11/21/01: Hiking Angel's Landing (5 miles round trip):
Wow! This is about the wildest trail I've been on. Zion National Park is on the edge of the town of Springdale. While going through town I got out my wallet and set it on my lap so I'd have the Golden Eagle Pass and my driver's license ready when I got to the entrance. As I passed the post office I saw it was open so I swung around and went in to get the Bullhead City, AZ zip code to have my mail forwarded. Back in the truck and driving away I remembered my wallet. Where was it? My pants pockets were empty. Sh*t! What did I do with it? My shirt and coat pockets were empty. Nothing on the seat or floor. I made a Ubee and went back to the post office thinking I might have carried it in with me and left it on the table. Nope! There it was laying in the street where it had slid off my lap.
I'd lost it once before in Florida. That time I had just pulled the kayak out of the water and was loading gear back in the truck. I laid the wallet on the back bumper, finished loading stuff and then drove away. I drove 5-10 miles at 50-60mph before I realized I didn't know where the wallet was. I stopped and searched my pockets and the truck but nothing. I drove all the way back to the take out and searched the parking lot. Nothing! Then I turned around and there it was, still on the bumper. Whew!
Still in the 40's with a 10-15mph wind blowing and a blackish, gray sky when I set off from the trail head at the Grotto parking lot. The first half mile or so is flat or just a slight incline and I started moaning to myself. This trail has almost 1500 feet rise in elevation and every step I took on a flat surface meant the trail farther up would be that much steeper.
Surprisingly the trail is paved all the way along the 2 miles to Scout Overlook. The lower part varied between 5-10 degree switchbacks as the trail climbed up the face of an enormous wall for the first mile. A bridge across a small culvert marks about the halfway point as the trails turns into a canyon. A series of short, steep switchbacks bring you to Scout Point. Not too bad to this point, just a lot of huffing and puffing, but then I've only risen about 700-800 feet. I made it here in under an hour.
From here things change a little. Angel's Landing is still a half mile away and there's still a 500-600 foot rise in elevation to go. A narrow ridge leads upward a couple hundred feet. The trail description says a narrow trail with long drop-offs. Not for those afraid of heights. Hrmph!
Up over little ledges and rocky steps, some just a foot or two from the edge of a drop 1500 feet straight down. Seems to me they should have named this trail The Devil's Staircase instead of Angel's Landing. They've hammered thick chain into the rock where they can. I wonder how many people went over the edge before they did that. I'll bet the trail crew was roped in while working on these sections. I couldn't go fast enough to really become winded. This was closer to rock climbing rather than to hiking. Many places the trail and the ridge were only two feet wide or so with the sharp drop-offs on both sides.
A rise of 100-150 feet or so brought me to the top of the ridge. Angel's Landing? Noooo! The trail goes down the other side of this ridge and then there's a second 500 foot rise... that's Angel's Landing. So down I go and then up I go. The trail gets narrower and if possible, closer to the edge in some places. I got off the trail in one place and had to make a couple of moves up over rocks I wished I hadn't had to make. A slip here would be a straight 1500 foot fall with no bounces and a big splat at the end. Scary stuff. As I climbed up that section I could see nice little steps cut into the sandstone for the trail but I couldn't get to them from where I was.
Then I had a slight dizzy spell for a couple of seconds. I didn't pay it any mind and kept going. A hundreds yards from the summit I came to a larger slick rock sloping towards the edge. I have to admit I was a little nervous on the climb so far. There was a lot of exposure. Yesterday I slipped several times on sandy slick rock. So, when I saw that sloping slick rock I used it and the dizzy spell and a few drops of rain as an excuse to call it quits 100 yards from the summit.
I knew two different couples were up ahead of me and a lone guy passed me as I was deciding what to do. I'm not wimpier than they; just wiser and more mature. I don't really need to climb that kind of stuff anymore at this point in my life and I'll live to hike another day. It took me longer going down those two ridges than it did going up. When I hit the bottom of the first ridge I let out a sigh of relief.