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- Looking back down towards the beginning of the trail before we headed into the next section in Refrigerator Canyon up to Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park.
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- This is the view from where I stopped. The trail continues up the spine to the left to reach the pinnacle of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park.
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- The spine that will take you to the very end of the trail at the top of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park.
The one trail that I said I absolutely wasn’t going to do….Angels Landing. Guess how well that worked out? Our first full day in the park, the first trail we ventured on was Angels Landing. Right from the start though I will tell you that my fear of heights got the best of me and I wasn’t able to make it all the way up to the top, but I did make it about 3/4 of the way. My boyfriend and a friend of ours went on ahead and made it to the top while I waited in a tiny patch of shade.
This trail is steep, narrow, slick, and winding. I’m not going to sugar coat it for you, people die on this trail nearly every year. On one hand I would say that isn’t hard to do given how narrow some areas of the trail are, on the other hand if you are methodical and pay attention (and lack a fear of heights) you should make it to the top and back with your life in tact. The beginning of the trail is plenty wide and plenty steep. I strongly recommend starting this trail as early in the morning as you can manage. As you begin the trail, you’ll be directly in the sun until you venture back through refrigerator grotto before rounding the bend for Walter’s Wiggles (21 steep switchbacks). You’ll soon after find yourself at Scout’s Lookout. This is where I stopped and where the shade ends.
I was pretty well rewarded for my efforts…on our trip to California earlier in the year we searched up and down a section of coast looking for condors and left empty handed. When we reached Scout’s Lookout a California Condor swooped in and landed on the one lonely tree. As I waited for the boys to finish the trail and come back, another California Condor made an appearance. They are ugly little suckers but it was so cool to see in person. The view of the canyon was pretty impressive too!
We were coming back down the trail probably around 1PM local time, and essentially the entire trail was at that time in the sun. There are a couple shaded spots thanks to some large trees though few and far between. We made sure to take advantage especially because we were starting to run out of water. The Jelly Belly SportBeans I mentioned in my previous post, Zion National Park-Know Before You Go, came in handy at this point in the journey as well.
All in all, I am glad I had my arm twisted to check out this trail but I don’t necessarily feel the need to do it again. 🙂