ZION NARROWS

The Zion Narrows (a.k.a narrows of the North Fork of the Virgin River) is an extremely popular non-technical day hike.  Although there are no official closures due to extreme water flow, if the rate gets above a couple hundred cubic feet per second, getting very far up and back will be problematic at best, and may be quite dangerous.  The bottom is slippery and laced with round streambed stones.  Do not go barefoot.  Use strong hiking boots and a sturdy walking stick (which usually can be picked up at the trailhead).  In the fall the waterflow is more mellow, except right after a storm, and sneakers may work OK.  I find that good smartwool socks help a lot with inevitable stones and grit you will dig up from the bottom and banks.  Check the weather, you can die in here in a flash flood!

A nice four hour jaunt is to work your way up to the confluence with the Orderville Canyon.  Go up Orderville as far as you can.  This may mean climbing up a waterfall, which is doable but your pack and gear will get wet.  Then return to the confluence and go up the narrows a ways further.  Just above the confluence one finds the tightest part of the main canyon, but it seemed to me that the colors and lighting is generally better lower down the main channel and up the Orderville Canyon.

This is one area where I carry a pretty heavy tripod (Bogen 3021), especially if the water is flowing rapidly.  A lot of shots will simply be set up in river itself, and the motion can shake the tripod and cause it to oscillate like a singing telephone wire.  A little more mass and less flex is useful here.

Ref.  An good discussion of day trips as well as overnights is in Tom's Guide:  http://www.canyoneeringusa.com/utah/zion/narrows.htm