Sand Hollow State Park
We have been to Zion National Park before, but we had some extra time while we were in the area and decided to spend a day at the park to hike Angels Landing. The weather cleared and all was a go. Just a few days before there was a terrible flash flood that killed some members of a family in the town nearby. Just after we left, there was another flood that killed some hikers in Zion.The above picture is the trail which starts climbing on some switchbacks almost right off the bat. It's 3 miles to hike to Scouts Lookout and just over another mile if you continue onto Angels Landing. I love to hike, love a challenge and love to climb, but I'm not too crazy about any possibility of falling to my death. And others have died on this hike before. No thanks.
The trail starts off friendly after you cross the river.
The picture on the right shows Angel's Landing at the tippy top.
Closer up, see those tiny specks on the top?
How about now? Crazy, right?
What amazes me is that my parents actually hiked to the top of Angel's Landing many years back. I'm very impressed. There are chains along the ridge that you hang on to.
It's getting pretty hot, but since we started the hike a bit later, there is actually more shade along the canyon walls.
Heading back down. Below you can see the Walters Wriggles portion of the trail just below the very top. From the canyon the trail, it becomes vertical, with 21 switchbacks carved into the rocks.
Below is a good photograph of Walters Wriggles.
This tree, hanging on for life!
A steep portion of the trail going back down.
Ah, back at the bottom and the cool river waiting for us to dip our toes in!
Putting locks onto fences and such seems to be catching on in the US. I first saw this in Europe about 10 years ago.
Very popular means of transportation in this area!
A final sunset before leaving the Zion area.
Goodbye Utah, it was nice. Hello Arizona!!!!!!
We too only made it to Scouts Landing. We tried to press on but were freaked out by all the fast people climbing over the slower people on the chains. Life is too short for that much anxiety when you're supposed to be having fun!
ReplyDeleteWe actually had a much nicer view from the West Rim Trail and beautiful colors in the rocks. After I read that the last five people to fall to their deaths were all women over fifty, we passed on the hike up. I'm not worried about us but the people we would need to share the chains with as we moved down the trail.
ReplyDeleteHoping to get back to Zion in the spring, we'll turn around at Scouts Landing too, Hope to meet you guys when you're in Canyon Vistas this winter.
ReplyDeleteProbably the coolest (and scariest) hike that I have been on so far, I am glad to hear you guys made it!
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