Zion Ntnl Park, Angel’s Landing

I drove into Zion Ntnl park and fixed me up some coffee and breakfast-burritos while watching the sunrise against the mountain side. Planning to hike the Angel’s Landing trail in a few hours; 5 miles of hard trail with the top of it being a cliff’s-edge scurry to the payoff of Angel’s Landing. It is ‘the one’ trail to do if you could do only one, and I failed to do it last November when I was here. Suppose to be 90 degrees today, so I expect it will not be easy.

Angel’s Landing, 1500 ft off the valley floor.

Angel’s Landing hike – I finished my work and was hiking by 11:15. The estimated time to complete this trail was 3-4 hours of major switchbacks and climbing to get to the top of this sandstone monolith. On the bus ride out I overheard the history of Angel’s Landing; When the settlers began settling the area, it was said that it was impossible to get to the top of this particular monolith. “Only an angel could set foot up there”, held true until one man proved it wrong. The trail today scales up a near-sheer cliff by constant switchbacks, making a 5.4 mile hike round trip, though the monolith is not even a mile away from the start of the trail.

The switch-backs begin (looking down from the 1/4-way mark)

I was dreading the climb, but I needed this… this challenge. I needed to prove to myself that I wasn’t a 40-year old weak ex-smoker who would never be able to do these challenges. So, I got off the bus and sprinted to the trail head, put my MP3 player on full and power-walked up the entire 2.7 miles to where the Angel’s Land. Though it was near 90 degrees, and I was perspiring like I have never perspired before, I kept my head down and bum-rushed the angels. For once, it was me passing others on the trail, not the weakling being passed. For once I felt invincible and full of energy… ready for what ever the angels threw at me.

I pose at the top

I reached the top, had a quick granola bar while fighting off the squirrels for every bite… (those guys were mean!)… took a few pictures and got going back down the path I just came up. I felt so good I began to run down the trail… and just kept running.  In 2.5 hours I did what was impossible to me just yesterday. I skipped this hike last November because it was just too extreme for me, but I beat it. This one I feel good about.