eLIFELIST.com Bike Trip

August 14th – Day 46

Angels Landing!

Today’s hike wasn’t ever on our original agenda, but since we decided against the backcountry trip we had a chance to get in one more hike before leaving Zion. We are all very glad that it worked out that way because Angel’s Landing was one heck of a hike. It isn’t very physically demanding, being a 2.5 mile hike up about 1500 ft, but the last half mile will make your boots shake a bit. Once you finish climbing their paved path to intersection of the West Rim Trail, the real fun begins. The trail turns into a knife ridge where you have to climb on the side of the ridge with thousand ft. drop offs on each side. Needless to say, now is not the time to throw a water bottle at Lee and say, ‘think fast!’…

There are places along the trail were metal chains are bolted into the rock to give you something to hold onto as the trail becomes narrower and steeper. The path at some points is literally only a meter or two wide which means you better not be afraid of jumping off the high dive at the pool at this point. As Lynn pointed out, “The Angels Landing Trail is one of the most famous and thrilling hikes in the national park system. Zion's pride and joy runs along a narrow rock fin with dizzying drop-offs on both sides. The trail culminates at a lofty perch, boasting magnificent views in every direction. Rarely is such an intimidating path so frequented by hikers. One would think that this narrow ridge with deep chasms on each of its flanks would allure only the most intrepid of hikers. Climbers scale its big wall; hikers pull themselves up by chains and sightseers stand in awe at its stunning nobility. The towering monolith is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Southwest."

The scrambling, cliff dangling, and climbing are well worth it because the views from the top of Angel’s Landing are simply incredible. We were rewarded with panoramic views of the entire valley, the Narrows Canyon and Virgin River, the White Throne (a rock formation…), and Jimmy Hoffa’s final resting place. Ok, that is in Giant’s stadium. Unfortunately for us the escalator down was having maintenance work done and not working today, so we had to climb back down the knife ridge the way we came up. What also made this climb a bit more challenging for me at least was the fact that I was wearing my Crocs since they were the only shoes I had that could handle the blisters on the feet from the day before. After going up and down this trail, I think Crocs can think about launching a new line of shoes called ‘Croc Climbing shoes’…I was very impressed.

Once reaching the canyon floor, the Virgin River was calling us again for a very refreshing dip. Climbing Angel’s Landing was one of the highlights from the past few weeks, a truly memorable climb, and are really glad that we actually got the chance to experience it.

-Brent

Day 45 – August 13th

The Narrows!

Once we reached the backcountry office of Zion National Park at 7 AM (when they opened their doors) to acquire our backcountry permit to camp overnight in the Narrows, we got some very unsettling news. The weather forecast for the day called for a 50% chance of rain at the headwaters of the Virgin River, which doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, but is when you are considering walking down a river that is prone to flash floods and has 1000+ ft. canyon walls on each side of it preventing any kind of escape. In addition, we would each also have to pay a pricey shuttle to take us to the top of the river (hour and a half ride), which would put us closer to the afternoon shower time zone. As much as we wanted to spend the night in the Narrows we decided we liked living too much and didn’t want to part with any more greenbacks, even though I am sure we would have been just fine. What we decided to do was the more traditional hike UP the Virgin river, which would still take us through the famous Wall St. section of the river and make it to the first campground upriver as a day hike. This would also allow us to do another day hike the following day since we budgeted two days in Zion. On our way to the beginning of the hike we met David Hatwell who was a very nice man and turned out to know several of the same people as Niki’s father since they are in the same industry. He was on quite a whirlwind trip himself and headed to Vegas next.

Once we reached the trail head and got in the river, the hike is a very surreal experience. You are hiking up a river that is probably no wider than 40 ft with thousand ft. canyon walls rising above you on each side. The Virgin river methodically cut out this canyon, straight down, over millions of years and now here we are hiking up it. You have to pick and choose your steps carefully since there are plenty of large rocks to navigate along the riverbed, which is why a walking stick makes it much easier. Some areas of the canyon don’t ever see light and others are lit up at certain times of the day since the canyon walls are so steep. We hiked up the canyon about 6 miles to Big Springs slowly becoming the only people hiking upriver before turning around. The hiking truly was an awesome experience. What wasn’t an awesome experience was walking in the one size too small Nike’s I had bought (bad $4 spent) at the thrift store in Monticello for the hike and Muddy Buddy. After 6 miles, I had worn some good sized blisters on the backs and tops of my feet which made for a tender walk back.

On the way back down the river, we took a side trip down Orderville Canyon, which is one of the more popular side canyons that gets even narrower. We didn’t make it too far up this side canyon, but was interspersed with small waterfalls to climb over.

Even though we didn’t get to spend the night in the Narrows, we didn’t feel cheated out of anything since we got to do a long day hike and experience a long portion of the canyon with about the same mileage as we would have done. Plus, the hike we were about to take the following day was going to blow our socks off…

-Brent