Angel's Landing - Zion National Park

  Glendale, Utah, United States
Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Two fantastic things happened today and I don't really know in which order to write up about them. Firstly, a little background.

There is a hike in Paria Canyon to a rock structure known as North Coyote Butte, or commonly referred to as "The Wave". It is almost a secret because finding information about it is next to impossible. By accident, Jude came across it on the internet when she was searching something else. The rock structure is incredible. That will have to suffice for the moment until you see the pikkies because again, there are no words to describe it. However, to get to The Wave, you have to get a permit and there are only 20 issued per day - 10 via a lottery over the internet which opens 3 months in advance - and 10 via walk in permits where you have to get to the Paria Ranger Station before 0900 hrs to enter a lottery for a permit for the following day. We tried to get over the internet but failed to get a permit so we decided to skoot over to the Ranger Station this morning to try our luck at a walk in permit.

Well firstly, we couldn't find the darn place and would you believe it, no-one knew where it was either. Long story short - at 0827 - we discovered we had to travel 41 miles to get to the station for the draw which was taking place at 0900 hrs! No need to explain the speed we went to get there but we arrived with two minutes to spare. And boy are they strict - they closed the doors at 0900 on the dot - even in the face of someone coming in to get into the lottery!

With baited breath we stood there as they started the lottery. And would you believe it, we were the first number out of the barrel. Everyone couldn't believe it. Last to sign in, with only moments to spare, and first out to get a permit! There were people there who had come four days in a row trying to get a permit!

Then we headed off for our Angel's Landing hike. But how come did we do it today instead of Friday? Well, we thought about it that it would be better to do such a strenous hike early whilst we are fresh rather than at the end of the week when we were exhausted! And strenous is really not the word.

Approaching Angel's Landing

The hike begins with a short amble along a dusty path and then it literally climbs and climbs 1,500 feet over 2.5 miles to a summit of 6,000 feet and there is a warning that anyone afraid of heights should not even contemplate doing the hike. Bearing in mind both Jude and Jacq are in that category...!

On the ascent, both Jude and I heaved our way up, our hearts beating and our lungs crying out for air. Jacq though is like a mountain goat - she just bounds along and was up and off way ahead of us. Occasionally we got sight of her higher up the trail as we stopped and gathered our breath from time to time. There is also a steep series of switchbacks ('Walter's Wiggles') which leads up the canyon wall to a narrow ridge, where the surfaced trail ends.

Trepidation!

The last half mile of the Angels Landing Trail ascends along a ridge to the summit, and is marked only by rock cairns, occasional steps carved in the rock and chains which have been fixed for safety at some particularly steep places. At some points, the ridge is only a few meters wide,

Looking back on the rock fin

with sheer drop-offs at either side. In terms of statistics this might be the most dangerous trail in any national park; on June 8th 2007, a 53 year old man from Missouri fell 1,000 feet to his death from near the top of the path, the 6th fatality here since 1983. Sounds like a great hike, huh? At the top, the view is breathtaking as you look down to the valley way below.

Looking down

Cars look like dinky toys making their way through the park and the road below looks like a worm!

Did we make it? Well, yes and no. Both Jacq and myself made it to the summit. A real personal achievement for Jacq being afraid of heights and a personal achievement for me given the difficulty of the hike itself since I am not afraid of heights. I am afraid of tripping over my own feet though and that was the one issue I had with the last clamber over the rocks to the summit with the drop on either side of the rock fin.

Jude made it to Scouts lookout which is all but the last section to the summit. So being afraid of heights, that in itself was also a personal achievement but she could just not bring herself to clamber to the summit.

Coming down was just as difficult and in some respects, harder. The knees took a real beating!

But we did it!

All in all, one fantastic day with great sights at the top of Angel's Landing.