The trail is not for the "faint of heart." In fact, there are warnings that those with coronary issues or a fear of heights should probably not hike the trail. However, when Ken and Bonnie first visited the park in 2010, Ken decided that Angels Landing was going on his bucket list. His friend, Allen, who has been to the top four times told Ken that if he ever decided to hike Angels Landing, he would join him.
When we stopped at the visitor center our first day at Zion, the park ranger recommended going early because the trail gets very crowded later in the day. We met Allen and his son, Jackson, at the shuttle pick up bright and early Saturday morning and by 8:15, we were packed with all our extra water and snacks and ready to go!
As we began the hike, the weather was kind of cool and I was kind of wondering if we really needed all the extra water.
I think we were all glad we had a light jacket when we first started off on the trail.
After walking on a sand path for a short distance, the trail turned into a paved trail as we headed toward Angels Landing.
However, when the trail became paved, it also became steeper and steeper and involved a series of several long switchbacks.
We would pause occasionally to catch our breath, take a drink of water, and enjoy those amazing views!
We reached the portion of the trail that is cut out of the rock. We could see people hiking up and down this from across the river when we were biking yesterday.
When we turned the corner, the hiking got much easier as we walked through the much less steep Refrigerator Canyon.
They could have also called this Echo Canyon because our voices echoed off the canyon walls as we walked.
And then we began walking up the famous Walter's Wiggles -- a series of 21 short steep switchbacks. Walter's Wiggles was named after the first superintendent of the park who helped engineer this steep zigzagging section.
When we reached the top, to our surprise, there were two pit toilets. So that's what they meant by the sign we saw on Thursday when they said the trail was closed for "human waste removal by helicopter." Regardless, we were all very glad to see those toilets. :)
We walked around the corner and we had arrived at Decision Central -- otherwise known as Scout Outlook.
When we talked about hiking Angels Landing, we all felt like we could make it to this point. And the views here are impressive.
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| Yes, that is my foot but I was behind a secure railing. |
Except for Allen and Jackson, I think we all had some second thoughts about whether we should continue or not. But hey, this is Angels Landing! This is on Ken's Bucket List and we are all so blessed to be a part of it.
So, we lightened our loads by leaving the bigger backpacks and our hiking poles next to a bush and then we began climbing up and up and up. Why would we leave our hiking sticks behind? Because we began climbing, literally, and needed hands free to hold on to chains and climb up the rocks.
We climbed our way up, over, and around and were beginning to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into. We met some girls on the trail who were coming back down and they told us that the next part was the hardest part and after that it got easier. The reason they were saying it was difficult is because it crosses a narrow ledge that has steep drop-offs on both sides of the ledge. Ken took the below pictures.
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| Bonnie's feet crossing the ledge that has a 1,200 ft drop-off on one side and an 800 ft drop-off on the other side. |
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| Ken's feet crossing the ledge. |
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| Ken's death grip on the chain as he's crossing the ledge. :) |
In fact, I think that is how all of us were able to continue climbing up the trail. We took our time and paid very careful attention to what we were doing,
The rest of the trail was challenging as well but with Chuck in the lead, he would look where best to place our feet, hold on to the chain, and pull ourselves up. Bonnie was behind me and she was great at suggesting where to put my feet also.
At one of the places where we stopped to rest, one of the hikers coming up had some music playing on his cell phone. At first we thought that was kind of unusual and then we realized that the song that was playing was Stairway to Heaven. :)
We negotiated the last climb up to Angels Landing...
and we finally reached the top...
where we walked over the top of the mountain to Angels Landing.
We made it!!! We climbed one of the most famous hikes in the world!!!
We made it to the top!!!
We weren't the only people celebrating at the top!
This guy proposed to his girlfriend at the top! WOW!!!!!
We stayed at the end of Angels Landing for a few minutes and then walked back a short distance where we could sit, rest, refresh ourselves with water and snacks, and just take it all in. :)
Aren't these views incredible???
We took one last look at the view of Zion Canyon from the top...
...and then began completing the rest of Ken's bucket list: making it back down Angels Landing! :)
With Chuck in the lead, he again would tell me where to put my feet and we actually found it easier to climb down backwards holding on to the chain. The most challenging part was negotiating around all the people who were still coming up the trail but everyone was very careful, patient, and encouraging to one another. Coming down was actually much easier than I thought it would be.
At one point, Ken, Bonnie, Allen and Jackson sat down to rest, but Chuck and I were at the back of a group of people heading down and decided to keep going. We got back to where we had left our hiking poles and backpacks and rested and waited for the rest of our group to come down.
The crowds of people were much worse now and we were so glad we had started early! :)
After Ken, Bonnie, Allen and Jackson rejoined us, we rested for a few minutes longer and drank some more water. We were REALLY glad now that we had brought all that water!!!
We headed back down Walter's Wiggles,
Refrigerator Canyon (which felt very good now), and then down all the steep, long switchbacks back down.
Our feet hurt, our legs hurt, and we were pretty tired but we did it!
We conquered Angels Landing!!!!
After completing the hike, we stopped at Zion Lodge and Chuck and Ken got some "I made it to the top!" Angels Landing t-shirts. Bonnie and I found a couple of similar shirts at a store in Springdale later too. When we got back to the visitors center, we had a big group hug and said our good-byes to Allen and Jackson. :)
Wow! We almost couldn't believe we did it! But we did! I don't know that any of us would do it again but we are all so glad to be a part of Ken's bucket list: hiking Angels Landing!
One of my greatest accomplishments. Bucket list for years..thanks so much for sharing..doing..encouragement ..I will never forget that day.
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