Day 283: July 5, 2005 - The Subway


by Christian Williams
The Subway is a very famous landmark in Zion, so named for its tunnel-like shape. Permits are required and only a few people are allowed in each day. The hike is pretty far, through a river, and very tiring, but the views are absolutely stunning. Zion is full of beautiful places, but this unique canyon is one of the most fantastic hikes I have ever been on.


by Christian Williams
The clear water was beautiful, glowing with colors of green, gold, and blue.


by Christian Williams
Yes, the water is snow melt, and it was incredibly cold. It was a hot summer day, but Karen had to go warm up in the sun after this little dip in the river.



by Christian Williams
This year had so much rainfall that the river was higher than normal, which made the hike a little tougher, with some spots where Karen actually had to swim across small pools of water. The cold water was quite refreshing on this hot summer day, but I wouldn't want to brave this hike in cold weather!


by Karen Williams
While the Subway itself was beautiful, I felt that the hike to get there was the best part. Large pools, small waterfalls, and vivid green plants made this hike seem like it belongs in a more tropical location than southern Utah.


by Christian Williams


by Christian Williams
There were waterfalls all around. It was a spectacular place to hike.


by Karen Williams
One of the reasons so few people are allowed into this hike is that there is no nice trail next to the river leading to the Subway. We had to hike in the river often, and up these delicate layered waterfalls. The impact on the landscape would be pretty severe if the trail was packed with hikers. Another benefit to the hiker limit, is that we rarely encountered anyone. This beautiful hike was enjoyed mostly in solitude - except when we luckily met a couple who told us we would have to scale a fallen tree to get to the upper part of the canyon where the Subway was located! Next time we will bring some rope to help with some minor climbing and repelling.

4 comments:

Kristy said...

That is the BEST hike! Jim and I have done that hike many times and it is actually where we met - love the pictures but don't remember the water being so green:)

C&K said...

I don't know if the water is always that green, we have only done the hike once. I think it was because the water was so deep this year and really fresh snow melt. The water was absolutely stunning when we went.

The Texas Batemans said...

while the pictures are stunning, you've got to have some kind of filter rockin' on that camera of yours to get that kind of a green out of the water. What were your camera settings on these shots?

C&K said...

The only two filters we ever use are a polarizer and a neutral density filter. Neither add color to the image... the polarizer removes glare so you can get rich colors showing through from the sunlight/water and the graduated ND filter allows us to get the exposure right in all areas of the photo while remaining neutral in color changes. If you notice the one where we are both in the image, we pulled the ND filter off, and I believe the polarizer too because otherwise the shutter speed was much too slow for us to be in the shot without being blurry. The water isn't as rich colored in this image.

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365 IN ZION

365 Days in Zion is a photo experience by Karen and Christian Williams. Together, we spent an entire year in Zion National Park amidst snow, rain, flash floods, brush fires, and the beautiful sunny blue skies that typify Southern Utah in the United States of America.

365 Days in Zion National Park

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