Travel Tales of Norm and Alison : Zion National Park -

Now THIS is a TIGHT turn!

There are two roads into Zion; a longer yet easier drive, and the other, which is not for the RV'er with a lack of courage and driving skills, and who may have a touch of suicidal tendencies. Why? The roads are very steep and narrow, and a tunnel that is a mile long through a mountain to boot! If one has a motorhome or trailer, they will need to close the road to opposing traffic, so you can be "escorted" through. For a fee, of course.

Norman chose the very scenic, and scary short cut of course!( I am not sure what the drivers of this road actually see of the scenery due to their eyes needing to be on the road ).

Because of our length, we also had to unhook the car from the vehicle. The corners were too sharp to accommodate the two. I drove behind in the car, and took the video below from behind. ( I got in a lot of trouble from Norm for doing this ).

ZION NATIONAL PARK- as told by Norman

September 4th-8th, 2014 - Days 97 to 101

The state and national parks we have visited thus far in Canada and the USA have been true gems. Granted, some have been more special than others. In my mind Zion National Park is in a league of its own. And I’m not alone on this matter – it claims to be the most widely visited national park in the country. (It seems most of the larger national parks have a similar claim with a slight twist to the words they choose.)

I had visited here for one day in 2010 with my two daughters as part of a two week visit to several national parks in Utah and Arizona. We spent ½ a day hiking up a river bed and dealing with many obstacles along the way. It has been a fond memory that I have held for over a decade. Well – here I am again with several days to spend. Oh boy!

A lovely view of the cliffs at .... campground just outside of Zion National Park

We arrived at our campground and were amazed at the beautiful surroundings. The site was nice with electric, water, sewer and cable TV. But the best part was the view – we were at the base of a huge multi-colored cliff.

As usual, our first order of business was to get to the Visitor’s Center to plan our activities for the next several days. Zion is all about hiking, and rock climbing for the more adventurous. The river bed walk (call “The Narrows”) is so famous it happens to grace the front cover of a National Park Guide that has served as our bible for planning this entire trip.

Apprehensive? Do I look apprehensive? Doesn't everyone take a stroll in thigh-deep, rushing water walking
among rocks as round as bowling balls?

The primary concern with embarking up river is to be aware at all times of the possibility of sudden flooding with torrents of water moving downstream as a result of storms that could be happening 10 miles away.

Alison has been a bit apprehensive about this hike primarily because of her concern for hiking several miles on slippery rocks in the water and the potential damage it could do to her ankles, and my knee. But being the trooper she is, we agreed to head out early in the morning to avoid the crowds.

Most of the trails are off of a single roadway and Zion has closed most of these roads to vehicular traffic, forcing you to use their very efficient bus system. The first buses depart from the Visitors Center at 6am but we managed to hop on board at 6:30 – not too many people.

Everyday about 10-11AM, the busloads of people arrive

After being dropped off at the appropriate spot, we had to hike about a mile just to reach the trailhead of the riverbed.

It was a great day weather-wise and there were not very many people on the trail, so we marched up river very precariously, not knowing how dangerous this might be.

We soon realized that the water was not that cold and that we were going to be spending the majority of the time walking over rocks with the water almost to our knees.

We both had walking sticks for stability so we soon got accustomed to the swift current and the rocky bottom. It turns out that the rocks were seldom slippery.

The most amazing part of the hike were the twists and turns that the river took and all the while we were headed into a canyon with walls on each side of us reaching up several hundred feet. Each bend in the river offered different hues on the canyon walls as the sun continued to rise. We would round one corner of the river and were beckoned to continue on to the next.

The week prior to our visit there was a flash flood in the canyon, people were trapped overnight. Check out the debris that was rushing down river. I understand they had only 10 seconds to climb to safety.

After covering a couple of miles we decided to turn around and head back; we needed to pace ourselves for the next few days. Plus there was a forecast of possible heavy rain mid-day.

We were shocked at the waves of people we now had to pass who had started later than us and how ill equipped many of them were. Some were venturing up river bare foot and without any poles for support. We got back a bit tired but without any aches and pains.

We found a field in an unlikely place. These cows were
just too cute to not stop and take a photo!

The next day we decided to access another part of the park by car. It is a remote area that not too many people visit because the trails from this road are very long and you are in the open sun all the way.

We had no intentions of hiking, but wanted to see what the park had to offer. We spent the better part of the day poking around and talking with people along the way. There were two couples travelling together that we had been bumping into every couple of days for the past week or so at various parks. Surprisingly, we saw them again in these distant reaches of Zion.

What???? Are these folks following us to every remote place in every park?

A lovely view table-side at a Mexican Restaurant.

We had dinner in a nice Mexican restaurant not far away and were able to get a seat in their courtyard with vistas of the mountains and the rising moon.

Alison’s ankles were a bit sore from the river hike so we decided that I would hike alone the next morning, which would also give her the time to do some much needed "house work". After Alison dropped me off at the shuttle stop, she took off with her camera to try her hand at photographing the sunrise, and perhaps some animal life.

The objective was “Angel’s Landing” which our guidebook describes as the most memorable hike in the entire National Park system. It’s classified as a strenuous hike being 5 ½ miles round trip and gaining almost 1500 feet of elevation. That’s the easy part; the last ½ mile is a hair-raising trek along a knife-edged ridge with 500’ drop-offs on either side. This section has a heavy chain to hang on to since the path is all of a foot wide at some points.

The last 1/2 mile of ascent to Angel's Landing. Most people stop at this point.

I caught the 7am bus and was surprised to find it was standing room only. Turns out they had changed the starting time for buses effective today. When we got to the trailhead about 20 people got off and started heading uphill.

The first dozen or so were in such a rush to be in the lead. I set a pretty good pace for myself and before too long there was nobody visible ahead or behind me. The majority of the trail is a very steep ascent on a paved surface with 21 switchbacks; pretty boring and exhausting, but that’s the price you pay to get to the last ½ mile. Then the fun begins.

Part of switch-back trail climbing Angel's Landing

This is the stopping point for many people and certainly for all who have any fear of heights. The paved trail ended and the rest of the way was all about climbing up and over several large boulders of slick rock that had small indentations for handholds or footholds. Along this section was also a very heavy chain about 3’ off the ground that was anchored into the rock.

In some places, this chain is the only thing keeping you from falling to your death. ( Several have )

The climb to Angel's Landing is not for the timid! Note the chain you HAVE to hang on to!

Last ridge climb to the top

You needed to grab on to this chain in sections to hoist yourself up steep sections or hang on to it with all of your might when the trail was a mere foot wide with steep drop-offs beside you. Surprisingly I was not too intimidated by the challenges – of course I had the advantage of watching others ahead of me.

I reached the summit and it was high fives with the group that preceded me. The summit area could hold a maximum of 30 people if all were standing. So with only a dozen or so it was comfortable and we all engaged in small talk.

The reward! View down to where I began!

After a 15 min break of catching my breath and taking a few pictures, it was time to descend. This became a real challenge because there were now throngs of people coming up. The general rule of thumb is that people climbing up give way to those going down. That rule didn't seem to apply today and so it was a bit confusing to work your way along the chain since only one person can advance at a time. As I worked my way back down the paved path, I was met with increasing throngs of people going up. Boy was I glad to have arrived early.

After making it to the bottom I found I was not exhausted so I decided to take an adjacent trail to some “emerald pools”. I added another couple of miles of up and down and was unimpressed with the end objective but the added exercise felt good. The crowds were getting bigger and the trail was less challenging so it was time to head home.

After telling Alison about my adventure she was disappointed that she didn't join me but recognized the potential hazards with her sore ankles, and was saving herself for other hikes in the very near future.

We have run into this bus a couple of times in the past few years, and finally was able to find out what this is.
This is an all-German traveling company that more than 20 people travel by day, sleep in at night.
Boy, that has to be crowded in there!