The Subway hike in Zion National Park hike has been on my To Do list for a long time… so long that since being a relatively unknown trail it’s now one of the most sought-after Zion hikes and apparently makes some of the “Top Natural Wonders Of the World” lists (a slight exaggeration!). But it is on par with The Narrows and Angels Landing as one of the most spectacular Zion hikes. The popularity of The Subway means that a permit is required limiting hikers to 80 a day (compared to 400 to 1,000 permits per day for Angels Landing), which makes it one of the most tightly controlled wilderness routes in the park.
The Subway trail is initially quite flat and exposed to the sun as it heads from the Left Fork of North Creek trailhead. (I’m starting relatively late, which in hindsight is a wise choice – the popular advice of starting very early is pretty dumb, as it means you’ll be hiking up the steepest part of the trail at the hottest time of the day as you climb back out of the valley.) Despite the hot late Spring weather, there are many flowering shrubs and cacti along the trail.
After about 0.6 miles (1km) The Subway trail reaches a vantage point just before the start of the steep descent, where you can look down onto the Left Fork North Creek and up the wide canyon.
The steep and rocky descent is probably the hardest part of The Subway, which despite the many warnings is not a particularly challenging hike. Called Little Girl’s Misery Hill Climb – a play on “Fat Man’s Misery” (a canyoneering route south of the park) – it has a reputation for being a “grueling scramble” which drops about 100m to the creek.
It doesn’t take long to reach the Left Fork North Creek, where I’m a little surprised to find a trail that continues along the creek. The National Park Service describes The Subway as an “off-trail Wilderness route” which requires “extensive route finding”. But while there’s no official track and I suspect flash floods may wash away the social trails from time to time, there is a trail pretty much the entire way. As for “route finding”… if you get lost following a creek, perhaps hiking is not for you…
There’s not much shade (I’d avoid this hike in Summer), but it’s very pleasant walking along the creek, past small cascades and shallow pools.
Enjoying the warmth of the sun are many Yellow-backed Spiny Lizards, which are active from Spring through late Autumn.
There are increasing number of cascades and some deeper pools as the trail ascends gently along the creek.
The valley is still fairly wide, but tall rock outcrops start to loom above the creek, and there is gradually a little more shade.
The Subway route continues to get more scenic, and the Left Fork North Creek shallower and less rocky. There are occasional easy scrambles over boulders, but also many sections where it’s more pleasant to walk in the water then to follow the trail.
A series of shallow “steps” in the creekbed forming a small set of cascades marks the start of the most scenic section of The Subway hike.
I encounter a couple of canyoners enjoying a chilly dip in one of the deep pools along the creek who are doing the “Top Down” Subway route, which is a one-way technical canyoneering route from the Wildcat Canyon Trailhead. (Despite the permits being sold out, I’ve only encountered four people who had turned back near the start after finding the descent too challenging. By the end of the day I’ve seen a total of perhaps 20 people doing the “Bottom Up” Subway hike out of the 80 available spots.)
The trail (which has now become the creek) approaches another set of stepped cascades – Archangel Falls – in front of a towering overhang.
The scenery is almost as impressive as The Subway, with towering cliffs on three sides above the cascades.
In the middle of the canyon is another small waterfall, where the creek flows over a large boulder.
The route goes around the right-hand side of the waterfall, below entering the creek again where most of the water flows down a deep, natural channel carved into the sandstone.
The Subway is now directly ahead; this is the first time I see a number of people, most of them “Top Down” canyoners who are having lunch here before resuming their journey down Left Fork of North Creek.
It’s fairly obvious how The Subway got its name; the slot canyon has been hollowed out by flash floods into a tubular passage resembling a metropolitan subway.
It’s also obvious why this has become such a popular hike. Although the slot canyon is much shorter than The Narrows (at least, the non-technical section) it’s a spectacular section of canyon, with incredibly picturesque canyon walls, deep turquoise pools and a series of small cascades.
The Subway ends at a series of deep pools, with any further progress requiring a swim – and the water is very cold! After less than a couple of hundred feet you reach the first abseil, which even if you brave the water will be as far as you can go… the Top Down route is the only way to explore the full length of the canyon, which is part of he Great West Canyon system. The Subway Top Down route involves up to four abseils, the longest being 25 feet (8m).
It’s the same way back from here, with one additional short stop – on the way up, I missed the The Subway dinosaur tracks. A set of fossilized footprints are imprinted on a large boulders next to the track, thought to have been made by a Dilophosaurus around 193 million years ago. It’s easy to walk past them; look for a large gray slab lying at an angle, with a number of deep indentations.
I’m not really looking to Little Girl’s Misery Hill Climb, but it’s a relatively short ascent, and by mid-afternoon there’s even a bit of shade.
It’s been a truly spectacular hike, worthy of its popular appeal – and would no doubt be even more incredible doing the Top Down route! It’s taken me just under six hours in total, with at least half an hour at The Subway; it’s not an easy hike, but it’s much easier than the signage and NPS Web site suggests.
Getting to The Subway trailhad
The Left Fork Trailhead on North Kolob Terrace Road is located about 37 miles / 60km (50min drive) from St George in Utah, and 22 miles /35km (30min drive) from the Zion Canyon Visitor Centre.
More Information
- National Park Service (NPS) – Left Fork (Subway) / Left Fork (Subway) Bottom-Up
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