A Sizzling Zion Adventure

Independence Day Weekend 2004

By Jan Taylor

Exploring Zion Narrows (photo by Dean Wallraff)

     On Friday, July 2, forty-nine dayhikers and backpackers piled into the bus for a fabulous Independence Day weekend in Zion National Park. The weather prediction was hot, hot, hot, so we started out quite early each morning for our hikes and avoided the hottest part of the days. The dayhikers, led by Bobbie Peyser and including me, were dropped off at a motel in Sprindgale, the small town abutting the entrance to the park. The backpackers, led by Dean Wallraff and Harvey Ganz, were ferried up to the campsite near the start of their two-day hike, which would traverse the famous Zion Narrows.

     The dayhikers were immediately split into the "fast and furious" and the "mild to moderate" groups. Not wanting to hold everyone up on the "F & F" group to Angel's Landing on Saturday, I chose to go with the "M & M" group and hike the Narrows instead. I also wanted to delay my decision to climb Angel's Landing as long as I could since I have a healthy fear of exposure and heights.

     Zion Narrows is a legendary place of solitude and beauty that lived up to my mental images of what it should be. At the end of the mile-long River Trail, which is a flat and meandering paved and wheelchair accessible route paralleling the Virgin River, the trail then becomes the river, filling the canyon wall-to-wall for most of that point on.

     The sheer thousand-foot walls of Navajo Sandstone, carved over the last five-to-six million years by running water, are red, brown, and white, stained with desert varnish. Springs spill out of the walls surrounded by cascades of maidenhair fern and golden columbine. The lushness of the canyon belies the four years of drought behind us, with unknown years of drought ahead. The river was fairly shallow and rarely did it go above my knees, but the current was swift when the channel narrowed and difficult to navigate when river cobbles were large and slippery.

     We wet-hiked up river for about two hours when I started noticing some thickening clouds to the south and some wispy clouds to the north at around noon. Bobbie decided it might be a good idea to head back in case of rain in the upper drainage and the possibility of a flash flood. After all, this is the beginning of the monsoon season and thunderstorms, although not predicted for that day, are notorious for hitting in the afternoon.

     The Narrows, with minimal opportunities to get to higher ground, would be a death trap in the event of a flash flood. Any rain upriver could get to us quite swiftly and we'd be sitting ducks with no wings. In addition, we were starting to encounter lots of other hikers, removing the feeling of solitude and peace. As it turned out, no rain hit the Virgin River drainage that day, so we could have gone on, but the threat of being caught in a wall of water and debris gave me a little justification for caution. On the way back, we explored a little of Orderville Canyon, a long and narrow slot canyon off the main stem of the Virgin River, chock full with several boulders and waterfalls. The Narrows hike is certainly a keeper.

     On Sunday, four of us left the hotel at 6:30 a.m. for the Angel's Landing hike. I still wasn't sure if I was going to do the last half-mile because of my fear of heights and exposure, but I was pretty determined to face my fears and chalk up another long-held goal. The climb to Angel's Landing includes the steep and windy "Walter's Wiggles," a series of twenty-one short switchbacks named for Walter Ruesch, the park's first custodian. The elevation gain from canyon bottom to the Landing is 1488 feet in 2.5 miles. The last half-mile above Scout Lookout is not for the faint of heart. It follows a very steep and narrow ridge with sheer drop-offs of 1000 feet or more on at least one side and chains in place for the steepest and most precarious traverses.

     There are two narrow ridges, no more than about three feet wide, with 1000-foot drops on each side and no chains. We made it up Walter's Wiggles pretty quickly, but the rest looked extremely intimidating. I saw a number of people going up the first set of chains along an area of sandstone slickrock that from several yards distance looked like there was no flat footing at all. I started feeling a little panicky--well, maybe more than a little panicky. But Bobbie, our courageous hike leader and a woman of 72 years of age, had done the hike several times before and persuaded me that I could do it.

That Last Half-Mile

Hiking in Zion National Park (photo by Nicole Temkin)

     So I started up with Bobbie, stayed focused on where I put my hands and feet, and never looked down. This is a very strenuous half-mile with frequent need for handholds, using the chains for leverage and balance, and constant climbing up and over rocks with very steep drops as an alternate route.

     Once I began climbing I really had no problem at all, surprising myself. Even the two narrow ridges weren't as frightening as I expected them to be. Of course, I never once looked down and remained religiously focused on where I planted my feet and hands, my center of gravity, and the two steps ahead of where I was.

     We admired the incredible view of Zion Canyon from the top, but he heat was starting to climb to its peak of 1020 and Bobbie was ready to head down. Well, once again, I was surprised at how much easier than expected it was to come down. The trail down the ridge was mostly steps and not the slippery slope I had imagined it to be. Elation and relief followed the successful descent, so I topped off the hike by adding a couple more miles to the Emerald Pools and the lodge.

     So now I'm a survivor of Angel's Landing. Would I do it again? At first I thought that once would be enough, particularly since I now know I can do it. But maybe I will do it again -- some day.