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By Jacob
By Jacob
Angels Landing is a hike located in Zion Canyon within Zion National Park. It is one of the most popular hikes in the park and one of the most well known in the world. We visited Zion National Park on our 2020 National Parks trip and did this trail. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the chain section to the top of Angels Landing was closed. Despite this we still had an incredible time on this trail.
During our time in Zion National Park we had to purchase reservations on the parks shuttle system in advance because of the limited capacity. The shuttle system is the only way to get back into Zion Canyon without a reservation at the lodge during summer. We were grateful for the reservation system because we saw on twitter that they had reached capacity in Zion Canyon at around 5:40 am and you had to be in line around 4:00 am. Our reservation was for 7:00 a.m so we arrived at the park visitor center around 10 minutes early. We were then able to get in a line for the shuttle, we had to wait for a couple of shuttle busses before we were able to head into the canyon. On the shuttle we sat in our seats and were socially distanced from others on the shuttle.
To get to Angels Landing you have to get off at “The Grotto” shuttle stop where the trailhead for Angels Landing was. We reached this stop and were the only ones to get off on our shuttle. We crossed the Scenic Road and found the trailhead. It started at a bridge across the Virgin River, the river that helped create Zion Canyon. We started to head north and could see the monolith called Angels Landing.
Angels Landing Monolith
We begin to rise higher and higher over the Virgin River. The sun is beginning to peek out from the canyon walls creating a spectacular showing of light. Back at the shuttle stop what seems like an entire shuttle gets off and heads for our trail. Oh great, I thought, we have to stay ahead of that group. My parents let me and my brother go ahead allowing us to stay in front of the group. Pretty soon the trail starts winding as we get higher and higher. We then reach our first switchback, 1 of 42 if we remember correctly. Every once in a while we had to stop and look at the canyon. Every step we took the views got better and better, only a sneak peak of what was to come. The people at the beginning of the trail and the Virgin River became ever smaller and more distant as we continued to climb.
Angels Landing is considered a strenuous hike and should not be done if you are out of shape. There are lots of switchbacks with few flat sections. Top to bottom round trip is 5 miles. It is uphill to the top and downhill all the way. Bring plenty of water and be aware of your fitness level. If you have a bad fear of heights this is not a good trail to do either. On the chain section you are on a rock ledge with thousand foot drops on either side of the trial.
After the first set of switchbacks we reached a slope of the trail dug out of a rock face. This was one the most steep sections of the trail outside the chain section, there was a wall for safety. We would then be going in a smaller side canyon away from the views. We looked back at the best view of the canyon we had seen so far. This smaller canyon was narrow with trees growing between the walls. The walls stood hundreds of feet above us, the temperature was significantly cooler. This is the easiest part of the trail; changes in elevation were very slight. There was a sign on the trail telling us to be quiet because of a rare owl that nests in the smaller canyon. It is calm before the storm section.
The second part of switchbacks begin with steady inclines between them. Finally, you reach 22 switchbacks one right after the other. My brother and I looked at eachother and started our climb. The switchbacks are called Waters Wiggles carved into the side of one of the canyon walls. There are several pictures from above if you look up the switchbacks to get an idea of what they look like.
We reached the top of the switchbacks and followed the trail back into Zion Canyon where we had a spectacular view of Zion in both directions. To the north we could look down and see a bend in the Virgin River and the rising canyon walls ranging from dark red to white. To the south we could see down canyon towards the town of Springdale. The view was absolutely incredible, we sat down and rested for a while taking in the beauty around us. With the chain section being closed this is as far up the trail as we could make it. My brother and I waited for a while and decided to go back down. We reached the bottom of Waters Wiggles and then our parents showed up. We decided to go back up with them. When we reached the top again we went up higher on the West Rim Trail to get a better view of Angels Landing shown in the picture below.
We had more to do that day and the temperature was getting higher so we decided to head back down. We got in a big group and two kids behind us stomped all the way down the switchbacks. People are always the biggest detractor from taking popular trails. I was going much slower on the downhill, uphill is much easier for me. Perhaps Cross Country has trained me well on how to get up and hill instead of down it. Since we had gone earlier in the day the trail was not that busy, now we had the “regular crowd” coming up and not the nice friendly get up and go get exercise crowd. Not saying that people who come to the park later are all mean, there are just a lot more of them.
Angels Landing Upper View
We made our way down the canyon where the owl is and back into the heat filled Zion canyon now approaching 90 degrees. One our way down we decided to count the number of switchbacks that we came across. By the time we hit the bottom I think we hit 21 so 42 total. We took our time in going back down. Spending more time taking pictures of the beautiful vistas along the trail. At the bottom we only waited a few minutes before our parents came down. We decided to have an early lunch. We sat across the Virgin River watching the people climb the trail to the top.
Angels Landing is one of the best hikes in any national park. I would recommend this trail to anyone who is capable of doing it. The hike is incredibly rewarding with the views as well as giving you a sense of accomplishment.
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