The Subway, and the sentence that decides everything
The Left Fork of North Creek is the most sought after permit in Zion and the clearest example of how this park works. There are four separate ways to get one, and there is no way at all to pay somebody to take you.
- Group size
- 12 maximum
- Overnight
- Not allowed
- Ways to get one
- Four
- Guided trips
- Not permitted
One canyon, two completely different days
The Subway is a section of the Left Fork of North Creek where the canyon closes into a smooth tube of sculpted rock with green pools along the floor. It is the photograph that sells Zion canyoneering, and the thing people most often misunderstand about it is that there are two ways to see it and only one of them needs a rope.
Both are day use only. Camping in the Left Fork is not permitted, so there is no version of this where you spread it over two days, and both routes are rated very strenuous by the park. The maximum group size is twelve.
The permit is required year round and it is required for both routes. Walking in from the bottom with no technical gear still needs one.
Bottom up, or top down
The distances are almost identical and the trips are not remotely comparable. Choose on skills, not on mileage.
| Route | Distance | What it needs | Trailhead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom up, hiking | 9 miles round trip | Standard hiking gear. Route finding, ankle to knee deep water, and a lot of boulder scrambling. No rope. | Left Fork Trailhead, Kolob Terrace Road |
| Top down, canyoneering | 9.5 miles through | Rappelling skills, 60 feet of rope, extensive route finding, and swimming through cold pools with debris in them. | Wildcat Canyon to Left Fork, both on Kolob Terrace Road |
Bottom up is the one most people want
You walk up the creek to the tube and back the way you came. No rappels, no swims, no shuttle between trailheads. It is still nine miles of awkward ground with real route finding, which is why the park rates it very strenuous rather than moderate, but it needs no technical skill at all.
Top down is a canyoneering trip
A through hike from Wildcat Canyon that ends at the Left Fork, so it needs two vehicles or a shuttle. Rappels, cold swims, and the park’s own advice is to carry a route description and go with someone who has done it. This is not a first canyon.
Two people minimum in the technical canyons
The park recommends parties of at least two for technical canyons. In a canyon with cold water, committing rappels and no phone signal, that is a floor rather than a target.
Four ways in, and most people try one
Losing the seasonal lottery is where nearly everybody stops. It is the first of four routes, not the only one.
| Route | When | Cost | The read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonal lottery | Months ahead, on recreation.gov | $6 | The one everybody enters and most people lose. Worth $6, not worth building a trip on. |
| The calendar | Any time before the date | $6 | Unclaimed and cancelled reservations show on the permit page calendar. Almost nobody checks it repeatedly, and cancellations land. |
| Canyoneering daily lottery | Two days before your date | $6 | A separate draw. If you are in the area with flexible days, entering this every morning beats one seasonal application, because the attempts compound. |
| Walk in at the desk | The day before or day of | $6 | Whatever the first three did not fill is available in person. Genuinely possible on a shoulder season weekday. |
On top of the $6 there is $10 per person, which is refundable if you cancel before 5pm on the day of the trip. The park entrance fee is separate. So the real cost of trying is six dollars, and the expensive mistake is not trying at all.
However you get it, the permit is collected in person at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center Wilderness Desk, it is non transferable, and the named holder has to be the one who picks it up. Bring your vehicle make, model and licence plate. The full permit mechanics.
There is no guided version of this trip
The park says it in five words on its own Subway page: paid guided trips are not permitted.
That is not a quirk of this canyon. Commercial guiding is closed across Zion’s designated wilderness, which is where every technical canyon in the park sits. So no outfitter can sell you The Subway, no amount of money shortens the lottery, and if a company implies otherwise they are either describing a different canyon outside the park or they are wrong.
What an outfitter can legitimately sell you is instruction, so that you are competent to go with your own party, and a vehicle shuttle between the two trailheads for the top down route. Both are genuinely useful and neither is a way around the rule. Guided canyoneering advertised near Zion runs on land outside the park boundary, on very good rock, and the honest operators say so on their own pages.
The road decides your season
The permit is available year round. Getting to the trailhead is not.
Both trailheads sit on Kolob Terrace Road, which generally closes from autumn to spring for snow. That makes the practical season late spring through autumn regardless of what the permit calendar says, and it is worth checking road status before you enter a lottery for a date in the shoulder weeks.
Within the open season, the water is the other variable. Both routes involve wading and the top down route involves swimming through pools the park describes as cold and full of debris. Early season snowmelt makes that colder and higher, and late summer thunderstorms make a narrow canyon a bad place to be. Check the forecast for the whole drainage, not just for Springdale.
If you cannot get a permit
The two things that scratch the same itch without one are The Narrows from the bottom, which needs no permit at all, and a guided canyon outside the park, where the rock is the same formation and permits are not rationed. Neither is The Subway, and both are excellent days.
Common questions about The Subway permit
How do you get a Subway permit in Zion?
Four ways. A seasonal lottery months ahead, the calendar on the permit page which shows unclaimed and cancelled reservations, a canyoneering daily lottery that opens two days before your date, and walk in spaces at the Wilderness Desk the day before or day of. Each costs a $6 application fee plus $10 per person, which is refundable.
Can you hire a guide for The Subway?
No. The park states plainly that paid guided trips are not permitted. Commercial guiding is closed across Zion's designated wilderness, which is where every technical canyon in the park sits. Outfitters can sell instruction and a vehicle shuttle, and guided canyoneering near Zion runs outside the park boundary.
Do you need a rope for The Subway?
Only for the top down route, which needs rappelling skills and 60 feet of rope. The bottom up route is a 9 mile round trip hike with route finding, wading and boulder scrambling, and needs standard hiking gear only. Both need a permit.
How hard is The Subway bottom up?
The park rates it very strenuous. It is 9 miles round trip with no maintained trail, extensive route finding, ankle to knee deep water and a great deal of boulder scrambling. No technical skill is required, but it is a long and awkward day.
Can you camp in The Subway?
No. The Left Fork of North Creek is day use only, so both routes have to be done in a single day.
What is the group size limit for The Subway?
Twelve people, and the park recommends a minimum of two for technical canyons.
When is The Subway open?
The permit is available year round, but both trailheads are on Kolob Terrace Road, which generally closes from autumn to spring for snow. In practice the season is late spring through autumn.
No guide, so build the skills instead
Instruction and a trailhead shuttle are what an outfitter can legitimately sell you here, and both make this trip possible sooner.
Also useful: The Narrows, which needs no permit, and when to visit.
Four ways to a permit, and no way to buy a guided one.
How Zion permits work