Angels Landing

August 12

Angels Landing

Click here for today's shots.

Another fantastic day.  We got up early to get to Angels Landing.  We had heard the worst part was negotiating the dicey spots with people going the other direction, so get there early.  (To beat the heat, too.)  That was true.  The shuttle is less frequent at 7:30, and we got unlucky a couple of times and it took us an hour to get to the trail head.

The hike through Refrigerator Canyon and Walters Wiggles to Scouts Lookout was steep, and hot when it was in the sun.  Fun, though, and the view once you get there is great.  You can see a couple of sides of the canyon, and the sorry folks starting up the frightening part.  That initial stretch took ninety minutes, maybe less.

Karen, Callie and Brady waited there while Miles and Scott went on.  Callie and Brady were not happy.

Karen: On a scale from one to ten, how mad are you at me?

Callie: Nine. Point. Five.

The trail was indeed terrifying.  Definitely worse than The Precipice (Acadia).  It would be easy to fall off and die, which happens every couple of years.  What a thrill, though.  You feel like you've cheated the devil.  And the views from the middle of Zion Canyon are a pretty big reward.  Up from Scouts and back was more than an hour.  The hike was about four hours in total.

After the hike we went back to the Desert Pearl for lunch and to hit the pool for a few hours.  Then we went to Springdale for coffee shakes and 'shave ice' from Zion Hawaiian Shave Ice, which the kids had discovered a couple of nights ago.  You get a big dish of shaved ice, with your choices of flavored syrup poured on top.

The kids had been agitating to take the top of the jeep, so we did that (front only), and drove to the East side of the park.  That's where Checkerboard Mesa is, and other very cool scenery that was perhaps a little bit like White Pocket, but mountain sized.  We had a great time climbing around there and taking pictures for a few hours.  We also met some Big Horn Sheep.

For dinner we went to the Whiptail Grill, which looks unassuming at best.  It's located at a recycled gas station.  But the mexican food was outstanding.  It's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Funny story

Here's all I can come up with today.  There was this total hippie dude on the trail to Angels Landing.  Burka, long hair, braided beard; the whole get-up.  Miles heard him say "sometimes I think to myself, what do I want to be doing with my life.  And then I realize, I'm doing it!"  That's to set the scene.  You definitely want to be using both hands when summiting Angels Landing.  Making it a questionable decision, we thought, to be carrying this two-foot wooden flute thing (it had a name but I didn't catch it) to the top.

Contours and Peas, East side of Zion