We had a short hike out of the Narrows and then one mile on the paved trail that ends at Temple of Sinwava where we caught the shuttle back. Permits for the Narrows (top down) and to Mystery Canyon are only given when the flow of the Virgin River is below 140 cfs for 24 hours. When we arrived in Zion the area was still closed, but luckily the flow dropped so we could get permits (the top section was still closed and they were only allowing people to hike from the bottom up). The water was deep and fast and I can imagine it was a long slog hiking upstream. Quite a contrast to when we did the Narrows from Chamberlain Ranch in 2002 (over Thanksgiving, what an adventure that was) and the water flow was a lot lower.