Without a doubt, the most iconic hike in Zion National Park is Angel’s Landing.   It has been on my “must do” list for quite some time now.   In fact, I had originally planned to do this hike on my 60th birthday back in early October.   I always like to do something memorable each year, like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, or taking a rock climbing course to remind myself that “Age is just a number.”   

But this year, life on the road altered my course, as I had to make my way from Montana to Utah via Texas to get a new engine for the Tracker.   Although I am grateful to my loving family who treated me to a divine Indian buffet to celebrate my 60th, (not to mention a replacement engine for my Tracker!) my mind kept going back to “Not exactly where I thought I would be on this significant milestone day.”  (So if age is truly just a number, I must ask myself “Why was it significant?”)  😉

So now that I have finally made it to Zion, “The Landing” seems ever looming.   Considered to be one of the most challenging hikes in the park, the five mile trail climbs 1,500 ft up the spine of a fin rock formation, with sheer drop-offs on either side.   It is considered a strenuous hike where the NPS description warns, “Long drop-offs.  Not for young children or anyone fearful of heights.”

View of Angel’s Landing approach from Scout Lookout.

View of Angel’s Landing ascent from West Rim Trail

Angel’s Landing is omnipresent.  It towers overhead, protruding out of the canyon on every drive or bike ride through the park.  There are conversations about it;  who has made it to the top, who turned around at mid-point, and who didn’t feel the need to try.  And it seems to be the first question asked when you strike up a conversation with other hikers on the trail.  One guy I met along the East Rim trail said “I’ve roped up for less!” referring to harness and climbing gear.

So I am feeling a bit psyched out by a place so steep it serves as a landing strip on the way to Heaven!  When the email titled “Tomorrow’s Hike” comes through, I am not ready.  “Let’s head on up Walter’s Wiggles to Scout Lookout, where some can conquer Angel’s Landing, while others push on to the West Rim….one of the best hikes in Zion, really.”   But the great news is, this will give me a closer look!   I will do the West Rim hike, stopping at Scout Lookout only long enough to do a bit of reconnaissance!

The hike up is two miles of nonstop “up.”   The trail is a series of long, paved, switchbacks that were it not for the elevated views, would kill you from boredom alone.   It is a tedious climb, until finally, the trail breaks out on a level stretch through the cold, colorful “Refrigerator Canyon.”  Just about the time I cool off, there are more switchbacks ahead.

When I think I can’t go any further, I look up to see Mark standing overhead, where he announces, “Welcome to Walter’s Wiggles!”   Well, I can’t stop now!   This is the famous stretch of 21 tight zig-zagging curves that look like a Slinky stretched out before me!   Walter’s Wiggles were named for the first park Superintendent, Walter Roesch, who first began trail construction to reach Angel’s Landing back in the 1920’s.  This is one of the most famous landmarks in Zion, so I find inspiration to continue the steep march upward.

Looking down on Walter’s Wiggles, 21 switchbacks.

Finally, we reach Scout Lookout, where we stop for a bite of lunch and wait while a few of the gang tests out the first stretch of the ascent.   It looks deceptively easy from this point, but once we continue on around the West Rim trail and look back at the towering fin, it is possible to get a true sense of the length of the climb, the narrow slip of the “isthmus,” and the sheer, daunting steepness of the final push to the top.

View of the West Rim from West Rim Trail

A lot of West Rim Trail has been paved, but not all…

We continue along the West Rim trail, and Mark is right, it offers some of the best scenery I have seen yet.  Most of Zion National Park is spent looking up, because the main scenic drive runs right through the bottom of the canyon.  So to be able to get up high and look out across the vistas over the canyon below is just breathtaking.

The West Rim Trail is the first trail I have hiked with the gang where there appears to be no end.  Eventually, it traverses several canyons, up and down, until exiting along the West Rim at Lava Point, 13 miles away.  One by one, members of the gang decide to turn around at their own comfortable distance, until it is only me, Bobbie, and Mark.   They show no signs of slowing up, so I decide to turn at the next downhill grade, so I don’t have to climb anymore.   Off they go in the distance, like a couple of wild hares let free from the reins of a tortoise.

As I race back down the trail, now downhill all the way, I pause once again at Scout Lookout and observe the climbers overhead.   As I walk on down the trail, I convince myself “I don’t need that,” all the while knowing it is going to haunt me every remaining day that I am in Zion.  😉

Profile of Angel’s Landing from West Rim Trail