Let me begin by telling my story to the Subway. What it took, what I captured and the amount of sweat that fell off me! Then I’ll take you into the sweet details to help make sure you get a chance to obtain the hardest-to-obtain permit in Zion!

So what is “The Subway”? The Subway is a small, uniquely-shaped slot canyon within the Zion Wilderness in Zion National Park. The canyon is located between two peaks (the North Guardian Angel and the South Guardian Angel) on the Kolob Plateau. The Left Fork North Creek flows through The Subway (and the Great West Canyon) creating a gorgeous uniquely carved tube-like, undercut slot canyons. That resemble Subway Tunnels!!! The subway canyon is short, less than a quarter mile, and connected to the larger Great West Canyon.

Most don’t realize and actually get this hike mixed up with the narrows (In Zion), but to begin your hike, you must actually leave Zion National park and drive about 15-20 minutes down the road and then North from Virgin, UT. From there you drive up Kolab Terrace road to one of the two trail heads depending on which skill level is for you! 😉

There are actually two ways that you can experience this incredible feature, but one way requires technical canyoneering! If you have gear and experience, you can start towards the top of the mountain, and follow the river down through the subway and then exiting on Kolab Terrace rd. Otherwise, its a up and back hike from the bottom. Sadly, I realized from hiking it, that the canyoner’s get to experience a lot more of the subway than the hikers! If you hike, you get to the feature and maybe can walk about 100 yards to the end. While the canyoners get to explore a lot more of it! (.25 miles) (I haven’t done it, but spoke to some people climbing down at the Subway)

Left Fork (Subway) Bottom-Up Hiking Route:

This is a very strenuous 9-mile round-trip hike through the Left Fork of North Creek that requires route finding, hiking in ankle to knee deep water, and scrambling over large boulders. This route begins and ends at the Left Fork Trailhead on the Kolob Terrace Road.

Left Fork (Subway) Top-Down Canyoneering Route

This is a very strenuous 9.5-mile through-hike that requires rappelling skills, 60 feet of rope, and extensive route finding experience. The route also requires swimming through several deep pools of very cold debris-filled water. The route begins at the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead and ends at the Left Fork Trailhead. Both trailheads are located on the Kolob Terrace Road.”

When I first got to Zion, I found that that there’s a bit of confusion on the website to which permit to apply for in order to get the Subway hike. Obviously I’m not canyoneering this time around, so I applied for the other one, as there are only two permits to apply for to get to the Subway. You will commonly hear it called “Left Fork of North Creek”, and since that’s written on the other permit link, you would think it’s fairly obvious which one to pick. NOT TRUE!

• Left Fork North Creek (Subway) Seasonal Lottery page is where you can apply for the seasonal lottery for the Left Fork (Subway) hike.
• Canyoneering Daily Lottery page is where you can apply for the Daily Lottery two days before your desired hike.

I tried to apply twice for the permit and got to a page that said it was’nt available. I assumed it was full and kept checking back. After almost two weeks of getting the same message, I decided to walk into the wilderness office to ask. I came into the office, and spoke to someone that told me that I would need to apply for the permit under the Canyoneering Daily Lottery Page even thought I’m only hiking!! Like, what? Confusing!

So I applied a few times over the next two weeks and was denied each time. After reading some reviews on Alltrails, one person said they walked into the office around 7am and was able to score a permit! Maybe someone canceled? Who knows, but they got it! Two of them too! Later that week I was going into Zion for some supplies and even though it was 1pm, I walked into the office and BAM! I got lucky and got one!!! Normally it’s two days out, but I told her I wanted to go the following day! Thank you so much Monica!

Raced home, packed as much gear as I could but ultimately was a bit too tired to get everything from my water protection/dry bags, to my filters cleaned, to snacks packed. I woke up, ate a big breakfast and packed like crazy. I’m pretty sure I left camp on the scooter around 10:30am, (super late!) and got to the trailhead somewhere around 11:00am.

Thankfully, the high noon heat hadn’t quite hit yet, especially since we were in a heat wave ON THE HOTTEST day! 113 degrees! Let’s just say, it was a blessing to know I’d be hiking in water all day! At that point, I knew I was behind to go 4.5 miles to make it there while light was directly above. (imagining that would be the best light for the Subway)

Basically, the hike goes like this. You plummet down a mountainside full of boulders in the first 20 minutes to the Left Fork creek. From there, its a beautiful gradual 4 mile hike upward to the Subway.

Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit sed. Eiusmod tempor. incididu nt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim. ad minim veniam, uis nostrud exerc itation ullamco. Laboris nisi. ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolr. inreprehen derit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore. Eu fugiat nulla pariatur.