No Subway Permit? What to Book Instead
Missed the Subway lottery? Slot-canyon walks and rappelling trips east of Zion, guided Narrows days and Angels Landing's own permit, each one for what it is, with prices and limits.
If you did not get a Subway permit, nothing you can buy is the Subway: no company may guide you there. What you can book is a look-alike, and the right one depends on what you wanted from the day. For the slot itself with no ropes, East Zion Adventures’ 2-hour UTV ride and slot-canyon walk from Orderville is the simplest booking, from US$129 a person (checked November 2026). For rappelling, go half a day with a guide outside the park. For walking in water between canyon walls, go to the Narrows.
On the dates we read, the walk started at 12:30 PM on 27 November 2026 and at 10:00 AM or 12:30 PM on 20 January 2027; 10 March 2027 showed no departures. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Pick by what you wanted from the Subway
Orderville: East Zion UTV Ride and Red Rock Slot Canyon Hike
East Zion Adventures: a UTV ride from Orderville to a red-rock slot canyon and a guided walk between walls over 100 feet high, 6 to 10 feet apart. Graded easy, no climbing. 2 hours, at most 10. It is not the Subway.
Check dates →Springdale: Half-Day Canyoneering Experience
Zion Guide Hub: a private 4-hour canyoneering trip from Springdale to a canyon just outside the park, with ropes, gear, helmets and an instructor-guide. No experience needed; two adults at least.
See the trip →East Zion Canyoneering: Elkheart Canyon & UTV Tour
East Zion Adventures: 3 to 4 hours from Mount Carmel, a hike up to the top of a slot canyon and three rappels down through it, canyoneering equipment included. Moderate fitness; up to 5 a booking.
See the trip →Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026; Viator checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.
East Zion: slot canyons outside the park
East of the park, along US 89 between Mount Carmel Junction and Orderville and up at Zion Ponderosa, several companies run slot-canyon trips on land outside the park. Red Desert Adventure, which guides canyoneering near Zion, says all guided canyoneering takes place outside the park’s boundaries. So these canyons are not the Subway and are not in the Left Fork; what they offer is the slot-canyon experience without a lottery. From the Zion Canyon Visitor Center, Zion Ponderosa is 31.4 km by road and Mount Carmel Junction 39.4 km.
Two kinds of trip run there:
- Walk-in slots. A UTV ride and a walk, with no ropes. East Zion Adventures’ trip is the one pinned above.
- Rappel canyons. A short hike to the top, then rappels down through the slot with a guide. East Zion Adventures' Elkheart trip has three rappels, from US$201 a person for an adult (checked November 2026); Roam Outdoor Adventure Co.'s rappelling and UTV trip from Orderville offers 4 to 7 rappels, for ages 4 and up, from US$185 a person (checked November 2026).
zioncanyoneeringtour.com lists the East Zion canyons by name, with each one’s rappels, ages and price.
Just outside the park, from Springdale
Zion Guide Hub's half-day canyoneering is a private trip for your own group: check in at Springdale, a safety briefing, transport to the trailhead, then hiking, climbing, squeezing through and rappelling, with every piece of technical gear provided. It runs just outside the park because of National Park restrictions. One adult cannot book it; on the dates we read, two adults paid US$420.52, with starts at 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM.
This is the trip closest to the Subway’s top-down skill set, and the right one if you mean to learn the ropes for a permit next season.
The Narrows: water and walls, no permit
The Narrows from the bottom up needs no permit as far as Big Spring, and guides may lead it. Zion Guide Hub's Narrows day with lunch from Springdale spends about 6 hours in the river with the gear provided, for two adults at least; Explore Zion Tours' private Narrows hike prices by group size. NPS closes the Narrows when the river is above 150 cubic feet per second or on a Flash Flood Warning. The Subway or the Narrows has the full comparison and more guided days.
Angels Landing: another permit, not a way round one
Angels Landing is the park’s other famous permit hike, so it is no escape from a lottery. Everyone on the half-mile chains section needs a permit, guided or not; the 2.25 miles from the Grotto to Scout Lookout need none. NPS runs a day-before lottery, open from 12:01 am to 3:00 pm MT, at $6 an application (up to six people) plus $3 a person if drawn, and four seasonal lotteries (NPS Angels Landing page, updated 8 October 2026). NPS says local businesses are authorised to give tours in the park, and that you need a permit whenever you go.
In June 2026 the park closed the Angels Landing chains section for repairs: KSL reported on 11 June 2026 that it expected to reopen that Friday, and TownLift on 12 June 2026 that no reopening date had been announced. NPS’s conditions page, read on 8 November 2026, lists no Angels Landing closure (its one Angels Landing alert is about the permit programme), and NPS’s permit page of 8 October 2026 takes lottery applications. We found no reopening notice, so read the conditions page again before you plan around it; we card no Angels Landing trip here.
Learning for next time
If the goal is the Subway itself, enter the next lottery: the Subway permit lottery has every window. A guided rappelling half day near the park gives you a first taste of the rope work the top-down route asks of your own group.
No Lottery, a Slot Canyon on the Day
East Zion Adventures' 2-hour UTV ride and slot-canyon walk from Orderville, east of the park: no climbing, no rappelling and no permit.
Check slot-canyon dates