I have a healthy fear of falling when such fear seems appropriate to me. I often tell people I'm scared of heights. Someone with true acrophobia - defined as someone with an extreme or irrational fear of heights - is probably worse off than I am, but I definitely don't like to be close to steep edges. My fear seems generally grounded on the rational, but there's no question I'm acrophobic to some degree.
I knew we were going to attempt Angels Landing this day, so I didn't sleep very well the night before. Angels Landing is a very well known trail at Zion which has chains during the last half-mile with 1400 foot drop offs on both sides, as it travels along a high narrow ridge. Since 2004, six people have died falling off this trail.
My goal was to make it to Scout Lookout, which is two miles up, a relatively flattish safe spot just prior to the start of the chains for the last half mile of the ascent. Deb and I made it to Scout Lookout. Yay! I even went a bit further and tried the chains for a short distance. Deb, who is not acrophobic, made it even further along the chains, but even she decided she was too uncomfortable and returned to Scout Lookout.
There were many brave souls that made it all the way to Angels Landing. Several reported making it there was not all that scary or difficult. Even mothers were hiking to Angels Landing with newborn babies backpack bound for the ride. However, there were also many others, like ourselves, who chose to stop at Scout Lookout, were quite confident in their decision to not attempt the rest of the trip, and weren't the least bit regretful. There were actually a lot of people attempting to pass each other on the chains, some going up while some were going down, and this made it extra difficult for those of us with acrophobic tendencies. Amusingly, one becomes rather intimate with total strangers hiking in these situations: giving each other a hand, wrapping one's body completely around another person's, and similar actions. Some were moving really slowly, even for me, during my short stint on the chains.
One reason I get great joy from hiking is that, without fail, every person we meet or chat with is extremely friendly and pleasant. It is a feeling of community like no other. We are all enjoying this beautiful planet.
The beginning of Angels Landing trail started innocuously enough with a pleasant footbridge crossing over the Virgin River. After some time along the path we began to see several switchbacks up the face of the rock on the left side of this next photo, arriving at the gap seen slightly above the center of the photo. If you zoom and squint you'll see people in this photo.
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| Switchbacks Ascend the First Part of Angels Landing Trail |
At the gap, we head back into "Refrigerator Canyon."
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| Deb in Refrigerator Canyon |
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| Looking out from an Overhang in Refrigerator Canyon |
After hiking through Refrigerator Canyon, we head up Walter's Wiggles; these are switchbacks to get to Scout Lookout.
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| Walter's Wiggles |
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| View of Deb from One Wiggle to Another |
At last, we arrive at Scout Lookout. We have ascended the majority of the Angels Landing trail and are relieved to have made it this far.
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| Happiness at Scout Lookout |
The next photo shows the dropoff behind Deb in the previous photo.
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| Virgin River from Scout Lookout |
The trail that lies ahead... Angels Landing is seen (we think) atop the furthest green peak left of center in this photo, immediately to the right of the whitish mountain rising in the background.
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| Angels Landing Trail Final Section |
Here's a slightly zoomed version of the previous photo. Look closely. There are many people in this photo traveling along the chains in the left foreground, center, right, and hiking along the top of the ridge.
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| Chain Travel |
Here's another view:
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| View Ahead from Scout Lookout |
We returned back down the trail. Here's a shot of Zion Canyon from the gap:
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| Switchbacks Down to Zion Canyon |
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| Switchback Detail |
After returning to the bottom, we thought we were done for the day, but after a pleasant lunch at the Lodge, we decided to spend the late afternoon and sunset on the Watchman Trail.
The Watchman Trail takes us up to the top of the rock outcropping in the center of this next photo.
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| Watchman Trail |
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| Color on the Trail |
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| Another Trail Traveler |
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| Deb Relaxing at the Top of Watchman Trail |
Kindly ignore my hat hair in this next shot.
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| Sunset on the Watchman |
We were just about to start back down when the moon decided to rise directly over a notch, creating a fitting ending for another wonderful day at Zion.
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| Moonrise |
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2016, all rights reserved. Contact me for licensing or to order prints.
