The Subway

The Subway is the hike that serious Zion visitors plan a trip around, and it is worth understanding before you enter the lottery. On the Left Fork of North Creek, in the quiet Kolob Terrace district well away from the shuttle crowds, the creek has carved a section of canyon into a near-perfect tube, its walls curving overhead like a subway tunnel, with a crack running along the floor and a string of clear green pools stepping down through it. Light bounces off the curved sandstone in soft reflected shades of orange and violet, and it is one of the most famous photographs in the American Southwest. Getting there is the hard part. The National Park Service rates both routes very strenuous. The bottom-up route is a 9-mile round trip from the Left Fork Trailhead on Kolob Terrace Road, with constant route finding, wading in ankle- to knee-deep water and scrambling over large boulders; there is no formal trail for much of the way. The top-down route is a 9.5-mile through-hike from the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead down to the Left Fork Trailhead, and it is a technical canyon: you need rappelling skills, at least 60 feet of rope, and solid route-finding experience, because you will swim deep, cold, debris-filled pools along the way. Everyone needs a wilderness permit, groups are capped at 12, the trip is day use only, and paid guided trips are not allowed in this canyon, so you go on your own skills or with experienced friends. The reward is a day in a place that looks like nowhere else.

How the permits work. Access is managed through lotteries on Recreation.gov. The seasonal lottery opens up to four months ahead, with up to four date choices per application: applications for January to March trips are taken November 1 to 25, for April to June from February 1 to 25, for July to September from May 1 to 25, and for October to December from August 1 to 25, with results on the 27th. Winners have two weeks to claim, and unclaimed spaces are released on the 15th of the following month at 10am Mountain Time. There is also a daily lottery: apply two days before your trip between midnight and 3pm Mountain Time, and results arrive by 4pm. Any space still unclaimed may be issued as a walk-in permit the day before or the day of the trip at the Wilderness Desk in the Zion Canyon Visitor Center. Expect a modest non-refundable application fee plus a per-person permit fee. Permits are not transferable, and the person who made the reservation must pick it up.

Doing it well. Most first-timers choose the bottom-up route, because it needs no rope; the trick is staying on the most efficient line through the boulders and not getting drawn into side drainages, so study a good route description and start early. The descent from the rim into the Left Fork is steep, and the climb back out at the end of a long day is the part people remember. Footwear that grips wet rock, trekking poles and a dry bag for your camera all help. Watch the forecast: this is a narrow canyon, and flash floods are a real danger, so a storm anywhere upstream is reason to postpone. In winter the pools are frigid, the canyon sees little sun, and the top-down route demands thermal protection and real experience; many hikers who win a winter permit treat the bottom-up hike as a cold-weather adventure and turn around when water gets deep.

Who it suits and how to fit it in. The Subway suits fit, experienced hikers and photographers who are comfortable off trail. It is not a family outing. Kolob Terrace Road is open to private vehicles year round, though upper sections can be snowy in winter, and it begins in the small town of Virgin west of Springdale. Pair it with an easy day in Zion Canyon afterwards, or a drive to Kolob Canyons, and build in a spare day in case weather cancels your plans.