Press "Enter" to skip to content

The Subway and Left Fork of North Creek

Fall Colors 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014

On Sunday morning we were up well before sunrise and on our way up onto the Lower Kolob Plateau to the trailhead for the Left Fork of North Creek. A hike to The Subway is a popular destination in Zion National Park, especially during the fall, and even though I knew there would probably be a lot of people in the canyon (they allow 60 permits per day), I decided that I wanted to check out this iconic location on this trip. We started our hike towards the rim of the canyon just as the sun was coming up for the day. There were only a few other vehicles in the parking lot when we left, but we would come across a lot of people in the canyon throughout the day, which seemed to be a common theme during our hikes in Zion this weekend.

I didn’t stop to take many photos on our hike up the canyon, but I did make sure to photograph Cascade Falls, also known as Archangel Falls.

Fall Color Falls

Archangel Falls

A double waterfall above Cascade Falls.

Double Falls

I had to stop at the narrow crack in the rock that the creek funnels through for a short distance.

Flowing Fall

The entrance into The Subway.

Into the Subway

The iconic Subway.

The Subway

The canyon widens just below The Subway.

Left Fork

A small pourover just above the crack.

Pourover

A single red leaf next to the crack.

Red Leaf

There’s no shortage of waterfalls in this part of the canyon.

Upper Falls

Hanging Garden

One more look at Cascade Falls before we started hiking back down the canyon.

Cascade Falls

We stopped to check out the dinosaur tracks along the creek on the way back.

Dinosaur Track

A leaf floats on a clear pool of water with light dancing on the shallow bottom.

Floating on Water

View back up the Left Fork as we climbed out of the canyon.

Left Fork North Creek

The hike to The Subway and back took a bit longer than I had anticipated, but we still had time afterwards to visit a cave containing some nice pictographs before heading back to town for dinner.

The entrance to the Birthing Cave.

Birthing Cave

The Birthing Panel near the entrance of the cave. From an article I have read, it is believed that these pictographs were created by the Paiute and represent a birthing scene.

White Outline Pictographs

Older Anasazi pictographs located in the back of the cave.

Birthing Cave Pictographs

>> The Narrows and Left Fork Photo Gallery

One Comment

  1. John Spurr
    John Spurr December 5, 2014

    Awesome images! I’d love to pick your brain regarding your camera settings for these images.

Leave a Reply