Zion National Park Overnight Narrows Permits

The Narrows in Zion National Park, managed by the National Park Service. The photographs are taken from inside the river canyon. Sandstone walls rise sheer on both sides, sculpted, undercut and fluted by water, streaked dark where seeps run down and lit in bands of gold and orange where sun reaches the upper rock while the floor stays in shadow. Overhead the gap narrows to a strip of sky in the tighter stretches and opens over cobble bars and hanging green growth in the wider ones. The river fills most of the canyon floor, running clear and green over rounded stones, shallow across the bars and deeper along the walls. People appear in several frames walking directly in the current, carrying packs and using poles or a staff for balance, some in waterproof bibs and boots.