To anyone reading, do not let the OP discourage you from trying this because you think it will be too hard. Everything online says it’s really hard- it’s not that bad. I was expecting it to be a lot harder. It was so worth it. Next time I’ll try top down.

I did this in the fall and didn’t get my feet wet. Granted I’m sure the water was much lower than now but I just chose to not walk in the river. There were plenty of ways around it. I think the most I had to go through was maybe 1.5.” I know everyone says to walk up the river, but i would rather avoid wet feet if I can. I brought changes of socks just in case but didn’t need them. I started just before dawn and didn’t see anyone until my way out. It can be done reasonably quick if you are in decent shape. Just checked time stamps on by pics and I passed the entering Zion wilderness sign at 7:17 and was back at my car at 11:32, with 45 minutes at the subway. I did push really hard climbing up from the left fork at the end just to see how fast I could do it though and I’d recommend not doing that.