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Zion made our list for this trip because Cap said we should go there. That was it. I had no idea what to expect or why this was such a cool place to see. And honestly, even in the planning of this trip, I didn't really dive into the details and what we should do in Zion because it was towards the end of the trip and I just didn't get to it when planning all of the other stuff. It may have ended up being my favorite place to see though. The terrain here is unbelievable. Good call little bro! And it's a place that I want to go back for sure.
Everyone that we talked to about Zion said, "Do the Narrows.... don't miss it." I will now be one of those people that says this about Zion as well. It's a one mile hike out to the Narrows and then you get in the river. The entire hike isn't in the water, but a lot of it is. And it's beautiful. Something new to see around every curve and the scenery changes into new and crazy rock formations while you are down in the base of a canyon. There is a threat of Flash Flooding that is highly advertised to check the weather but seeing zero rain in the forecast, we set off. You can go up to 10 miles into the Narrows but our plan was just to go as far as we thought the kids could handle. We also did some bribery with donuts in the morning for no complaining on the hike. And they didn't complain at all. In fact, Jake just paused at one point and not really to anyone in particular said, "this... is..... awesome!!" He was not wrong.
The beginning of the Narrows
Rocky terrain the whole way. Jeremy managed pretty well with a brace and walking stick.
They found the deepest part and giggled the entire way through!
My little hiker taking a break. He said, "Oh, that's a cool spot, Mom take my picture over here!"
After the 6+ mile hike in the Narrows over the rocky terrain, we treated ourselves to the Zion Brewery and some Zion Brew Burgers and of course their local beers. It was a good finish to an awesome hike through terrain I'm not sure is comparable to anything we have seen or ever will see. Off to swimming at the campground and relaxing for the evening.
The next day, Cap wanted to try out the Angel's Landing Hike. With Jeremy's foot injury and the boys the ages they are, this left only me to attempt this insane hike with him. You go 2.4 miles up a mountain with one area containing 21 switchbacks. For those like me that didn't know what this was until this week, that means a steep incline that looks almost like a staircase going back and forth zig zagging up the side of the mountain. Cap does this stuff all the time in California now, but I will give him credit, he was a good coach for me on the way up and how to control the speed to not tire out. There was a point he said, "let's get to that tree (this was up the switchback) before we take a break." I came to a tree and stopped but he kept going, and I was like, "WHICH TREE?????" He meant about 3 more switchbacks up. jerk. :)
After all of that, you come to a spot at the top called Scouts Landing. It has some pretty cool views but then the true Angel's Landing is out another .5 miles and is the most dangerous, treacherous thing I have ever seen. If you don't believe me, google it. "Scariest hike in America?!" "Six people have died." You get the gist. You are climbing the spine of the mountain. There are areas that aren't even 4 feet wide with 1400 foot drop offs on both sides. We started out and I had talked myself into this even though I am petrified of heights. I made it through the first set of chains... Yes, there are chains that you have to hang on to as to not plummet over a thousand feet to the ground. When the chains ran out, so did I. I took one look at this slanted rock that I was going to have to walk along to the next set of chains and my knees went completely weak. It was the craziest, scariest feeling and I knew I should not go any further. I just sat down at the end of the chain and said, "I'm good, you go ahead to the end." BUT, the story doesn't end there. So Cap goes on and I'm literally sitting at the end of this section of chains and there are a bunch of people coming up to climb out to what I'm sure is their demise. They are all going around me as I didn't want to move! In that moment, I didn't give a s**t that I probably looked like the biggest idiot.... you just had to go around me!
But watching all of those people go around me was making me so nervous that they were going to fall and there was a woman about 5 feet behind me sitting who had stopped as well that kept talking about the crowds of people doing this and how it's crazy more people don't fall. I was getting dizzy and trying really hard to stop thinking about all of it. So I got out a Cliff bar (yes, ironic I know) thinking that a snack would help. I'm looking up at the sky and enjoying my cliff bar not thinking about how far down things are below me. And then a big bird flies over me and I freaked out, "I'm up with the birds!! Good Lord, I need to get down RIGHT NOW!!!"
So in the most graceful (NOT) and elegant (NO) way, I crawl over to the set of chains to go down from where I am. If you can picture a monkey holding on to a tree branch, this was basically me hanging on the bottom side of this chain. Most people have one hand on the chain walking up or down. I'm wrapped around this thing with both arms and everyone going either way has to go around me. "I'm really sorry, but you are just going to have to go around me!" No joke, said this like 12 times. Then comes a man climbing up as I'm going down and he has a baby strapped to his front. A BABY!!!! are you flipping kidding me??? I make it down to Scouts Landing and this retired New Jersey policeman and his buddy are dying laughing. I wanted to take a bow. Instead I got to talking to them and he said he was laughing because I just visually showed him what he looked like about a year ago when he tried this. He got to the exact same point and had the exact same experience. Or at least he told me that to make me feel better. His buddy says he wants to go try it so off he goes and my new cop friend as well as the girl that had been talking about why more people aren't falling, and I had a nice visit for 45 minutes while we waited on our braver counterparts.
Cap came back and basically said it got worse so I made a good decision to stop when I did. Cap put the pictures up on Facebook from the end of Angel's Landing so you will have to check those out there. Breathtaking views but he said you basically are standing on a rounded rock out at the end.... yes, glad I didn't go the rest of the way as they probably would have had to helicopter lift me off the end to get me down. I hate to think what that would cost.... But we got a sibling photo from Scouts Landing and after saying goodbye to my new friends, made our way back down to the ground. So while I didn't get all the way out to Angel's landing, it was still incredible views and a beautiful place. And when I go back, we're going to do the Observation Point Hike.... there are no chains...
This is part of the landing at the top and the entrance to the Angel's Landing portion of the hike.
