Day 18: Hike to Angel's Landing

May 16, 2010

Today's hike won't take all day, and I think the sun angle is better in the afternoon. I got up at 8 and wasted a lot of time at the campground doing chores and talking to neighbors. At noon I went to have lunch at the cafe in front of the campground. Spaghetti squash enchiladas, best lunch of the tour. At 1 PM I jumped onto the shuttle bus that stops in front of the cafe. That bus takes me 1 mile to the park entrance. Then I have to walk 1/4 mile through pedestrian plazas, past the visitor center to the park's shuttle bus. The park shuttle bus arrived at The Grotto in Zion Canyon at 1:35. No faster than biking, but less effort. I'll conserve energy for the hike.

The trail starts by crossing the river, then follows the river upstream for 1/4 mile. It's both the West Rim trail and the Angel's Landing trail.

The trail starts along the Virgin river.

Then the climbing begins. Surprisingly, the trail becomes a 6-foot wide ribbon of concrete with switchbacks that climb a 500-foot cliff. Massive retaining walls are required. This trail must cost more to build than many roads.

Climbing the first escarpment. The switchbacks have massive retaining walls.

Then the trail goes up a narrow side canyon 1/4 mile before climbing the next cliff. These switchbacks also have massive retaining walls and are also obviously blasted out of a sheer cliff. Quite often there is overhanging rock above the trail.

At the top of the first escarpment the trail goes into a narrow side canyon.

Switchbacks up the cliff to get out of the side canyon. Trail construction required extensive blasting and retaining walls.

At the top of the second escarpment the wide concrete path ends at Boy Scout point, the junction of the West Rim and Angel's Landing trails. It seems that almost everybody is going to Angel's Landing like me. There is a good view of the canyon looking north. But the view will be even better at Angel's Landing.

Looking north from Boy Scout Point at the junction of the West Rim and Angel's Landing trails.

From the trail junction I could see the beginning of the 1-mile dead-end trail to Angel's Landing. Now the trail is on bare rock on the spine of a fin-like rock formation. It climbs very steeply to a false summit. So steeply that chains are provided as handholds.

Climbing to the first minor summit on the Angel's Landing trail.

The steep section climbs 150 feet to a false summit that offers the first view of Angel's Landing. I thought I would be close to the summit, but from here I can see that I have to drop 100 feet, then climb another 400 feet. It's all very steep, with frequent chains for handholds. With many people on the trail I often have to wait for a group to go down a section before I can go up.

First view of Angel's Landing. Down, then steep up again.

Angel's Landing is 5790 feet (1765 m) elevation. 1700 feet (515 m) above the canyon floor. It's pretty much a 360-degree panoramic view, but the best views are looking north (up the canyon) and south (down the canyon).

View to the north from Angel's Landing looking upstream into Zion canyon.

Zion Canyon from Angel's Landing. My 28mm wide angle isn't wide enough.

Looking south from Angel's Landing, downstream in Zion Canyon.

Telephoto view looking south. Zion lodge is visible.

The temperature was 75F, sunny, and not very windy. Very nice. I sat around for a long time resting and enjoying the view. But what goes up must go down. And going down a steep slope can be more difficult than going up. Especially for a cyclist who has well-developed "up" muscles but undeveloped "down" muscles.

Do not attempt this trail if you are afraid of heights.

Back at Boy Scout point I decided to go farther up the West Rim trail. I walked a mile before turning around. I was hoping for a better view of Angel's Landing, but didn't find anything better than the view 100 yards up the trail.

View of Angel's Landing from the West Rim trail.

From the West Rim trail I could see a tall waterfall in a side canyon.

Waterfall in a side canyon. View from the West Rim trail.

Back at Boy Scout point I had to descend the two escarpments again. By now there were far fewer people on the trail. Going down the switchbacks was much faster than going up.

Here the trail is blasted into a vertical wall.

Across the Virgin river to the shuttle bus stop.

I was back at the bus stop at 6:30 PM. The hike took nearly 5 hours. The shuttle bus dropped me off at the park entrance, and instead of riding the Springdale shuttle bus I walked a mile from the park entrance to the campground, with a stop halfway at the grocery store.

Today I didn't bike at all. I hiked 7 miles instead. It was one of the most memorable hikes I've ever done, and surely the only multi-million-dollar trail I've ever hiked. Weather and visibility were excellent. I should have started an hour earlier to have less of a shadow on the canyon floor when I got to the summit.

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