The Real North Fork

I was scheduled to do the Narrows for work. It just so happened to be on the opening of football season for the Washington Huskies. This did not make me very happy. I had a conflict of interest. Seth was supposed to go with me on the trip. Seth discussed bailing on it, because he did not want to do the trip. I thought about the game, but being a backcountry ranger is bigger than that. When it came down to it, although the weather did not look great, I decided to bag the game and go for the Narrows. Seth decided to bag the Narrows and do something else, so once again I got a backpacking trip for work alone. This was great. I started at about 10:30am, which is a bit late for a Narrows hike, but I was fine with it. I moved quickly and had to because there were a group of three high school/college age kids doing the day hike right in front of me. I had to stay in front of them, even with my overnight gear, because I could not let anyone else pass me. I was able to lose them after Bulloch's Cabin.
This is also the place where the canyon begins to narrow. I was surprised how long it took to actually get to the campsites inside the park. It was a bit aggravating also because my ankle was a bit sore. The views were beautiful and everyone I talked to along the way was very polite and excited to talk to me. That made my day so much easier. Campsite 1, although not as exciting, had one of the best views in the park.
Continuing on down, not too far from campsite one, was where the only obstacle in the entire Narrows is. The waterfall, about fifteen feet or so, drops down. Conveniently right next to that is a break through some huge cliffs for people to walk right down.
Well, I continued on down, checking permits, cleaning up graffiti, picking up trash, dispersing campfires, because I did actually have to work a bit on this trip. Soon enough, I was at my site where I could chill out. Directly from my site, I could see the fire burning over the Narrows. I did not like my site at first because it was directly in the sun, but once the sun went behind the cliffs, I enjoyed it. The only thing I had to do to make it better was to clean up all the trash left there. I can not believe how irresponsible people are at times, as my backpack was half full of trash. After that, the site was much better. There was a wonderful dipping spot, that at first, I went in just to clean off. Later, I went in for a swim. The water was definitely silty, but it was still comfortable temperature wise. I spent the evening chilling in camp, reading my new book "The Splendid Little War" on the Spanish-American War. Almost finished it before dozing off. The next morning I was up at seven and hiking by eight. Within minutes, I came upon Big Springs.


The Narrow's is very interesting because above Big Springs, there are lots of side canyons coming in (Deep Creek, Kolob Creek, Goose Creek, etc...) and below there are so many fresh water springs coming in. I was very impressed by the hundreds of springs coming in. Those springs did not help to make the water any clearer. The going was slow because I could not figure out where to put my feet and how deep the water was going to be. Quite a few times, I had to bail out on a chosen route because of deep water. The walls were much more Narrow in the section between Big Springs and Orderville.
Soon I started running into more and more people, so I knew I was going to be out of the canyon soon. After Imlay and Orderville came in, I was very familiar with the canyon from there. Saturday, Labor Day weekend leaves me with this last question as I am nearing the exit with the Narrows: Is this wilderness?