The only plan for today was hiking The Narrows, the grandfather of canyon hikes, ranked as one of the top 10 hikes in the whole world.

My alarm did go off, as intended, at 5:15am, but I snoozed it…Jen and I decided before bed that a 7am shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava trailhead would be just as magical an hour later.

We were up and ready to go around 7:30…so, still a little later…and the kiddo was experiencing a pretty standard teenage morning motivation speed, so I think we got on the shuttle around 8:15.

But the cool part is: I wasn’t worried about anything at all, happy to be wherever I am.

I saw this guru video recently questioning why anyone is ever in a rush to get anywhere if we’re all here in this life for however many years we get to live…we just have to chill out and remember we’re always exactly where we need to be and we’ll get where we need to go when we need to be there.

I saw another video of a woman interviewing a Trader Joe’s employee and she asked him “What’s one thing the TJs customers and employees have in common?”

He answered that the biggest commonality has to do with who’s in a hurry. Because hurrying people worry and worrying people are only thinking about themselves and whatever is worrying them in that moment…and when people are only thinking of themselves, they forget to be kind and considerate and gentle with others. And that stuck with me.

It’s so true. I have struggled with anxiety at certain points in my life…but I can look back on the times it was most prevalent and find the roots in two things: 1. Feeling trapped, usually in a crowd or by a situation, and 2. The thought of disappointing someone.

And, incidentally, those are the only times I’m hurrying and worrying and thinking only of myself. In those moments, my energy is frustrated, my words are curt and short, and my mind is focused on getting out of this feeling as quickly as possible.

And I don’t want that life anymore…the hurrying or the worrying.

And practicing that and being who I want to be with consistency is one of the greatest souvenirs of this trip.

So, we got to The Narrows and it’s about a mile and a half walk of paved road along the river before we get in.

The squirrels were super friendly and insta-worthy.

And then we got to the entrance, each of us armed with water shoes and two walking sticks.

And it was definitely crowded, which didn’t give us the same feeling of solitude and connection with the natural elements as our sunrise hikes in Sedona, but I think the fun of this hike was the challenging terrain, getting to walk almost entirely IN the river, some parts up to our knees, others mid-belly and we had to hold our backpacks over our heads to keep them dry.

I have to admit, for most of it I was looking down at where I was stepping next instead of up at the brilliant artwork created by 17 million years of river carving out this canyon.

The light in the canyon changed a lot during the four hours it took us to get up and back. It was much more vibrant and stunning in the afternoon when the sun lit up the water into a brilliant blue/green.

For those familiar with the hike, we stopped at the Alcove just before reaching Wall Street. The kiddo was tired after blazing ahead of us the entire way upstream and definitely taking the more challenging paths.

So, we turned back at the Alcove and, predictably, it was much easier and quicker to go downstream. We found some swimming holes and a little natural water slide once we returned to the paved path and took detours to let the beautiful teal blue water run over us for a bit while we soaked in the wonders of this beautiful experience we just had.

We took the shuttle back to the visitors center, and I looked out the window remembering that the view from the bus was really the only thing I knew about Zion before this trip. Now I know better.

Jen rounded out the night going back down to the river to read her Ram Dass book and I put some of our dirty clothes in the wash and almost got shaken down by a skeptical 7 year old in a bathing suit who came into the hotel laundry room right after I walked in to make sure I wasn’t in there stealing her stuff in the other washer . Go about ya business, sis, I haven’t been able to squeeze into a 6x in 43 years.

I joined Jen down at the river for a bit and the fish nibbled my feet while we reflected on our time here in Zion, sad to leave, but excited for a supreme gear shift into a few exciting days in Vegas on deck tomorrow.