Kanab, Utah: Zion National Park

Yesterday Mary Lynn and I spent the day in Zion National Park, which has to be one of my favorite National Parks. It certainly is the location of my favorite National Park memory.  I'll share my memory along with some of the pictures from yesterday visit. This first picture is from the site listed on the photo however it shows the saddle from Scout's Lookout that needs to be traversed to attain Angel's Landing. That's all I'm going to say about that for now... The rest of the pictures are mine.

About 10 years ago a good friend of mine, John G, arranged a trip to Zion for three of us. John,n Peter and I arrived at Zion in early afternoon and John, who has visited almost every National Park in the country, immediately took us on the Angel's Landing hike.

Unbeknown to me, this is one of the most famous & thrilling hikes in Zion. The overall elevation gain doesn't sound too bad until you realize that four of the 5 miles the hike covers is on relatively flat ground, leaving the full 1488' elevation gain to be accomplished in only 1/2 mile. A relatively easy 2 mile hike followed by a 1/2 mile of pure leg burning, chest heaving, air gasping...  beautiful vista's. 

Once I arrived on top at Scout Lookout things started to get interesting. After climbing 1500 feet, including 21 steep switchbacks called Walter's Wiggles, you are faced with one of the biggest decisions of the hike. Standing there enjoying incredible views of almost the entire park, I could see that the next part was across a narrow saddle that was only a few feet wide in places, but whether narrow or less narrow, the 

cliffs dropped off 1200 feet on one side and 900 feet on the other. 

Once across the saddle there was a pitch so steep and on such a narrow ledge that the park service had anchored chains into the wall to help you stay on the trail. 

For me there was no decision to make. No way -- I was going all the way to Angel's Landing. John had announced earlier that day we were going to the top and that was that. And he said we had better hustle since it was late in the day. 

I joined John & Peter at Scout Lookout. John & Peter, who by now were not showing any signs of the effects of climbing 1488 feet, took a minute or two to enjoy the view, snap a few pictures, and immediately took off across the narrow saddle. 

So I followed. I knew that no matter what I shouldn't look down; I'd heard that advice on every TV thriller involving heights. The super cool 'afraid of nothing' hero would confidently tell the person terrified of heights: "Just don't look down"; invariably the terrified  individual always looks down. Sitting on the couch watching TV I was able to convince my self that under no circumstances would I look down if I was ever in the situation...

Halfway across the saddle I wasn't any stronger than those people on TV; I looked down. OMG! Well, those were not my exact words however you get the idea. The bottom of the canyon was impossibly far away and the edge of the trail was impossibly close to over 900 feet of empty air. OMG!

I focused on every rock on the top of that saddle and scrambled to the relative safety of the next section. Despite the narrow ledge on the next section, barely side enough for your shoe to fit, after the saddle, the chains were incredibly reassuring. 

Nothing to it. Grasp the chain, I pulled hard on said chain while inching my feet along the ledge trying to hit a wide spot on the trail at the same time as the people descending. Nothing like passing another couple of hikers while hanging on the side of a ledge. Wow!

The only thing I can say is that that climb, as exciting as it was, was nothing compared to the feeling of being on top of Angel's Landing. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. When people spoke, if they spoke at all, it was in hushed tones. And not just because people were out of breath. Nope, the view and the sense of accomplishment were simply overwhelming. We hit the top a little before sunset and the colors were amazing. 

It was only the next day, while we were at the Zion Lodge, that I realized just what an accomplishment climbing the Angel's Landing trail was.

And for that, I will forever have John and Peter as co-conspirators in one of my favorite memories and, even more importantly, to thank for dragging me along.  

I'll tell you about hiking the Narrows, which we did the next day, on another post.

See Ya!