The hike that we have been most nervious about and most excited about is the Angel's Landing trail in Zion National Park. We first heard about it on a hiking website who labled it 'Americas scaryiest day hike'! Set smack dab in the center of Zion canyon, this 5 hour hike was the most exciting one we've ever done.
Here we are at the beginning of the hike. The innocent looking peak is in the background.
We pause for a breath and look down at the valley. At this point, we've only just begun.
What you see here is a section of the Angel's Landing hike called Walter's Wiggles. If you look closely beyond Q, you can see the trail contains a series of tight switchbacks.
Until this point the trail was a steady steep assent, like most mountains we hike. Here is where it begins to get scary. Actually, many people end their hike here before starting the final 1/2 mile. Here is an apt description of the hike we found online. "Hikers will navigate the next half-mile along a narrow sandstone isthmus with sheer cliffs on both sides. The narrow and arduous trail drops 1200' on one side and 800' on the other."
Q heads onto the final mile of trail.
Q & S are ahead looking back at Ivo & Xi's progress. The images don't begin to capture the sheer drop-offs on both sides. We all had psychological moments of fear/panic during this part of the hike, but worked through them on our own.
The park service has mounted chains to aid climbers in the most dangerous and tricky places. After we completed it, we looked online, only 6 people have died on this trail since 1986, amazing really.
As you can see from this picture, we made it to the summit! Here we are looking out at the spectacular view of the canyon from the summit after a hair-raising climb to the top.
Here we are at the beginning of the hike. The innocent looking peak is in the background.
We pause for a breath and look down at the valley. At this point, we've only just begun.
What you see here is a section of the Angel's Landing hike called Walter's Wiggles. If you look closely beyond Q, you can see the trail contains a series of tight switchbacks.
Until this point the trail was a steady steep assent, like most mountains we hike. Here is where it begins to get scary. Actually, many people end their hike here before starting the final 1/2 mile. Here is an apt description of the hike we found online. "Hikers will navigate the next half-mile along a narrow sandstone isthmus with sheer cliffs on both sides. The narrow and arduous trail drops 1200' on one side and 800' on the other."
Q heads onto the final mile of trail.
Q & S are ahead looking back at Ivo & Xi's progress. The images don't begin to capture the sheer drop-offs on both sides. We all had psychological moments of fear/panic during this part of the hike, but worked through them on our own.
The park service has mounted chains to aid climbers in the most dangerous and tricky places. After we completed it, we looked online, only 6 people have died on this trail since 1986, amazing really.
As you can see from this picture, we made it to the summit! Here we are looking out at the spectacular view of the canyon from the summit after a hair-raising climb to the top.
A view from the top.
The decent was much easier, no fear of the unknown. Here, in one of the narrowest parts of the trail, Ivo and Xi put their arms out over the 800' and 1200' cliffs at the same time!
Following our Angel's Landing hike, Ivo & Xi soak in the Virgin River which carved this amazing canyon.
6 comments:
Loved your pictures of the camping sites. It is hard to believe that you got all that in your car.
I never thought of Zion NP as a place for great hikes. The Angel's Landing obviously is a fantastic hike. Only 6 people died on it since 1985 ... more people died walking across Route A1A in Fort Lauderdale.
It is so true that photos somehow can never come close to expressing the experience of being there. But your photos are wonderful.
FL
The arches in Utah were breathtaking just seeing them in your pictures! I am not surprised you were dragging with 100 degree temp. Neat to see Double 00-Q and IVO in the arches. What a feat!
Seeing you camped made it all seem so real. You sure are good at packing! Your egg and Spam breafast sounds great! You are certainly having a range of temp.in a 24 hour period of time!
MM
I wrote the comments above without seeing your Zion Trail posting. I could only continue reading and seeing your hair raising adventure because I knew you were back safe and sound or we wouldn't have the posting!!! You are all AMAZING! I will go back now and see and read it all again.
MM
I am in complete and total awe! You're all incredible!
Congratulations to all of you! That looks like quite a hike at the top!!! Love the pictures!!
Love, Nicole
Q
You must be having the time of YOUR life! I hope the rents aren't bothering you TOO much! Put as much of this as you can into long term memory. I have a feeling it will serve you well for many, many years. I wish I was with you.
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