I was a little apprehensive that my visit to canyon country might not live up to the expectations I'd created in my head over the years from all the pictures, magazine articles and National Geographic Channel documentries I'd seen. I was pleased to find that Zion National Park not only lived up to my expectations, but exceeded them. The canyon was awesome. On two sides, mountains towered 1,500+ ft overhead with the rock face in hues of red, pink, brown and white that varied with every change in sunlight. Splitting the middle of the canyon was the Virgin River which is responsible for its formation through erosion over millions of years.
Unsure of the difficulty of the trails, and moreso my fitness level, I tried a supposedly moderate trail first. The Middle Emerald Pools trail claimed to only rise 150ft, but I'm fairly certain the trail map failed to indicate that 100ft of that comes all in the first section. About 5 minutes into my hike, I noted my fitness level as 'not ideal' based on my incessant wheezing and panting as well as the excessive burning in my lungs. Safe to say I hadn't quite acclimated to Zion's 6,000ft elevation. But, I eventually made it to the pools and their algae tinted emerald water.
Next, I opted for what I believed was a long, flat scenic trail. Scenic it was, long and flat it wasn't. After about 10 minutes, the long and flat part of Angel's Landing trail dumped me smackdab into the base of the mountain cliff I'd been admiring along the way. The trail continued up the cliff face through a series of switchbacks carved into the mountainside. Not wanting to overexert myself on the first day, I decided to 'just try' a couple switchbacks.....then a couple more....and a few more....and more again. An hour later, unconvinced that switchbacks are really an easier way to hike up a mountain, I made it to the top of the cliff and what I thought was the end of the trail.
Suprisingly, the trail continued inward through a gorge obscured from the portion of the trail I'd just arduously hiked. I decided to explore 'just a little further'. Rock outcroppings hung over much of the trail with the other side of the gorge, a steep mountain wall, never more than 30ft away. I was taking it all in and eventually stopped noticing my wheezing and panting which, still going strong, had now settled into a nice rhythm. A half mile into the gorge, the trail turned 180 degrees and straight up a series of 20+ short switchbacks called Walter's Wiggles which led to the top. Walter's Wiggles should've been called Walter's Giggles because I'm pretty sure that's what he was doing for the full 25 minutes it took me to get up them. Finally at the top, I discovered another suprise....the trail didn't end there either.
Angel's Landing was evidently a point on the top of a the mountain now less than a half mile in front of me. But, the previous 2 hours and 1,000ft were just a warm up. The final section required an undulating traverse along the razor thin spine of the mountain which was, more often than not, 3ft wide with 1,200ft drops on either side. No longer a visible trail, the path required ambling up and down numerous boulders and cliffs climbing or dropping 30-40ft with each undulation. A dubious sign was that the park had installed industrial size chains in various sections to aid hikers in the most precarious sections (there were a lot of chain-aided sections). Exhausted or not, I decided there was no stopping now.
Three hours after deciding to 'just try' a little of the trail, I finally made it to the pinnacle - Angel's Landing. My reward was a phenomenal view of the canyon in every direction. If a picture says a thousand words, the real thing said millions. The face of the canyon walls were lit up in bright shades of red and pink in the late afternoon sun. Well worth all the heavy breathing and burning lungs, not to mention the full-body pain I was sure to encounter in the morning.
SEE PICTURES: "Zion National Park - Day 1" in Photo Gallery
