Day 3
Sunday Paul and I got up at 6 am to go for a hike. The moon was up 2 days past full, the Sun not yet quite up. We drove up the Narrow's section of the canyon and parked at the Grotto. There was only one other car in the parking lot. We headed for Angel's Landing, which turned out to be an amazing hike.
The trail starts out along the river gradually rising along the canyon wall
by this time the sun was just coming up at this point and the view back down
the valley was beautiful
(Click for larger version)
After several rather steep switch backs the trail then turns cuts back up into
the narrow Refrigeration Canyon.
(Click
for larger version)
Then you arrive at the really amazing set of switch backs, known as Walter's
Wiggles
These 20 switch backs are named after Walter Ruesch the first Superintendent
of Zions. They are almost straight up and down.
From here the hike turns from a wiggle into a scramble as you come up on Scout's
Landing.
When we reached this plateau I thought that we had arrived at our destination.
It was inconceivable looking at the remaining terrain that the hike could continue.
Yet it did, while only .5 miles more, the rest of the hike is along a narrow
fin that juts out from the canyon wall. To get an idea of this here is a photo
of Angel's Landing taken from Observation Point (not by me). Move your mouse
over the picture to see the trail.
Another photo demonstrates
the latter end of the hike.
Meanwhile Paul who has a bit of acrophobia
decided to wait while I continued on
Looking up I couldn't imagine there was a trail
But there were chains, as seen in this detail photo
Without the chains there is no way I would try this, even with the chains the
center of my palms often tingled, and several times it was hard to pick out
the route.
Part way up I had a good view of what I had just traversed
and from a different perspective
The views were breathtaking, and I was all alone on the summit, save for a
chipmunk
This is the tail end of the fin looking down from the top of Angel's Landing.
Immediately below you could see the curvature of the road around this fin,
and the parking at the Big Bend shuttle stop.
And from a different angle.
There were also fabulous views looking down towards the South Entrance
And towards the Narrows
And
I even set the timer on the camera and took a couple of shots of myself. Note
the red face is because it was windy, and yes maybe a little bit cause I was
out of shape as well as scared.
When I made my way back down I found Paul waiting with many chipmunk friends
the granola bar he crumbled at his feet helped.
It was an amazing end to an awe inspiring hike. Not for the weak hearted, but
well worth the climb.
The next day was rather uneventful, spending 3 hours breaking down camp and
another 9 hours making the 702 mile journey home.
Can't wait till next year, when I want to hike the Narrows!