Angel's Landing Hike in Zion National Park- Switchbacks For Days

In Sept, I went on a week long road trip through Utah's National Parks. During this trip, I hit up four out of their five main national parks. The next batch of posts will detail some of my more interesting experiences from this trip. That, along with some other new adventures, is the main reason why I haven't gotten around to churning out my usual posts on time. Hoping to catch up soon!

Utah Post 1 Angel's Landing Hike at Zion National Park

Rating: Strenuous Length: 5 miles round trip Elevation Change: 1500 feet Tram Stop: The Grotto

Everybody knows I have a fear of heights. Most people are surprised at that fact, knowing that I am a climber. Well, that may be because they can't feel the fear I feel when I'm 10 feet up a wall, overgripping on holds to make sure I don't fall. Overcoming this fear has been something I've been working on for years.

On that note, Angel's Landing wasn't really on the top of my hiking to-do list when I planned my Utah trip. Sure, it is one of THE hikes to do, and the views are magnificent -- but at the time I couldn't get over the fact that I'd have to be climbing up the spine of this mountain with huge 1500 ft dropoffs on either side of me. It looked terrifying.

Still, we decided to at least hike to the Scout's Lookout viewpoint, the last section of the trail before hikers embark on the final part of the Angel's Landing hike (with all the chains).

It was a good idea to ease into all the hiking, and going on a backpacking trip two weeks prior to Utah really helped put things in perspective. Without 30 pounds worth of backpacking stuff on my back to haul up switchbacks and inclines, I was able to do Angel's Landing without feeling like my legs were going to fall off. Everything is relative.

The day started with a flat easy walk through the handicap accessible Pa'rus trail. It's a 3 mile flat walk that starts off near South Campgrounds, following the Virgin River. The temps were high but so was our excitement. Just hoping that it wouldn't get any hotter than it already was around 1pm.

At the end of Pa'rus we shuttled to the Grotto to begin the Angel's Landing hike... and it was really hot by then. Like mid 90s hot.

The Angels Landing hike has a few sets of switchbacks. Making our way to the first set felt pretty brutal already with the gradual ascent under the scalding sun. Attempting to actually hike the first set definitely felt the worst because they were very drawn out and extremely exposed with hardly any shade to offer respite. Walking slower didn't help as we were in the heat, and walking faster only exhausted us more. There was no winning and we took breaks after every set of switchbacks, while a couple guys from the Zion National Park rescue team powered up past us with heavy packs to help out an elderly man higher up.

After making it past the first set of switchbacks, the view of the canyon below was already beautiful. From then on, we hiked onward into Refrigerator Canyon, a nice a cool area which provided much respite from the sweltering sun. It was such a welcomed relief. The temps easily dropped 10, 15 degrees, and you can bet we took our time walking through.

After Refrigerator Canyon we came across another set of switchbacks, called "Walter's Wiggles", consisting of 28 shorter switchbacks.

Though they looked intimidating in the pictures I saw online, these definitely were not as strenuous compared to the first set. We sprinted up certain sections of it, knowing Scout's Overlook would be coming up soon.

At Scouts Overlook, we had a small lunch break. The area is riddled with deceivingly mischievous chipmunks who will not hesitate to weave in between your limbs or attempt to steal food from your pack when you're too busy admiring the view.

After resting up and gorging on a PB&J sandwich, I looked over at Angel's Landing in the distance with little specks of hikers making their way up and down the spine. From where I stood, it looked like they were practically doing a vertical climb. My palms felt sweaty just watching.

But hey. 2 miles and 1000ft elevation change in, I figured it would only make sense to finish it. When is the next time I'd be back?

I turned to my friends.

"Yeah, okay. Let's do it."

The last .5 miles and 500ft elevation change didn't turn out to be that bad. The worst part was the beginning, where the chains seemed awkwardly placed. Hikers would hike on the outer side of the chains on slopey sandstone with a huge dropoff on the right side. The chains were really low to the ground, which only made it more awkward. However, the rest of the hike up was steep and tiring, but not at all as sketchy as I thought it would be. Didn't expect there to be a couple switchbacks on the final portion, but my friends and I had a good laugh about it.

We only had enough time to stand around up there for 10, 15 minutes. But because it was later in the afternoon and close to sunset, it was pretty empty so I enjoyed it. The view was quite stunning. Looking down at the canyon, I could see the small flecks moving across the canyon floor -- the Zion Trams. It was an accomplishing feeling knowing that only a couple hours ago, I was down there... and I made the trek all the way to this view from the very bottom.

I'm glad I made the decision to continue on from Scout's Overlook, because this was definitely a hike worth remembering.

The sunset we caught on the way out of the park was also particularly breathtaking:

Just one of my many adventures in Utah last month. More entries to come!

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Angel's Landing Hike in Zion National Park- Switchbacks For Days