Kenric.net

Hiking in Zion National Park 2007 – Angel’s Landing

Angel’s Landing is the polar opposite of The Narrows.  This is a strenuous hike that has an elevation gain of about 1400 ft.  To get to this trail, you take the Zion shuttle to The Grotto.  From there you cross the shuttle road and began your long hike to Angel’s Landing.  Here is a good topo and elevation map of the hike.

The first portion of the hike is paved.  The hike continues along a decent grade which can get pretty steep at times.  Overall, it’s basically walking on an uphill ramp for an hour.  The next portion is called Walter’s Wiggles.  This is a section of short and steep switchbacks.  This is a picture looking down from the top of it.

Once you get to the top of the wiggles, you’ve come to Scout’s Lookout.  From here you can see the first set of chains and the beginning of Angel’s Landing.

Most people can climb the first set of chains with no hesitation.  It’s the second set that has a steep drop-off to the right.  Many people stop here and think about if they really want to do the rest of the hike.

Once you get past those chains you will see the entire spine of Angel’s Landing.  Believe me, it looks very high and far away.  This is another point where many hikers stop and think.  A decent percentage go no further than this point.

A close up look at hikers on the spine.

Then once you get to the top you are rewarded with a spectacular view!

More pictures below…

Putting down the cell phone	Scouts Lookout	View at the top	Friendly chipmunk
Right before Walter’s Wiggles	Grotto trailhead	Angel’s Landing from ground level	Angel’s chains
Angel’s spine	It’s a steep drop	Traffic jam	The final chain
It’s a steep drop	Climbing the spine	Climbing the chains	Another chain picture

Hiking in Zion National Park 2007 – The Narrows

Ever since I saw the ”Secret’s of Zion and Bryce” on Travel Channel earlier in the year I have been wanting to hike the Narrows and Angel’s Landing.  My friend Nui was going to be in Salt Lake City for work and I made a trip up there to see my townhomes.  So we also planned to visit Zion for a few days.

It was a 4.5 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Zion National Park.  We had reservations at the Pioneer Lodge which is located just a mere 1/2 miles from the entrance of the park.  The lodge is in a great location if you are visiting Zion and want to stay outside the park.  Staying at the Zion Lodge would have been ideal, but the had no rooms available.

In the morning we ate breakfast at the Pioneer Lodge restaurant and then caught the free Springdale shuttle bus which took us to the entrance.  From there, we paid the park entrance fee and caught the Zion shuttle which brings you deep into the park.

The Narrows

The Narrows is hike is a like none that I’ve ever been on.  You hike up the Virgin river in a deep canyon.  This hike is about 75% in water.  The beginning of the hike is an easy paved 1 mile trail called the Riverside Walk.  When you get to the end of the trail, the fun begins.  I highly recommend getting hiking poles and some shoes made for water.  If you get a nice pair of hiking poles you can travel up the canyon alot faster, which will allow you to go further in.  Zion adventure company also rents equipment and we saw many people with their shoes and sticks.  If you don’t have a stick, look around, you should be able to find some walking sticks laying around at the first water crossing.

The park ranger told us that most people travel about 1 mile an hour on this hike.  It is slow going because you are stepping on wet rocks and are going against a pretty decent current.  We hiked about 2 miles in, ate lunch and then turned around and hiked back.

We did not get to Orderville Canyon, which was our goal.  In retrospect, we had plenty of time and could have easily made it there.  However, people coming back kept telling us it was still another hour or two’s hike out.  We were very close to reaching it.  Oh well, this leaves us a goal for the next time we do it.

Now, time for some pictures!

Park City Utah 2007

During a short weekend trip to Salt Lake City I had time to get in a quick biking trip in Park City.  I had rented a compact from Enterprise but all they had was a Chevy Aveo and a Dodge Neon.  I didn’t really like any of these cars.  They didn’t really have any good cars available.  They literally only had about 20 cars there.  I ended up getting a Hyundai Sante Fe SUV for $7 more a day (This is important for later).

Park City is located only 30 minutes away from Salt Lake City. It is also considered a great place to mountain bike.  Since I had a day free I decided to rent a bike, get a lift ticket and see how its trails are.

There was an art festival on Main street so many streets was blocked off.  They were also charging parking in the free lots today.  So I drove around and found an empty parking lot that happen to belong to the Park City Mountain Resort (This is important for later too).  Once I got out of the car I quickly realized that I didn’t know where I was so I called Rico to get directions to Main street.  It was a 1 mile uphill walk to the bike rental store.

I got a half day rental and bought a one use lift ticket for $11.  There is a lift that starts right on main street.  This must be really nice in the winter during ski season because you can be shopping or eating at a restaurant and walk down the street and hop on a lift.

I rented a GT I-Drive 4.0.  The first thing I noticed was that it was alot heavier than my old 2002 Gary Fisher Sugar 3+.  Since I have been used to renting nicer bikes, this one just felt crappy.  Plus it had flat pedals.  I wasn’t too comfortable on it going downhill since I’m used to my feet being glued onto the pedals.

I rode up the lift and decided to ride the Mid-mountain Trail.  About 1.5 hours into the ride my derailleur broke.  It just snapped into two pieces.  I didn’t hit a rock or anything.  Luckily, I was on a trail that was 90% downhill so I coasted down the closest trail.  This is where things went well for me.  I happened to be parked at the parking lot where this trail exited.  Also, if I had rented the compact car I wouldn’t have been able to fit the bike in the car, so getting the SUV and parking so far away worked out beautifully.

Broken Derailleur

I walked into the bike shop with the derailleur in hand.  The guy apologized and said that they’ve been having problems with the I-Drives.  He gave me a full refund on the rental and I was on my way.  With the money refunded I went and got a souvenir shirt and went to see “The Bourne Ultimatium.”  It was a good day.

Nice singletrack pictures