The Devilish "Angel's Landing"

Before this week I had never been to Zion National Park... or any National Park for that matter. Growing up I loved camping and being outside but my version of hiking was a slightly harder walk. Mostly because I am terrified of snakes and on my first few hikes in Washington I saw snakes. Which misplaced fear and led me to think I hated hikes.

But in the spirit of being healthier and exercising in fun ways, we decided to take a quick trip to southern Utah. Zion National Park is only a four hour drive from us and I have always wanted to see it in person. On our way down we took a detour to Bryce Canyon and did an easy one mile hike around the canyon's edge. It was the most beautiful natural sight I have ever seen. (The most beautiful unnatural sight being the shoe department at Bloomingdales)

I was convinced I had already seen the prettiest part of our trip. I may have gotten watery eyes when we first pulled up. Places like this strengthen my faith in my Heavenly Father as the world's creator. I was awe struck. Photos could never do it justice.

That was until the next day when we hiked to Angel's Landing in Zion. We stayed in a lovely hotel in the cutest town I have ever seen. So we were well rested and ready to go the next morning! The difference in elevation from the beginning and the ending of the hike is 1500 feet. So you hike up quite a ways.  I was apprehensive about this hike. The first two miles consists of several sets of switch backs that are steep, but the path is wide. This is the "easy part." I enjoyed the name of one set entitled "Walter's Wiggles" shown here...

This takes you to "Scout's Lookout" which is gorgeous in itself...

The next part is the hard part! The next half a mile is almost 180 degrees and sets of chains are set deep into the rock for you to hang on to while you hike. On either side is a drop. And I mean a drop of almost 1000 feet. If you stay hanging on to the chains there are plenty of areas to place your feet and you are perfectly safe. If you decide to let go you could slip easily and get into areas with no foot room.  I am not afraid of heights so that didn't bother me. But I am not in great shape right now and I was nervous. I won't lie we got to Scout's Landing and as mean as this may sound I saw some of the people coming back down from doing it and I knew if THEY could do it I could do it. :) SO on we went! We hiked up this path and even further up (I couldn't get it all in one photo)...

I felt pretty proud while we were doing it. This was the only place with enough room for Preston to snap a photo. It was the safest spot along the path...

Not only was it exhilarating but the view was A-MAH-ZING at the top! Although Preston got way too close to the edge for my comfort level. The road was so small from that high up! I couldn't believe we had started way down there.

This hike is not a loop so you have to come back down the same way you came up. Going down was much harder on the chains. But the switch backs were MUCH easier so it evened out. All the reviews we read and people we talked to said it would take four hours round trip. But it only took us three even stopping at the top to take lots of photos and eat. We felt very accomplished. About 3/4 of the way down we stopped again to admire the view. I just died over how gorgeous the view was at every point. I also loved doing this with Preston. He spoiled us and got us the nicest hotel room with such a beautiful view. I was obsessed with our porch. He was such an encourager and so supportive. It was a memory I will never forget.

Xoxo