Angels’s Landing Anyone?
When visitors to Zion National Park ask me what hike they should try, I tell them if they aren’t afraid of heights and adventure, you must conquer the diabolical Angel’s Landing. I’ve completed it 3 times but see no reason to risk my life again. The peak was named by a Methodist clergyman, Frederick Vining Fisher, who thought that ‘only an angel could land on it’ although I made it.
Angel’s Landing soars 1,488 feet straight up into the Zion sky
I’m going up there?
Walter’s Wiggles, named after Walter Ruesch, the park superintendent who devised this series of 21 switchbacks.
Your lifeline, the chains!
No chains here.
The chains offer a safety net because to the right is a 1488 foot drop to the canyon floor. That shuttle bus below looks awfully small.
The National Park Service offers plenty of warnings.
It’s a 2 1/2 mile climb from the trail head at The Grotto to reach the summit but it’s the last 1/2 mile where the trail gets its reputation. The NPS has carved steps into the sandstone and added chains to aid your ascent but danger still abounds.
You can barely pick out the hiker in red shorts.
The payoff is exhilarating! Now you know how the resident condors feel.
You can barely spot the big wall climber in the center scaling Angel’s Landing the hard way
That’s Angel’s Landing on the left which would be extremely treacherous in the snow and ice.
At the summit!
Nice place for a house. View from the very top.
Beautiful but scary
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April 9, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Beautiful but I prefer sea level! Merci for visiting my blog.
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April 10, 2014 at 11:44 AM
I’ve done this hike, it was exhilarating! : )
so many gorgeous hikes in Zion park. I love the snow capped image, fantastic!
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April 22, 2014 at 11:51 AM
WOW!! That’s truly amazing
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May 11, 2014 at 5:02 AM