Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
My head popped off the pillow and I was out of the Motel 6 before nine o’clock. I was anxious to get to today’s adventure and I knew there were a number of tasks that I needed to take care of first. Checking out was easy, in fact I kept the key card (a nice little souvenir of my visit to Page, Arizona). Next on the list was groceries. Priority number one on this trip has been to ‘Find the Adventure’, a close second to that is to ‘Survive the Adventure’, which meant that since I knew my destination for the day was Zion, I needed to get food, to survive and what not. It was great, mainly cause I love food. There’s something different about grocery shopping when you’re on the road, and trying to ‘survive’ as oppose to the trips to Safeway back home when it’s more of a burden to go and buy the groceries at a store because it’s a longer trip than just wandering to the fridge. I felt like every item I tossed in the basket was a luxury; a jar of jam to upgrade my Peanut Butter Sandwiches to a PB&J status. I went for the Chunky Campbell’s Soup instead of the tiny cans with broth and some small veggies (living large). New box of cereal, more apples, milk! It was all good stuff. I didn’t want to leave, I just wanted to hang around with the food all day. But the road was calling me.
I was out of Page by quarter after nine. The drive to Zion was a smooth one. Unfortunately as I crossed the Arizona-Utah boarder I lost an hour. Just like that, gone. I guess it had to happen sometime. Silly Arizona, although they are categorized as being in Mountain Time, they simply ignore Day Light Savings and for a good part of the year are running on their own scheduling, ignoring the happenings of the rest of the world. Whatever, that’s old news for me now, I’m back to good old Mountain Time.
Zion National Park sort of snuck up on me. Unlike the Navajo Monuments which you could see from miles away, with Zion I basically turned a corner and notice that the landscape had significantly changed. I entered the park from the East side and found that all the mountains seemed to have been spending the last couple millennia melting away. It looked as though the large hills that formed the boarder of the narrow valley had not only been burnt red by the sun but had actually started to flow down towards the Virgin River (a pitiful little stream believed to have caused all this torture in Zion). It was tough to simply drive the road and not stop every ten feet to try and capture the entire park, but I knew I would be leaving Zion tomorrow along the same stretch of twisted road that I was currently trying to stay on, so there would be time for a little one-on-one-on-one with me the SLR and Park before long. My initial impression of the park was that it was spectacular. To me this canyon is the real life representation of the place those little dinos were trying to get to in the Land Before Time movie. The huge Red mountains held the scene together with the river providing the essence of life for all kinds of plants and animals. It seemed that the trees and plant life were trying to claw their way up the mountains, spreading away from the river basin. It was beautiful to see the sharp contrast between the scorched red rock of the Zion canyon walls and the fresh green of the sprawling vegetation. It was a natural sanctuary.
I can only imagine when it was discovered by people, it was probably a mix between ‘Dude are you f#$kin kidding me?’ and ‘Thank God, I thought that desert garbage was never going to end!’ With that said, in my opinion the most impressive part of the Zion National Park is the fact that there is a road that runs through it. There is no way a road should be able to make it through this canyon. Aside from the crazy twisting and turning that it needs to do just to avoid crashing into the canyon walls, the road actually needs to tunnel through part of a mountain to get through to the next section of the canyon. And when I say ‘a part of’ I mean several kilometers straight through the centre of said mountain. It’s as though the mountain melted over top of the road and formed a natural tunnel, because there is no way people actually decided that that was the easiest way to access the western part of the valley. Oh and remember my love for tunnels, yeah this once rocks!
Zion’s South Campground is a popular spot, much like the Mather Campground at the Grand Canyon. I was able to set up shop in one of the last sites just after one o’clock. It was a cozy little area with plenty of trees where both tents and RVs could hide under the canopy and try and escape the hot sun. I have the whole camping thing down to an art. Just like that the tent pops up, my bedding gets spread out, and I’m ready to attack the trails. I put together my hiking pack complete with food, drinks, my little survival kit (to make me feel intense… and safe I suppose), binocs, camera (plural), and sunscreen to protect my poor fragile exterior.
Word around the campfire was the Angels Landing Trail was the hike of hikes, the one that must be done, the path that would let you truly experience Zion. Not sold yet? Well in the Park Guide it is described as: “Strenuous. Long drop-offs and narrow trail. Not for anyone fearful of heights.
Ends at summit high above Zion Canyon. Last 0.5 mi (0.8 km) follows steep, narrow ridge; chains have been added.” I was like YESSSSSS! Drop-offs, summits, narrow ridges, these are all very attractive qualities, qualities I happen to look for in my hikes. And Chains. What the–. I don’t even know what that means, but I like it. So the decision was made. I caught one of the Free Shuttles that hauled me north through the park to the Grotto area where the Angels Trail began.
I will break this hike down into five components, each with its own unique appeal and challenge. From the trail head the path ascends ever so slightly as you follow along the Virgin River and dodge in and out of the woods. It’s a nice intro. As you come to the end of this first leg you see your final destination, of course at this point you don’t realize it yet because it seems impossible to access that part of the canyon. The second section of the hike involves a pretty good climb spread out over large switch backs. It gives you a great view of the western end of the valley. Part three of the Angels Landing adventure takes you into almost complete darkness as you travel along an ever narrowing canyon path. I was blown away by the Flintstones style rock that made up the canyon walls.
At the end of the canyon walk you begin another ascension that makes use of very small, tight switch backs. This takes you to a landing that could and should definitely be the end of the hike for those that didn’t like the sound of ‘summit’, ‘long drop-offs’, ‘narrow trail’, and of course ‘chains’. For those who stare fear in the face and laugh, push on to the final climb. This last section is some of the craziest scrambling I have ever done. The layout of the path is so ridiculous that had I not seen people in the midst of making the climb and had it not been categorized as an official trail, I never would have imagined going anywhere near it. Picture the most dangerous climb that can be done without ropes and harnesses; yeah that’s the final pathway to Angels Landing (which I discovered got its name due to the fact that it is the first thing Angels see when they descend from heaven, yeah that’s how high up the place is).
I hesitated ever so briefly, then noticed a nine year old girl on her way back down. I also caught wind of a troop of boy scouts half way up. Well, if the boy scouts can do it, then so can the Jackson MiniTramp. I can’t describe how amazing the views were from the top of the ridge. The camera will try to tell the story, but it won’t even come close. I’ll leave it at this: At the top of Angels Landing I may have found one of the most beautiful locations on the planet. This is where National Geographic visits, this is why they created cameras, this was heaven on earth. I couldn’t get enough of it, and yet at the same time
I was steps away from total disaster; there was no room for error up there. Part six of the trip was the descent. It was the whole experience in reverse and I really appreciated the second look at everything. This was such a great hike that I am prepared to say it is one of my all time favourites. If I had another day to hike in Zion, I’d be hard pressed not to return to Angels Landing.
Day Sixteen: It’s experiences like this one that make this trip more then ‘good’… My Great American Adventure continues.
I had been sleeping but woke up cold and needed to roll myself up into a blanket. After that it was sound sleeping right through until 8 o’clock. Going from sweating to shivering in a matter of hours; just some of your average ups and downs when tenting it.
Bryce Canyon’s pride and joy is its amazing gathering of hoodoos found within the Amphitheatre. Because of the extreme weather changes experienced in the region, the canyon is continually eroded and worn down creating the unique rock formations. It’s a picturesque bowl with hundreds of hoodoos varying in size and shape staring at you from below as you stare at them from the upper rim. The hike of choice for Bryce Canyon was the Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop.
The park ranger at the visitors center told me it was the perfect trail to give me the complete flavour of Bryce’s beauty. The route began with the Rim Trail that offered a number of different angles from which to view the Amphitheatre. At this point the day was warm with a slight overcast and a gentle breeze. I reached the start of the Queen's Garden loop at 1:30 and descended in amongst the hoodoo jungle. It was eerie to walk between the soaring towers of rock as they crowded around the trail. To anyone who considers viewing the Amphitheatre from the outer rim and only the outer rim, I warn you that you are missing out on an extraordinary experience; let the Hoodoos scare you a little. As I made my way through the Queen's Garden the temperature moved from warm to hot, 
and enormous gusts of wind threatened to steal my hat, my pack, and my glasses, even my freakin hair was at risk of getting torn from my head. The Navajo loop met up with the Queen's Garden circuit and allowed me to fade away from the intense collection of fire red hoodoos and venture into the Ponderosa Pine woods of the canyon. It was a flattened portion of the trail that provided relief from the sun in the shade of the trees. The last stage of the combined loop hike was a scenic ascent through slot canyons and rock stands back up to the ridge of the Amphitheatre. It was a fun two hour hike that allowed me to see Bryce Canyon from all different perspectives.
At the end of the trail I jumped onto the Bryce Canyon Shuttle and made two viewpoint stops, first at Bryce Point and then at Inspiration Point. The two overlooks gave 
additional angles of the canyon. I spent as much time staring into the Amphitheatre as the weather would allow, because unfortunately as I finished the hike, dark clouds rolled in, the temperature plummeted, and the warm winds that had howled along the canyon floor became frigid gusts preparing the area for rain. The rain started just as I got back on the shuttle. It was just after four, and it was all the time I needed to fall in love with Bryce Canyon National Park.
