Dietz Summer Road Trip

This morning we drove about 1.5 hours to Zion National Park. This is the 5th and final National Park in Utah that we needed to visit! We now have officially been to all of the parks in Utah!! Zion is a big park with outstanding views. In order to get there from Bryce Canyon you drive the Mt. Carmel road that was constructed with tunnels through the sandstone mountains. The first one you drive through is this small one, and there is another one that is about a mile long closer to the park.

The price to get into Zion, like Bryce Canyon, was $30. We bought the Annual Pass for the National Parks for $80 when we were at Mesa Verde, which is good for 1 calendar year. It has now officially paid for itself and we still have 3 weeks of traveling to go. Defiantly glad that we got that pass.

So during the peak times of the year (spring-fall), you cannot drive your personal car through the park unless you stay at the Zion lodge on the park grounds. If you are just visiting you have to park at one of the visitor centers and take the free shuttle bus. It has various stops throughout the park to trailheads and lookout points. The only complaint was the mountains of Zion are so massive that it was hard to get a good look at them from the bus. The best way was to get out and look at them from the viewpoints. You don’t have to wait more than 15 minutes for the next shuttle to come.

There are 2 visitor centers and we started off from the Zion Canyon center. It was the closest to the road we entered on and also the most popular. There are 2 major hikes that draw people from all over to Zion. “The Narrows” or “Angel’s Landing”. The Narrows you walk through tall narrow passages in the mountains were there is water, at some points you have to wade through it. Or Angel’s Landing, which is a hike up the open face of a cliff so high that it was named ‘Angel’s Landing” because only Angels could land there. There wasn’t enough time in one day to do both. So we decided to try the Angel’s Landing hike. All of the other hikes we have done so far on this trip have just been training runs for this one. This so far has been the steepest, most switchbacks, and most hair-raising hike so far. So at the start of the trail you are greeted with this sign:

You climb to the top of that cliff in the picture. You start with a winding hike that zig zags up to this great lookout point. You can see the river and road below. So far away already!

It flattens out for a little bit and then you round the corner and realize you have to climb the 23 switchbacks called ”Walter’s Wiggles”. It so steep you can’t even see the switchbacks ahead of you.

View from the top of Walter’s Wiggle’s.

And then if you have lost your mind, you can continue another .5 miles up the side of the cliff known as Angel’s Landing. (total hike is like 5.5 miles round trip). There is a chain rope nailed into the rock that you hang on to. But you have to do a sort of tango because as you are climbing up, people are coming down. Here are some pictures I took before we started and then once when we were stopped at a road block. The camera promptly went away because you need all hands and feet focused on this climb.

I’m not entirely sure I am explaining how nerve-racking this hike was. There were 1000 ft drops off the side of the cliff. The elevation gain over the entire hike is something like 1400 ft. There were multiple signs that warned you that people have died doing this. This is the closest thing we will ever get to Everest. If you are interested you can read more about Angels Landing from more experienced people here and here.   I still can’t believe we did that. Nothing I read in the National park book I bought, or the short conversation with the park ranger, prepared us. But again, you get an awesome view of Zion’s Canyon when you are done, if you have enough nerve to get your camera out. I took one quick picture and then realized oh great we have to climb down now!

Zion was carved out by the Virgin River, which runs along the base of Angel’s Landing. After we finally got off the cliff and walked down we took off our boots and stood in the river. It was awesome.

We took the shuttle back tot he car, changed our shoes, and walked right outside of the park’s gates to Zion Canyon Brewing Company for lunch. It was a nice place, outdoor shaded seating with microbrews and good food. We got a Curry Chicken Salad Wrap, and Buffalo Meatloaf Burger. I’m sure you can figure out who got what.

After lunch we were stuffed and our legs were tired. We got back on the shuttle and got off at just a few stops to see more of the park. One the most iconic views is of “Court of the Patriarchs”, 3 cliffs named after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We stopped at one more stop at “Weeping Rock” to see the natural spring flowing from the rock. Here are pictures from that little view.

It was getting to be close to dinner time so we headed back to the car and drove the 1.5 hours back to Bryce Canyon. The good thing about Utah, at least the part we have been in, is that every drive is a scenic drive. We headed back and went to pick up the race packet for the half marathon tomorrow. They offered a 25% discount at a nearby restaurant in Cannonville called Clarke’s so we went there. Service was painfully slow and it was crowded with runners and their families. But it was decent.

We headed back to camp and to bed because tomorrow will be an early day!