Zion National Park - Angel's Landing

After Kelly returned home from his scout trip to Zion and showed us his pictures, the girls and I wanted to go and climb Angel's Landing.  I assumed that since we had survived Half Dome there couldn't be anything that intimidating again.  We booked a hotel for a quick two night, weekend stay and packed our bags.  We have never done Zion as a family, and it was really beautiful.  We had planned to hike to Angel's Landing Saturday morning and then walk about four miles up The Narrows.  The Narrows didn't happen, but we sure had an adventure.  

The pictures above show the "easy" part of the hike.  Ha! Fifteen hundred feet, pretty much straight up, some of it was rock climbing-like.   The photos below show the last half mile of the 2.5 mile trail also known as the treacherous part.  No one has died for a few years.  No sweat.

 Can you find Heather in the photo above?

We made it to the top with a lot of stops to catch breath (me), tired feet (all) and much bravery and perseverance (all).  I worried that my difficulty with the hike was due to being out of shape, and it was.  But the girls were a bit tuckered out also.  We decided later that a lot of that had to do with the 100 degree heat we hiked in.  Well that and the climb.  I really should have prepped with some Stairmaster workouts.

This hike was not as tough psychologically as the Half Dome hike, but I knew better than to look down.  It felt better because there was always something to hold on to whether it be a tree, rock or chain, and sandstone is not slippery like granite.  It was definitely more physically strenuous due to the rapid climb.  It is actually a hike I would do again.  Better get started on those Stairmaster workouts.

As we all returned to the bottom of the canyon, we had sore feet and were really wiped out.  The Narrows will have to wait until next time.  The decision was unanimous to head back to the hotel where we spent some time in the pool, had a great dinner at a pizza/noodle house, and did some souvenier shopping.  A small lizard climbed on Kelly near the gift shop at the visitor's center and it was hard to get him off.  A random event, but a fun part of our trip.

We asked the girls what their favorite part of the trip was, and both the pool and the restaurants we ate at were at the top of their lists.  For me, making the climb with my family was the best.  It's what we went to Zion for, and we achieved our goal.  It took twice as long as my husband would have wanted, but we did it.  I joked with a man on the trail about wishing I had my 20-year-old legs back, and he pointed out that I was out there on the trail when a lot of other people aren't.  Had to agree with him there.

p.s.  HUGE thanks to Grandpa for coming to stay with Winston while we were away.