Oct 31 Happy Halloween and Zion Part 2

Oct 31
Happy Halloween everybody!! We didn't get dressed in costumes today but we probably should have. Too old I guess and we have a different goal for today. Les and I are going to hike up the Angels Landing Trail. I have talked about this for years and we had a link in the last post showing some of the spectacular views. The last portion has all sorts of danger warnings and a few people have fallen off to their death in the last 10 years. The most recent was a young boy in March of this year. It's incredibly steep with 1400 foot drop on one side and you have to hold on to a chain on the way up. Nerve wracking yes but the hike up before that is absolutely stunning. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Earlier this week I had texted Vanessa back home in Bonnyville. For those that don't know, Vanessa was my shift lead at work for several years and has become a great friend to Leslie and I. Anyway it just so happens that Vanessa, her fiancee Rene and Vanessa's Dad, John are flying to Vegas and driving to Bryce Canyon, Utah overnight. That's right past us at Zion Resort!! How cool is that? We get a short, unexpected visit from back home! Excited to see them and we get to meet Rene. Excellent.
Okay, back to today. We were out of the rig early and got a great parking spot at the Nature Center in Zion. We arranged for Jaiden to take Margaret out a couple times today so we're good all day. We walked to the visitor center to catch the shuttle to The Grotto stop which is the trailhead for Angels Landing. Leslie is going up as far as she can with me. We'll see how steep the edge of the trail is.

Trailhead warning.

There are a couple features on this trail that are named. Walter's Wiggles is named after the fellow who designed the short, steep switchbacks that you walk up to get up top. Then you get to Scout Lookout which is a junction to the West Rim Trail or up to Angels Landing. 

We got off the shuttle at The Grotto and started up the 5.4 mile/ 8km round trip trail. It seems so easy and gentle at the start but we know it's going to get nasty steep.

Angels Landing behind me.

They have actually done cement paths farther up. Incredible amount of work has gone into this place. As we walked up we were passed by the crew from The Black Pearl ! There are some that have the Halloween spirit.

Sneaky picture Les. (I would have hiked a lot faster if that was really Johnny Depp!! LR)

It didn't take long before the trail got much steeper. It has an elevation change of 453 meters/ 1488 ft in 2 1/2 miles so it's not unexpected. Leslie is working on her fear of heights and the drop off at the edge of the trail is getting much steeper and higher. She stayed with me as long as she could and then made the decision to turn back before she needed me to help her back down. Smart decision to know your limits before it gets critical. She'll jump in later and tell you about her day on other trails. For now I will try to relate the Angels Landing experience.

As I said before the trail turns into a cement path winding up the mountain. It's about 6 feet wide-ish and is fabulous to hike on. Most people like to be on the inside against the rocks due to the drop off on the other side.

Beauty path going up.

It's a tough hike so I took a couple breaks for water and took a bunch of pictures. This is the hike I've been waiting for so I have way too many pics to include here.

After the drop offs you walk into a canyon for a bit and then a right turn brings you to the previously mentioned Walters Wiggles. Hopefully the pics do it justice. It's an incredible trail but definitely keeps you breathing!

Looking down from above. Amazing piece of work!

At the top of the Wiggles is the junction for the West Rim Trail and Scout Lookout. We hoped Les could make it here but maybe next time. You can watch people do the top from here.

Scout Lookout to the top.

I hiked the path to the portion of trail that has the chains and is rated "difficult". My heart was beating pretty fast and I was super excited and a little worried. It's one thing to see it in pictures but it is a whole new game to be there. Time to suck it up and give it a go. There were quite a few people here and you had to time your turn. Didn't help my anxiety level! I had to step over the chain at one point and wait for a German couple to bail out of the climb. The fella had a knee brace on and wasn't doing good mentally either. Add another notch to the anxiety sitting there waiting. I made it up the first 2 chains and there was a crowd in front of me on a slope that has no chains. Well this is just peachy right? We were all waiting for a lady that was actually crawling to the next chain across the rocks. She's crying a little and talking to her fella that she's going to make it up to the top because she's come so far. The couple of people above her coming down from the chains had to step over her to get down! It was kind of a gong show and it put me way past my comfort zone just sitting there watching. As Clint Eastwood said in the movies " A man's gotta know his limitations". My attempt for the top ended on that slope watching that lady crawl and cry her way to the chains. I don't know if she ever made it. I went back down to the waiting area before the chains and ate some snacks and enjoyed the view. Disappointed is not the word but I will try again someday.

The view off the slope to the south.

That's how close I was to the top!!

Lady crawling to the next chain and her fella coaching.

Even though I was so disappointed with my attempt at the top it was a beautiful day and an awesome hike. I met some great folks from Minnesota up top and ate some trail mix before the hike down.The fella from Minnie was one of the people that stepped over the lady and he was choked that she was there. Yeah me too! It's way easier going down of course so it went much quicker than the climb.

Yep that's the trail down below me.

I made good time coming down and when I got to the Grotto trailhead Leslie wasn't there. Hmm I thought she would waiting there so anxious to see me ?? Nope she's having her own great day hiking?? I'll let Leslie take over and tell about her day. I'm a little choked that I didn't man up and finish the climb but I'll just have to try again. We'll meet again Angels Landing! Fantastic hike up and down anyway.

Hi, it's Les! I set out with Dave today really hoping I could make it to Scout Look-out to see him take on Angel's Landing. I was doing pretty good until we came upon a couple areas where the path narrowed and kinda sloped towards the drop off. I made it through a couple of those before we stopped to catch our breath. Looking up I could see it got even steeper and I wasn't sure how narrow the trail would get etc. At that point I knew I could get back down by myself. I didn't want to ruin Dave's attempt by going further than I should and needing him to walk me back down. After we parted I stopped and got a picture of him still climbing.

That's him in the red circle.

I hiked back to the Grotto and took the shuttle back to Zion Lodge. I toured around there for a few minutes before setting out to the Emerald Pool Trail.

Why do all these trails have pics of people falling off cliffs??

Starts out pretty innocently

Unfortunately the Upper Emerald Pool is closed as there was a huge rock slide a short time ago and the trail no longer exists. After a lovely 1.2 mi/2 km hike

I got to the Lower Pool. It was a totally different little eco-system with water dripping everywhere and lush greenery.

Path goes under the rock overhang until the rock slide area on the far right

Lots of frogs and birds. Very different from most of the park.

Water running over the rocks above creates a constant mist.

I can feel my hair starting to frizz!! lol

I guess I better start back. I'm not sure how long Dave will be up on Angels Landing with all the other crazy people! lol I hiked back to Zion Lodge and then chose to hike another mile back to the Grotto instead of doing the shuttle. Dave had beat me there by about 10 minutes and was chatting with a couple volunteer rangers. I told him where I had been and he wanted to see it too so I did the Emerald pool for the second time today.

Together again. Note the rocks behind us (used to be the trail to the Upper Pool)

We hiked back to the lodge, shuttled to the Nature Centre and hiked from there to the truck. Phew. I racked up over 20K steps and did 12.5 km/8 mi. Dave did a little less distance but more elevation. We were very happy to be on our way home. Margaret was very happy to see us and, of course, wanted to go for a walk. We made it a short one! After showers we had supper and went to bed pretty early. I think tomorrow we will take a day off. Well it's a chore day off lol.