My Big Utah Road Trip #3

A few years ago (back when our dollars were at parity) I set off on a dream road trip. I'd planned it for months and months down to a ludicrous level of detail. It was the first trip I blogged, despite having travelled quite a bit before that, including Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, three prior trips to America, and Europe. I wish I'd started blogging sooner. It's fun! So if you like short, sharp, humorous little adventures, peppered with respectably good photography (at times), please follow, stay tuned and upvote!

My body hates me!

I was barely on speaking terms with my knees when I left. Now I'm pretty sure they parted company with me somewhere up in Hidden Canyon, a famous hike in Zion National Park. The rest of me is pretty messed up, too. According to my little nerd folder of information, I've walked something like 20km in the last 24 hours. The vast majority of it, today. And while 20km in a day isn't tooooo terribly huge an amount, I should stress here, a lot of that hiking was bloody vertical!! I don't think I'll be able to move tomorrow. But that's OK. I'm not horse riding until Sunday. I think. I hope.

The day started out briskly enough. On the shuttle bus, and on the first few minutes of my first hike I was regretting my clothing choice. A singlet top, a long sleeve top, and a hoodie. And I was shivering. October in Utah is for the most part colder than the average Sydney winter, shall we say. Twenty minutes later, I was glad I wasn't going to be lugging a ski jacket up Angel's Landing. When the trails here start to incline, they seriously incline.

I had to overcome three factors throughout the course of my day. Firstly, I'm not insanely fit. Secondly, the elevation here is an issue. The air is just that little bit thinner. Thirdly, I'm asthmatic. All of these three things together meant I was taking very regular breaks. Which meant I stopped and pointed the camera at something - anything - while I caught my breath.

Oh, and a fourth factor that needed overcoming - I'm afraid of heights. Giddyup.

Angel's Landing involves a hike firstly to a place called Scout's Lookout. Getting to Scout's takes a good couple of hours because there are what feels like several hundred switch-backs at what feels like 85 degree inclines.

Once there, you no longer hike but you climb. From a purely physical perspective, the climbing is much easier. From a mental perspective, the climb is borderline impossible.

Ummm... Those chains are actually necessary. That tumbles away to a ravine hundreds of feet down.

There are also lots of chipmunks up there. Damned near impossible to photograph because they are constantly moving at mach five. Kept expecting to hear little bangs behind them as they broke the sound barrier or something. Also, Warner Bros deceived me. None of the chipmunks were polite or chivalrous. They were thugs. Very, very fast little thugs.

"Excuse me, sir! Please turn your back so I may sort through the contents of your bag."

Sadly, I ended up not making it all the way up Angel's Landing. Had I been with someone I trusted who could coach me along, I probably could've - maybe? - done it. But on my own, I couldn't run the risk that I would have a heights-related freak-out and physically lock up on a path that is literally one person wide, and make myself everyone else's problem. Just couldn't do that. :-( So I went up the first "climby" part, complete with sheer drops and necessary chains, but didn't make the final push across the saddle and up.

That sign I'm approaching? It tells you how many people have DIED by falling off the path you're about to ascend.

This is the upper limit of my testicular fortitude when it comes to heights.

This photo, taken later from the exact opposite side of the valley, shows just how high Angel's Landing is. And dangerous. And no, it's not that lump of rock on the valley floor. It's the big looming part behind it that rises up to the left. THAT is Angel's Landing.

Heading down takes about a third of the time going up takes. No breaks necessary!! Except for my poor knees. I eased up on them once or twice. On the way down, I passed a freak of nature woman who was actually JOGGING up the switch-backs. On behalf of every person slaving their guts out on the side of that rock, I contemplated pushing her off. In the end, I didn't. Couldn't catch her.

Quick lunch and then just three more hikes.

Lunch on the lawn. It's easy to spot Utahns. They're the ones who don't put on long sleeves until it actually snows.

I'm a real demon for punishment and with only one full day in Zion, I was determined to see quite a lot of it. I headed first for Weeping Rock, which is a very short track. Real pretty though.

Weeping Rock.

From there I cut up towards Hidden Canyon. Now if I thought Scout's Lookout had a lot of switchbacks, they were nothing on the ones going up to Hidden Canyon. Ye gods!! The big plus to having climbed Angel's Landing first (or trying to) was that the exposed edges of the Hidden Canyon trail were, by comparison, laughable. I traipsed up there slightly more mountain-goatish than before.

This is a trail and that's the edge. This track apparently isn't dangerous enough to warrant chains. Holy hell.

Once back from there, I caught the shuttle up to the Temple of Sinawava. Up here I saw deer, some very glossy ravens, and a huge, fat squirrel. Also some nice scenery, and a Darwin award candidate scaling a sheer cliff. On the shuttle bus out of the canyon, there were a lot more deer, seeing as it was getting close to dusk. Passed a very big buck with stunning antlers but alas bus was moving too fast for me to capture that.

Temple of Sinawava track. Nice and easy, very pretty.

Trail markers, which they calls cairns. Not pronounced the way Aussies say it. There's about three syllables in it.

I decided dinner last night was pretty ordinary so I went somewhere more upmarket tonight. Service was laid on thick and the food wasn't too bad either. Baked brie. That was new. And awesome. I do plan to return to the motel restaurant for breakfast tomorrow though. Gonna channel my inner bogan and dunk me some toast in the half and half. :-D Don't knock it til you've tried it.