Angels Landing, Zion National Park

I have hiked Angels Landing numerous times. Below are reports of a couple of the more memorable trips.

At Sunset 2009
I had originally planned to hike Angels Landing after work and be at the top at 8:00pm to view the sunset. I ended up getting a late start and was worried that I would quickly run out of day light – and miss the sunset. I entered the park at 7:00 and didn’t reach the Grotto area until 7:15. So, having not gone on a hike in . . . quite a while, anyway, I knew I was going to be hard pressed to make it not only by 8:00, but just before it got dark!

I started up the trail head at 7:16 taking in the beauty while walking at a considerable pace. I wondered what the few people who were on their way down were thinking about me as I passed them on the way up.
Anyway, I made it to scout lookout at about 7:45 – covering 2 miles of extreme up hill in 30 minutes.

The climbing section, covering the last .5 miles was a grueling experience. My legs were tired from the Walters Wiggles portion. But al last I made it to the top at 8:03 – 47 minutes to hike to the top of Angels Landing. But I was late, nonetheless, from my 8:00 time.

As I was on top, I took a picture of what was left of the sunset. There was also a lot of cloud cover, which lessened the effect. But the time on top was spent remembering previous hikes and feeling certain connections.

The climbing portion on the way down was difficult in the twilight. And once into refrigerator canyon, it became extremely hard to see any bumps in the concrete. Fortunately I brought my fanny pack which has a flashlight in it.

I made it back down to the tram stop at 8:49, just 1 hour and 33 minutes from when I started.

Angels Landing will forever hold a special place in my heart.






Valentines Day snow adventure 2013


Scout Lookout

For a day date, Liz and I decided to make the trek up Angels Landing. The shuttles only run from April through the end of October, at which time the road is closed to the non Zions Lodge staying public. It was nice to be able to drive our own car to the Grotto trail head, where the trek to Angels Landing starts.

We started on the trail at 11:28 in the morning on a brisk, clear morning. The temperature was supposed to get into the mid 50's so we knew it would be a nice day by the time we were finishing up.

We started getting a little worried as we started seeing more and more snow in shaded areas as we continued upward, having the trail pretty much to ourselves. The trail was clear of any snow and ice until we got to Walters Wiggles. Toward the upper switchbacks of Walters Wiggles the trail was completely covered with ice, which made one group infront of us decide to turn around. We decided to keep going and carefully made our way to Scout Lookout, where the West Rim Trail meets up with the Angels Landing Trail.

From here, we could see all the snow covered ascent that we would be about to conquer. I have become so accustomed to this hike that under normal conditions, I usually don't use the chains that are provided for safety. But today, the chains were a necessity. Snow and ice made the climb very slow, and many times we were required to pull our whole body weight up with just our arms because of the poor footing.

We finally made it to the top at 12:47 and talked a while with a group from Indiana, who had worn crampons to more easily deal with the icy conditions. We knew that descending a slippery trail would be even more dificult than acending it so we decided to get started back down after a brief rest to take in the views at the summit.

Although it was slow going, we made it back to our car at 2:28, exactly 3 hours from when we started.