Daily Beast
Zion National Park is one of the country’s, if not the world’s, natural wonders. In Eastern Utah, the park is the 10th most visited national park according to the National Park Service (NPS), and throughout the pandemic continually struggled with overcrowding, with many hikers flooding in to cram themselves onto one hiking trail in particular: the Narrows.
The Narrows, aptly named, is the narrowest part of Zion Canyon. Hiking through it involves sloshing through the Virgin River, surrounded by huge rock faces on either side.
But a few weeks ago, the park was forced to warn visitors against the Narrows along with another popular hike, due to a toxic bacteria spreading through the park’s waterways.
In a statement, the NPS wrote, “Toxin producing cyanobacteria has been detected in the North Fork of the Virgin River which will remain at a Warning Advisory.” It added: “During Warning and Health Watch advisories, recreators should avoid primary contact recreation such as swimming or submerging the head. During Danger advisories, recreators should consider avoiding all direct contact with the water.”
This isn’t the first national park or national recreation area to deal with a water problem. Earlier this year at the Grand Canyon 202 visitors got sick with norovirus, which lived in the river’s tepid water, and the Everglades have consistently struggled with algal blooms, otherwise known as red tides.
And even more surprising is that this isn’t the first time bacteria forced the Narrows to close. Two years ago, a dog died within one hour of swimming in the river and “snapping” at algae growing on the rocks. It couldn’t walk and was having seizures before its death, McClatchy News previously reported…
