The 30th Anniversary Tour, 9.19.22 - 10.15.22, Part 8 of 12: Zion National Park/Angel’s Landing
How beautiful if nothing more than to wait at Zion’s door. “To Zion” - Lauryn Hill
After our amazing trip to White Pocket it was time to head to another place Bridgit and I had never been - Zion National Park. To be honest, the really popular national parks always intimidated me before I went. So much has been written about the crowds and how hard it is to get into campgrounds that for a long time I avoided many of our county’s most beautiful places. That was how I felt about Yellowstone but now I’ve been there four times and I would go back there a hundred more times if I had the time.
Zion is now the second most visited national park next to Great Smoky Mountains. When we decided to include Zion on our trip, we planned it as far ahead as possible. When reservations opened for the Watchman Campground, we had three of us armed and ready at our computers. We tried for four days in a row to get a site inside the park and each of those days within one second of when they opened up the reservations all the sites were taken. Is it that popular? Are there that many people that are quicker to the draw than I am? Are bots taking over the world? Whatever the reason, we had zero success. We settled for an RV campground within walking distance of the park’s west entrance. It was called Zion Canyon RV Park. I chose a site at the end of a row to ensure we wouldn’t be sandwiched between two giant Class A RVs. It turned out to be an excellent decision and we ended up loving our campsite just outside the park boundary. Not only did we have more breathing room on the end of the row but we had an incredible view of one of the great peaks of Zion called The Watchman right from our site.
Our site at Zion Canyon RV Park
Incredible view of the Watchman from our site at Zion Canyon RV Park
For this section of the trip, Gina was still with us and had her own tent site in the same campground. Mike and Sandy also met us in Zion. They had been able to snag a tent site in the park at the Watchman Campground which was a short walk from us and right across from the visitor center. Months ago while looking for things to do during our stay, we talked about doing the famous hike up to Angel’s Landing. Here was another place that had been Instagrammed to death. I’d seen photos of lines of people making their way up a strip of rock only wide enough for a caterpillar on a diet. We knew Bridgit and Gina would not like the substantial exposure and Mike, Sandy and I are not fond of throngs of people on a trail, but we figured if we could get a permit and go early enough we might be able to get up and back before the hordes arrived. Mike and I both put our names into a lottery drawing for permits. We listed three people (Mike, Sandy and me) on the entry and with several choices, our first choice was Saturday, October 8th at the earliest slot offered. When the results came in, Mike didn’t get a permit but I managed not only to get a permit, but also our first choice which meant we could take the earliest shuttle up to the trailhead and be in the first group of the day on the trail. Bridgit planned to come along for part of the hike to a spot along the way called Scout Lookout. After Scout Lookout, permits were required and that is where the scary section starts.
Being such a popular park, the only way to get up the canyon was by foot, by bicycle or on the shuttle system. The first shuttle of the day would leave from the visitor center at 7AM. This same shuttle would not only take people that were hiking Angel’s Landing, but also early birds interested in hiking the legendary Zion Narrows. We expected the shuttle to fill up quickly so Bridgit and I drove into the park and to the visitor center parking lot at 5:45AM. We didn’t know if the lot would already be full or how many people would already be in line but even though the sign said “parking lot full”, there were only a few cars parked there that early and we ended up being the first ones in line for the shuttle. Mike and Sandy showed up at six and by seven when the shuttle arrived there was a huge line so we were glad we got there when we did.
As we made our way up the canyon, we passed by the Human History Museum. Behind the museum, a group of majestic pinnacles called the Towers of the Virgin rose up and looked tremendous in the early pre-dawn glow. Remember, Bridgit and I had never been to Zion so each new turn revealed some amazing view. We also drove by another great view called the Court of the Patriarchs on our way to Shuttle Stop #6 called The Grotto.
From the shuttle stop the trail crossed the Virgin River on a bridge and we immediately got our first view of Angel’s Landing. It rose into the morning air like a giant shark fin. The trail is called the West Rim Trail and at first it climbed gently towards Angel’s Landing. As we had previously discussed, Mike, Sandy and I would hike at a brisk pace to try and keep up with or ahead of the crowds. Bridgit was totally okay with going at her own pace. Her goal was Scout Lookout where she would wait for us to return from the top and then we could all hike down together.
The first rays of light began to kiss the top of the canyon walls as we made our way up the steepening trail. Soon we began to climb even more steeply as the trail wound its way up a rock face. The views looking back down the canyon were wonderful on this part. At the top of the rock face the trail leveled out as it turned a corner and we entered a stretch called Refrigerator Canyon. This was a really nice section with glowing walls from the early morning light. At the end of Refrigerator Canyon we came to Walter’s Wiggles, a series of twenty-one very tight, very steep switchbacks that led up to a flat spot on top of the ridge. This was Scout Lookout.
First view of Angel’s Landing
First light hitting the top of Zion Canyon
Refrigerator Canyon
Looking back down Walter’s Wiggles
At Scout Landing we were greeted by a ranger who wanted to see our permit. Now it was time to tackle the famous last half mile to the summit of Angel’s Landing. Records show that twenty people have died on the Angel’s Landing hike, mostly falls from the steep cliffs. Bear in mind that people from all walks of life are attempting this hike and some probably shouldn’t be attempting such a challenging first climb. For someone who is not a hiker at all, but chooses to do it simply because they saw it on Facebook so it must be “a thing”, climbing a very steep, very narrow strip of rock with two thousand foot cliffs just feet away on both sides may not be a wise choice. On the bulk of this final push to the summit, posts with chains have been installed to hang on to for safety and a better sense of security. Even then, during the peak times when hundreds of yayhoos, I mean, people, are going up AND coming down, it can get really tight in spots and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the fatalities are simply due to overcrowding. For Mike, Sandy and I, the hike up was exhilarating but never felt treacherous. All three of us have done a lot of mountain climbing over the years so we are used to the feel of some exposure and what it feels like to climb or descend steep rock.
As we left Scout Lookout and began our ascent of the steep climb to the top, I decided unless it really felt necessary, I wouldn’t touch the chain at all on my way up or down. I suppose it was in part due to climber’s pride, but I found there were so many footholds and handholds that the chain really wasn’t needed and if anything, it was sometimes in the way. As far as the route itself, it began by going up a steep rock face, topping out and then dropping a bit to a long traverse across a very narrow ridge with considerable exposure on either side that led over to the final climb. The final climb was probably the steepest stretch but again, there seemed to be plenty of handholds and moki steps which are small footholds carved into the rock.
At 9AM, one and a half hours after we started we reached the summit of Angel’s Landing. Because of our early start and a brisk pace up the trail, only one or two people were coming down as we went up. Overall it was fairly quiet on the ascent. At the top the views were of course tremendous. We had great views looking back down the canyon along the Virgin River. We could also see another section of the canyon where the road wrapped around Angel’s Landing on its way to the Temple of Sinawava. Another great view looked down back along our ascent route to Scout Lookout. As we looked down we spotted two California condors soaring above Scout Lookout. Bridgit later told me she was there as they soared in front of her at eye level. Wow!
Only permitted hikers past this spot at Scout Lookout
The first rock face along the climb
The view looking across the traverse towards the final climb from the top of the first point
From the end of the traverse looking up at the final climb
The final stretch near the summit
Zion Canyon from the summit of Angel’s Landing
Looking back down the route to Scout Lookout (at the far end of the ridge)
View down to the road near Weeping Rock
Our descent back to Scout Lookout was quite a bit different than the way up. By now there were ALOT more people coming up. We saw all kinds. One young woman who was hiking with a boyfriend or husband had clearly been crying. Another young woman was hugging the chain like she was trying to keep a pit bull from attacking her mailman. Another girl looked terrified but was also laughing kinda like the terror of seeing The Exorcist for the first time. Of course there were plenty of people that were doing just fine and I do mean PLENTY. We had to wait numerous times for ten to twelve people to go up before we could sneak by. There seemed to be no concept of polite alternating so we made our moves whenever we saw a short window of opportunity.
Back at Scout Lookout we found Bridgit who was doing great and happy to have met her own goal. We even ran into Gina in Refrigerator Canyon who had elected to sleep in but wanted to come up to meet us which she did so we all hiked back down together and made our way back to our respective camps. It was only around 12:30PM which I had predicted so we still had plans for the afternoon. You’ll have to go to Part 9 to read about that!
Mike descending from the summit
Mike and Sandy on Walter’s Wiggles
Bridgit on Walter’s Wiggles
Beautiful Refrigerator Canyon
Zion Canyon during our hike back down from Angel’s Landing
The cliff face section below Refrigerator Canyon
Last look back at Angel’s Landing