One of the hikes we were most excited about in Zion was the climb to Angel's Landing. This steep climb is famous within the park and beyond for taking climbers to the edge... literally!
We woke up on July 19th with a very big day ahead of us. We would break down camp over breakfast, shuttle to the Angel's Landing hike, and then drive from Zion to Bryce Canyon that afternoon.
The morning started smoothly enough except for the fact that I had come down with a vicious head cold a few days prior and was still in feeling foggy at best. Thee cold had kept me awake much of the previous night tossing and turning as I tried to find a position that made my head ache less, beyond making me tired, required me to keep a stash of tissues on hand at all times.
That said, foregoing Angel's Landing was never a consideration. We didn't hit the trail head as early as we had hoped, and the sun, although still low in the sky, was already starting to warm the valley. The first part of the hike was a moderately steep hike up a paved pathway. As we worked our way up the wall of the canyon the sun worked it's way up the desert sky.
 |
| The valley floor |
 |
| The "easy" portion of the hike |
We were both very excited to be approaching the climax of our hike. When we arrived at the final stretch of the hike, we found the steep cliffs and precariously narrow ledges that we had been expecting, but we also found one thing that we hadn't quite planned for, at least not in the quantity present... traffic. More accurately, a traffic jam.
The final half mile of Angel's Landing is a nerve-testing cliff hanger of a hike. There are no official restrictions on who can or cannot hike the trail, but it is recommended that elderly people and children do not attempt. One false step could be your last on this stretch of trail, and tragically, people fall to their deaths attempting the hike every year.
Because of our late start we found the chain lined trail (if you can call it a trail) choked with two way traffic. We took a sip of water and joined the line. As we worked slowly up the trail we frequently had to stop, awkwardly face off a descending group, decided which group would wait until the other passed, and--more importantly--which group would pass on the outside (cliff-side) and which would have the momentary safety of passing on the rock side.
If navigating the narrow path was highly difficult by itself, navigating the crowd, and specifically, protecting yourself against the brash and frequently careless movements of the the crown made the process exponentially more difficult.
We managed to cross the first stretch of chains successfully and took a break to regroup before starting the second portion.
We snapped a picture at the breaking point and looked cautiously at the line of hikes like ants working their way laboriously up the second and final portion of chain that leads to Angel's landing. The second portion was twice as heard as the first and it seemed was causing people to move four-times slower.
I wiped the sweat from my brow, blew my nose, and stashed the used tissue in my bulging front pocket. I couldn't tell if the throbbing in my head was a product of my head cold, exhaustion from the climb thus far, or the release of adrenaline that comes from extreme heights. Maybe it was a combination of all three.
The idea of turning back this close to Angels Landing made me sick to my stomach. But pushing up the final portion at a snails pace with temperatures still on the rise and an aching head seemed like an awful idea too.
After a bit more resting and considering we decided we had had a good hike already, and that we'd head back down the chains. Writing this now, three months after the fact, it still makes me a little sick to admit that we didn't make it to the top, but I know, given the sub-par circumstances, we made the right decision.
As we began working down the first chain line a man stopped us. He and his two teenagers were on their way up and he asked that we kindly inform his wife Lois, waiting at the Scouts Lookout (where the first set of chains picks up) that it would take him and the kids a lot longer than expected to hike to the top and back and "not to worry". Sure thing we said.
When we'd worked our way back to Scouts Lookout sure enough we saw a woman matching the mans description, already shaking like a leaf from overworked nerves. As we approached her, I asked "are you Lois?" In my mind I relayed as quickly as possible that "your husband and two kids are fine, but they wanted us to let you know that they under-estimated the time it would take, and you will likely have to spend quite a bit more time waiting than anticipated." Clearly I didn't get this message out quickly for her because upon hearing "your husband and two kids" she nearly burst into tears.
The hike down was relatively easy, and although we were both a little disappointed in not having made it to the top, we were happy with a good days' hike.
We were leaving the park that day, so we went back to the car and headed for the East exit. We stopped briefly at Checkered Mesa to take in the vista, and charted a course for Bryce Canyon.
We arrived at Bryce Canyon-town in the early evening. As had become routine, our plan was to stay in a cheap motel/hotel for the night, and then hit the park first thing in the morning with the hopes of scoring one of the first-come, first-served campsites.
As we called around looking for a place to crash for the night we quickly learned that most hotels were A. booked full, B. super expensive, C. crumby, or D. some combination of A, B, and C. We eventually found a motel that was affordable and had vacancies. We settled into our room in the hastily built abode, grabbed an over-priced dinner at the bar, and called it a night.
-Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment