Last full day in Zion. Evan and I decided to do the Angel’s Landing Trail. Beth was feeling a bit tired, so decided to pass on it.
This trail is insane. It takes you from the base of the canyon up to the tip of a cliff over 1500 feet tall. It was constructed in 1926. The park service would never do anything like this now.
The name of the peak came from a comment that “Only angels could land on that spot”.
You start up the side of the cliff and take a series of switchbacks to gain elevation.
Then, after a short walk through a canyon (actually a pass between two cliffs), you start walking up “Walter’s Wiggles”, a series of densely packed switchbacks up the side of the cliff.
At that point, you’ve gained most of the elevation. Then the crazy part starts. You have to go along the ridge for about 1/2 mile with 1000 foot drops on either side. Posts and chains have been driven into the trail to help hikers along. The ranger said that 9 people have died on this trail since it opened. A lot of people chicken-out at this point.
This relief map from the visitor’s center gives an idea of what it’s like. Basically, you start at the wide area at the lower-left corner of the picture and then hike along the crest until you reach the peak (represented in the upper middle part of the picture).
I put the camera into the backpack at that point because I was afraid of damaging it. I also wanted both hands free. If you Google “Angel’s Landing”, you’ll get some better photos.
Evan and I eventually made it to the precipice, where took a few minutes to eat some granola bars and admire the view.
There were also insanely aggressive chipmunks at the top. They would run right up to hikers and try to steal food. I guess a lot of people feed them. One tried to get into my backpack.
Got some photos of the valley on the way down, but really can’t do it justice.
I went back to the Pa’rus Trail to get some photos. Beth and Evan got bored and walked back to the camp. On the way, they saw a coyote.
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