in the raft:
Matt hiking along side Kellisa:
Kellisa's view from the raft:
Back at the beginning of the Narrows:
Matt taking pictures:
I cooled off in the freezing water as Kellisa enjoyed her last minutes in the raft:
Pictures 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 20 (courtesy of Matt Buckingham)
Casie Forbes from the St. George, Utah newspaper- The Spectrum, met us at the visitor center after our hike for an interview. Casie's story appeared in the Memorial Day edition and a week later, the story was picked up by the AP and ran in papers across the country.
A huge thank you to Casie (sorry we were two hours late, it was a lot harder than we imagined), Matt, Egypt and Lisa!
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