⏰ On a 7:00–8:00 AM park shuttle. The Springdale shuttle doesn't start until ~8 AM, so walk or drive the van to the Visitor Center (park in the large-vehicle lot).
Court of the Patriarchs → Lower Emerald Pool → Riverside Walk → the split at the Narrows
Mandatory morning checks for the Narrows (below). Any red flag: everyone does the Riverside Walk.
Narrows turnaround 2:00 PM; everyone on a shuttle out by ~4:30 PM. The last return (6:15 PM) is not a plan.

Mandatory morning checks:

Zion conditions & Narrows status
Narrows safety
Flash-flood forecast
USGS flow gauge 09405500 (bottom-up commonly closes around 150 CFS; check the trend, not just the number)
Cyanobacteria advisory

Court of the Patriarchs — 8:15–8:45 AM (~30 min)

Three sandstone peaks named for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, from a viewpoint a hundred yards above shuttle stop 4.

Little legs: 100 yards uphill on pavement.

Lower Emerald Pool — 9:00–10:30 AM (~1.5 hrs)

A paved trail from Zion Lodge (stop 5) to a pool beneath a dripping overhang. You walk behind the waterfall itself.

For the kids: walking behind the waterfall is the highlight for both.
Hint: The rock behind the falls stays slick year-round. The upper pools get rough; the lower pool is the family one.
Little legs: 1.2 mi return, paved, a few gentle grades.

Riverside Walk — and the split — 11:30 AM–4:30 PM

A flat, paved mile from the last shuttle stop (Temple of Sinawava, stop 9), between thousand-foot walls, to the mouth of the Narrows. Where the pavement stops, the river becomes the trail, and the group divides.

Kinsley + adult(s): into the Narrows, if every check is green and her drysuit fits properly. Bottom-up needs no permit; Mystery Falls is a conservative turnaround. Turn around by 2:00 PM at the latest, wherever you are. The canyon floor loses light well before the ~5:20 PM sunset, and the water is ~40°F.
Peter + adult(s): Riverside Walk, dry and warm. Pavement's end is his turnaround. Picnic by the river and look for the hanging gardens. If it's cold in the shade, ride the shuttle back to Zion Lodge or the Visitor Center to warm up, and meet the Narrows group there.
Hint: Never put Peter in an oversized suit or carry him in moving water. Every drysuit in Springdale starts at age 8, and in 40°F water a flooded suit is a hypothermia risk.
Hint: Never drink river water, even filtered or boiled, and avoid putting your head under. That's the cyanobacteria rule.

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