My weekend plan this round was going to need a one way direct drive of 400 miles, yeah you heard it, 400 miles all the way from Chandler to Zion National Park! Initially Nithin was planning to join me for the adventure, and eventually give up as it was too aggressive for him, hence I proceed with the plan together with Beng Hooi. After some sundries shopping and minor rest, we depart at around 9 PM from Chandler.
Since Beng Hooi did not experience the stargazing moment in Sedona, I purposely have a minor stop there for him while having some coffee break. He did show his excitement for the first few minutes, but back to norm after a while. Well, it seem not everyone will enjoy these spectacular phenomena that much and I can understand that.
400 Miles across Arizona border all over to Utah!
Effect of vehicle light that went through the area.
Getting Beng Hooi to snap some photo together with me.
The amazing night sky at its best.
I passing the baton to Beng Hooi to continue the drive from Page onward (~300 miles drove), and he manage to make it until Kanab city, and I resume the remaining distance. You can easily spot a lot of mountain goat and deer along the drive, but one sad things was to witness 2 dead deer on the road being hit my moving vehicle. Finally, we manage to reach Zion National Park area, you can for sure knowing that when you passing through a series of truly magnificent scenic drive before you reach park entrance toll gate in which you have to pay for the entrance fee. After passing a long tunnel, you can finally see how beautiful Zion National Park surrounded by amazing huge rock formation, my first impressive, this really looks like my imagination scenery on how Jurassic Park should looks like!
You are not allowed to drive freely here in Zion National Park, hence I drive the car over to Visitor Center and going to move around using the free shuttle service. Oh ya, Beng Hooi sleep soundly in the car since Kanab city and is time to wake him up!
During operation hour, there will be shuttle bus arriving at each stop every 7 - 10 minutes, hence take your sweet time to make sure you are properly packed before departing. We drop at The Grotto stop, and get ready for the main agenda of the day, Angel's Landing trail.
Sky start to turn bright while we are having some minor break via Kanab City.
Scenic passage on the way to Zion National Park.
Rocks with enchanting colors.
A mountain goat stand still by the road side to welcome us!
Long queue of vehicles before going through the tunnel.
Saw the hole in the middle? That was the tunnel that we drove through to enter Zion National Park.
Sun rise at a great timing, to welcome us to this land of wonder.
Our free shuttle ride inside the park area.
Autumn is still beautiful as well here.
Here we go, our primary destination today, the Angels Landing!
The trail start with a relatively easy paved trail, which keep going zigzag toward the top. The path slowly evolve into quite strenuous and steep uphill for around 2-3 KM, and we reach a deep hanging side canyon called Refrigerator Canyon. A few more similar steep uphill after the flat canyon trail, we arrive at Scout's Lookup, in which you can now have a stunning view on the spine like Angel's Landing trail just not far away from you. It was almost uncovered after leaving the canyon earlier and the direct sun light start to hit the trail. Beng Hooi having some altitude sickness, hence he decide to get some rest by a shaded rock area. Despite the sickness, I am still impress with his effort that make it this far. Promise to be back in another 1-2 hour, I continue my journey to the top.
The peak of Angels Landing from the bottom.
The zig-zag paved road all the way to the Refrigerator Canyon.
Looks who we met while doing the hike!
Santa and his friend!
Beng Hooi with the gorgeous Zion Canyon.
Few KM of walk on this paved zig-zag trail.
View on the Zion Canyon on slight higher altitude.
Walking along beautiful trail surrounding by beautiful rock formation.
Colorful leaves along Refrigerator Canyon.
Almost make it to the Scout's Lookup.
Minor break and its time to act cool!
Great design of the to make it safer for hikers.
Hi small fella.
It is very hot at Scout's Lookup now with this size of sun light!
This was how high we were by the cliff already, and there is still some distance to continue on still.
Stunning view on the Virgin River.
He tried but it was too tough for him due to altitude sickness, have a good rest and I will be back after a while!
You will be amaze by the final ascend of this trail, in which you will be walking on a narrow spine that is almost 500 more feet in elevation. By the word narrow, it mean that you will walking in between fully exposed cliff section both sides which you can look straight down to the canyon floor. Sound crazy, but there are plenty of chains, guard-rails, and carved steps well maintained to ease the mind of fellow hikers. It still quite intimidating, but believe me, if you focus and really careful with what you are doing, I am sure you will be doing fine and enjoy this hike very much as I am! One thing to keep in mind as well, this was a very famous hike hence expect lots of people in the trail. Do give ways to each other, and remember safety come first.
Thanks for the chain rail , else it will be a very dangerous trail from this point onward.
These carved steps did help hikers to ascend a lot, and safer too to avoid slipping.
This bright sun did not stop my desire to make it to the top!
Remember safety first! Hold the rail and make way for each other especially on the narrow trail like this one.
Wave good bye to Beng Hooi that sitting on the rock atlower point from here, in the middle of the photo.
Test your limit! But don't try this if the wind is strong or when the floor is slippery.
The higher peak towards Mount Majestic direction.
First peak on the super unique spine like trail!
It will going to be a great hike for sure all the way to the top.
Most of the hikers having a minor break here to enjoy this spectacular peak with narrow trail.
Slightly higher altitude now on the same viewpoint, the Virgin River and the road in the park.
Here you go, the trail on the spine.
You will have to use both your hands and your feet to conquer the trail.
The view back toward Scout's Lookup where Beng Hooi is having his sweet rest.
Example on narrow path such as this one, do give way to people to come down first before you continue the hike.
You thought it was already the peak, but in fact it is not yet.
Once you reach the peak that you can see from this photo, only you able to see the next phase of the spine.
The majestic view on Zion Canyon, not from the peak yet!
One more spine trail, will that be the peak?
Another steep climb.
Numerous effort yet I am not sure if that will be the peak again, but why worry?
Keep walk the trail, and eventually I will be there!
Hell yeah! Flat trail all the way to the end of the trail! This was finally the highest point of Angel's Landing!
I manage to make it to the top after around 3 hours of time, and was amaze by the 360 degree uncovered view all over Zion Canyon, all the way from the canyon road that the shuttle bring us all the way from visitor center, until the final station, Temple of Sinawava. I sitting quietly for quite sometime just staring on the amazing canyon view, which really make myself feel like I am in Jurassic Park and keep imagine that there are going to be a Tyrannosaurus or King Kong appearing from the valley.
Meeting back Beng Hooi which laying comfortably at Scout's Lookup, I bet he have a really nice rest down here for a quite a while. We take the same path back to The Grotto and conclude this hike amazing hike adventure!
Long way climb all the way from Scout's Lookup area, but still visible from the peak. Guess Beng Hooi still sleep soundly there hehe.
Awaiting for the dinosaur and King Kong to make their appearance from the valley.
Like me, this couple also just sit quietly to enjoy the moment.
The view need no words to describe.
The canyon road looks like a tiny long string down there.
That marks the end of the trail, very crowded.
I just can't get enough of this view here.
Again, remember safety first.
Thanks for a random hiker for helping me to snap this photo!
OK, is time to go down!
Well... What can i say, make sure you pay attention to each of your step!
Last peek before going down, I really love the view here.
Going down hill really exciting and fast, only after a while I am back to the spine view point again.
Glad that I make the decision to do this, although it took me an overnight drive to reach here!
This cutie enjoying its food.
Till we meet again, Angel Landing!
Back to the place where the true fun begin.
Back to Scout's Lookup, first thing was to wake Beng Hooi up.
Best effort he did close to the edge of the cliff.
Too bad not meeting this baby during this hike, the wing span can up to 3 meters long!
The sunlight, canyon, and the autumn color make up a beautiful scenery.
Fully recommended if you are here in Zion National Park, must try!
RELIVE - Angel Landing Hike
From the survey that I did for Zion National Park, I get to know that the most famous and unique trail here was The Narrow, with walls a thousand feet tall and the river sometimes just twenty to thirty feet wide. Since we still have some times left, hence we take the shuttle over to Temple of Sinawawa to experience at least a little bit of The Narrow since we are already here. You walked along a paved road which is even wheelchair accessible for one mile until we come to Virgin river, which if you wish to continue, you will have to walk into the river, for a few minutes into the canyon, or it can be a day hike totally depend on how far you wish to go for. Bucket list updated, hope to come back again for this!
Here come the free shuttle.
Paradise in yellow.
The last stop of the shuttle route, Temple of Sinawava.
Well maintained trail which is wheelchair accessible.
The narrow trail begin from this point onward, and you will going to get wet for sure if you choose to proceed. We tested the water temperature barefoot and it was freezing cold!
Moon in the bright day light. Goodbye Zion!
Zion National Park - USA
October 2017
