Today was a great day…Well then again, we’ve had a lot of great days lately, but this one was especially great. We tried to get an early start to beat the crowds and the heat to the top of Angel’s Landing. Angel’s landing is the second most popular hike in the park, behind the Narrows. I feel kinda bad for being stereotypical with our hiking choices, but a good hike is worth doing even if it’s what “everyone” does. Angel’s landing is about 2.5 miles with 1,500 feet of gain to reach the top. The last half mile is assisted by chains installed by NPS, as there have been several deaths in the past few years…sounds comforting, right? Well take a look at this pano from the top and you can see why..it’s quite a drop-off in all directions.
The ascent really wasn’t all that bad…again, starting your trip at super high elevations, makes nearly anything at a lower elevation feel like relative cake. OK, it wasn’t cake, but less huffing and puffing thanks to some oxygen in the air and perhaps elevated red blood cell counts from our earlier mountain adventures.
Going up wasn’t the hard part, it was coming down the chains that was hard on the legs and trying to sashay your way around those coming up while not letting go of the chain for fear of slipping on the slick rock covered in sand. Descending Walter’s Wiggles (such a cute name for switchbacks) was also rough on the knees – thank goodness for trekking poles.
We’d give Angel’s landing a two-thumbs up and call it a “must-do” in Zion NP.
We also checked out the Weeping Wall – a spring-fed rock cave that you could sit under; it was very refreshing after our hike in the heat and sun.
[gfycat data_id="FlippantLikelyGalago" data_autoplay=true data_controls=false]We drove a small portion of the eastern park road, but turned around due to road work and realized we’d be heading out that way tomorrow for Bryce NP. We did see a bighorn desert sheep though, so that was worth it.
Zion was a great experience and we hope to be able to return soon!
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