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

Day 43 + 44 – August 11th + 12th

Since we had a bit of extended time in Moab and now being mobile since Niki met us, we had the chance to take a short drive to see Arches National Park. We caught it just at the right time too and got to see some of the arches right around sunset. The fading light really brings out the amazing red colors of the magnificent rock and truly was a memorable night. We did not have the time to make it to see Delicate Arch, but were able to get to the North and South Window Arches to get some great shots of them and the sunset.

The following day was filled with a lot of driving to get across the state of Utah and down to the state of Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. We got a little preview of what we will be seeing once we get back on the bikes going West through Utah and I will hold off on the description of it now, but from the looks of it is going to be a really amazing ride. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that we may be shedding a bit more sweat than we did with the car windows down.

We got to the North rim of the Grand Canyon in the early afternoon, just in time for some afternoon showers. Both Niki and Lee had never seen the Grand Canyon before and after this much time in the car, very ready to see it. Both thought the canyon was beautiful and impressive but unfortunately did not have the best viewing day for it with the rain and a bit of haze. This was my first visit to the North Rim and after seeing both, I think the South Rim has much more impressive awe-inspiring views, but that is just my opinion. Also, I am very glad we made the executive decision to drive here rather than bike, which would have been a multiple day, hot, climb intensive ride, only for a few hours at the canyon. I believe we chose wisely…

After spending some time at the canyon, we were back in the car to make it to Zion for the night to get an early start to the hike the following day.

-Brent

Arches National Park

Grand Canyon

As Brent said in the last post this is the section of the trip where we leave the bikes for about 10 days and do some “other” activities.  It’s hard to believe this section of the trip is here.  We left our bikes in Monticello, UT on the 9th and will pick them back up again the 20th to finish out the 1200 miles left to San Francisco.  

Niki met up with us again in Moab, UT and the three of us headed to the Grand Canyon.  The Canyon was with out a doubt spectacular and we thought about how crazy it must have been to be one of the first pioneers exploring the west and stumble upon the canyon:  DETOUR.  After seeing the Canyon we headed back North to southwestern Utah and Zion National Park, which really feels like you’re on another planet with all the beautiful red rock.  Yesterday we hiked the famed “Narrows” up the Virgin River.  Basically you walk up the actual river through the canyon and the further upstream you walk the narrower the canyon walls get, only 10 feet across in certain sections. The hike was staggeringly beautiful, however the blisters on Brent’s feet at the end of the day from his one size too small, $4 thrift store Nikes were not.  Fortunately my $4 Asics held up ok and caused no serious damage.  The Narrows took us the entire day to hike about 6 miles in and 6 out.  We’re planning to do the “Angel’s Landing” trail today, which supposedly has the best lookout over Zion Canyon.

Tomorrow Niki and I will drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to meet up with my wife Melissa and the rest of her family for a bit and Brent will head to Denver to meet up with some of his friends and climb Pyramid Peak, a 14er in Colorado.  Brent and I meet up again in Denver the 18th and then race the Muddy Buddy Race in Boulder on the 19th.  We then make our way back to Monticello, UT to pick up the bikes and finish out the ride to San Fran.    

Also we wanted to put a reminder out there for why we’re actually doing this bike trip.  1. To raise money for a great Charity, The Lance Armstrong Foundation.  2. Because Brent and I both have “Bike Across the Country” on our Life-Lists and 3. To encourage others to create their Life-Lists on eLIFELIST.com and be aware and invigorated about all the things they want to do, see and experience in their lifetime.  

Please help us in reaching our fund raising goal of $20,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  

Thanks to everyone that has been following us so far and donated to LAF, we promise to continue to constantly update the blog with as much content as possible.  Pictures and videos from Zion will be up soon.  Cheers!

-Lee and Brent