Angel's Landing

Woke this morning to a gorgeous sunrise.

We left home at 8am as we were off for a trip to Zion National Park which involved a 3 hour drive. The first hour involved a drive through the stony desert along a wide straight road. There were not even any cacti growing here, just a general scrubby bush with mountain ranges flanking us on both sides. Then we crossed into Arizona for a short while, through a town called Mesquite from where we drove through an amazing section called the Virgin River Gorge which is a long canyon carved out by the Virgin River which rises on the Colorado Plateau. After an hour on perfectly straight road it was fascinating to be turning and twisting through the gorge with large rock structures on each side of the road. We left the north west tip of Arizona and continued into Utah where we drove through a town called Hurricane to wend our way up a rocky hill path, where there were gorgeous views over the mountains, to give Kymba a walk and have our picnic before entering the National Park. Unfortunately you are not allowed dogs on any of the Nation Park trails.

The rock formations in Zion National Park are like nothing I have ever seen. They are strongly layered and represent some 150 million years of sedimentation caused over the ages by different environments. What is known as 'uplift' raised these formations more than 10,000' higher than when they were deposited; this in turn affected the gradient of the Virgin River which cut deep gorges in the rock particularly during snow melt. We parked the car close to one of the trails, known as Angel's Landing and, leaving Kymba with plenty of fresh air and loads of water, we set off with several layers of clothing and a large water bottle each. My son pointed out our destination - and my heart sank. Angel's Landing was on top of an enormous rock formation way up high. I was not going to chicken out before I even started so said nothing.....at least not out loud! The path was exceptionally good, smooth concrete and as I climbed higher my respect for the engineers who had constructed it knew no bounds. The air temperature gradually dropped but I was soon taking off layers as I got hotter and hotter with the effort of the climb!

This blip was taken about half way up and clearly shows the river, where the trail started, wending its way along the canyon floor and the white trail path leading up the mountainside on the right of the picture. I didn't take any pictures after this one as I was concentrating on keeping my legs moving and watching each foot as I moved inexorably onwards and upwards. The 2.5 mile trail rises by 1,500' and the last section, known as Walters Wiggles (after the engineer who was mainly responsible for its contruction), rises steeply in elevation, to Scouts Lookout, by means of 21 tortuously tight zig-zags.

Well I made it to Scouts Lookout- but was not prepared to risk life and limb on the short, final section to Angel's Landing which involved using chain handholds along a narrow ridge! The view from where I finished was totally breathtaking - when I managed to gather my breath that is! My son took a few photos from the top while I recovered my equilibrium, but unfortunately by this time the sun was sinking, the shadows deepening and the contrast between sunlit formations and those in shadow were too much for my wee camera to cope with satisfactorily. Suffice to say that this is one occasion where the whole experience of arriving at the top will remain etched in the memory for a long, long time. The journey back down was great fun and taken at a leisurely pace with my daughter-in-law, but my son decided to run down "to save his knees" but also to release Kymba and allow her some playtime in the river before we headed home.

We ended our time in the park by finding a charming cafe where we enjoyed hot chocolate, blue corn chips, fresh guacamole and salsa sitting outside warmed by a heater so we could have Kymba with us. By the time we left to head home darkness had engulfed us, but while the mountains were hidden from view we were entertained by numerous festively lit houses along the way. The last desert section of the journey was very dark until we topped a small rise where below us lay Las Vegas, glistening like a jewelled brooch in the darkness.

A magnificent day.