RAIN vs. WIND

Coming from and spending the majority of our lives in the Midwest area, it  is almost a given that rain is part of a holiday weekend.
As we worked the federal parks, when campers checked in with us, the first thing they would ask is it going to rain?  We would always put a smile on our face as we respond to them with this answer “of course-it’s a holiday weekend!” 
Sure enough sometime during the course of the weekend, a thunderstorm or just rain would pelt them and get everything all wet.  The worse would be on the Monday they would have  to leave and the rain would come-soaking everything as they try to pack up.  To a camper it would be frustrating, but to us gate attendants and cleaners, it would be glorious-for we could get the park back to shape early.
When we worked one of our parks where we had to clean as well as run the booth, we would almost pray for rain on holiday weekends or Sundays.  When rain was a threat on Sundays or holiday weekends, campers would pack up early and head out, instead of hanging out for the rest of the day, playing on the water or doing whatever.
As we are finishing up the first holiday to kick off the summer here in Grand Junction, we did have a slight chance of rain.  But rain wasn’t the thing that had campers scampering in the middle of the night for safety, it was winds.  We had  several campers in tent that ended up either sleeping in their vehicles or finding elsewhere to finish the remaining of the night out on Saturday Night.  Come Sunday morning as we walked around, fighting the high gust of winds, we found several tents completely destroyed.  We even found one tent that appeared to have flying lessons and ended up in the brush near the river.
We had sustain winds between 25 to 30mph with gust exceeding 55+.  Let me tell you, we felt those gust as they literally about blew you off the road!  Island Acres State Park is situated between canyon walls, so it creates more of a wind tunnel.  The winds started to kick up late on Saturday night and got worse throughout the night and all day on Sunday, letting up just a bit through Sunday night into Monday morning.  Yet the winds still can be felt as I’m still typing this.
By Sunday morning, even our own camper was rocking sideways.  As I said earlier, many tenters tents were either flatten or poles had snapped and broke.  As the day went on, the winds seem to get worse and now the pop-up campers were starting to feel the effect of the wind.  One of them received damage and had to move sites for more protection from the high wind gust.
As one of our rangers went out to due park check, she looked over the Colorado River and saw where the wind had created what one would think as a water spout.  She told us about it and she was amazed by it.
As the afternoon went on, we started to get some very frazzle campers coming off the interstate that just couldn’t handle the winds traveling anymore.  I was glad that the State Park here was able to accommodate these folks.  By late afternoon, the sun was under a cloud of dust, and as you look out, all you could really see what a thick cloud-all dust….
So if asking me whether I would prefer rain or wind, I would actually have to say if the winds are like what we saw the last 24+ hours, I will take the rain.

THE FIRST WEEK

The park was getting ready to start off the holiday weekend, and already was short handed at the gate house.  Although I have been hired on as the new Gate Attendant, paper work still has to be done so that I can get paid.  So until it’s all said and done, I’m still considered a volunteer.  The rangers thought it would be a good time to start training me for the position.
So on Friday Brian and I started working the gate house in the evenings.  Our first night was very busy and hectic-being it was the kick-off for the holiday weekend and to the summer.
I was assigned what is called a shift box which has my starting money and all the passes that they sell for the Colorado State Parks.
Talk about being thrown into the mix of it all during one of their most busiest time!  It was just a bit over whelming at first.  They have different passes that they sell that you have to learn what is for what.  You have your regular day-pass, then the Annual Pass, then Colorado residents that are 64 and over have a choice of the Aspen Leaf Pass; which gives them a discount.  And if that’s not enough then have a Lifetime Aspen Leaf Pass that can be purchase.  AND they have different types of Multiple Passes for customers with other vehicles.  If a customer comes in towing a vehicle, they have a pass for that as well.  Wow!  I think there is about 10 or more different passes to learn and not to get them mixed up or confused can be challenging to a newcomer-like me.
Besides all the  types of passes that we sell, we also do fishing and hunting licenses.  We also can register OHV, snowmobiles & boats!  I haven’t had to those yet, but have learned how to do fishing license.  Then there is  firewood to sell-which has to be kept separate from the rest of the money-and that can be a challenge!
We don’t do reservations here at the park, that has to be done either Toll Free or Internet=thank goodness!!
by the end of the night we both were exhausted.  Once we close the window, we still were not done.  Now it’s time to account for all the passes that were sold, fishing license sold, and campsites sold.  All came up as it should-except for some unknown reason I came up with an extra $25.00 ahead.  Not sure what happen.  It’s hard to say when there was several people with their hands in the till.
My second night, was requested by the ranger training me that Brian didn’t come in-she said it was too hard on her to train the both of us and since I’m the one actually going to be hired, it was decided that he should not help out.  We did feel for her, for the both of us bombarded her with lots of questions.  Oh and the ranger that was training me, has been in the maintenance field for 3 years, and this is actually her first year, first month as a ranger.  So we totally understand that she to was overwhelmed.
The second and third night went smoothly with everything check and balancing the way it should at the end of the night.  Brian did work in the office-cleaning on the third night.  I even have learned most of the passes and what they are for.  The downfall is some of the passes will be changing out the 1st of July as prices are being change.
The park rangers have been really great and very helpful.  They are not afraid to chip in when it gets busy.  They are there if there is any kind of problems.  It is mandatory here that whenever there is a Gate Attendant on duty, at least one ranger also has to be present within the park.
With my upcoming foot surgery, they are so willing to work with me so that I do what the doctor orders.  You don’t find that kind of support in any work place.  I think Brian and I are going to enjoy working the summer here at the James M. Robb Colorado River State Park-Island Acres.

GETTING SETTLED IN

We now have been here at the State Park for just a little over a week.  I think that we are settled in for the duration.  I haven’t been out to get any pictures yet of the area, for two reason.  One the weather has been very crappy and two my foot has been causing me some issues that soon will be corrected.

We have worked one day in the office, getting the feeling of what our job will be for the season.  Now I await for the Lead Ranger to hand me my hiring packet to fill out for the paid position.  I’m really excited about getting to work and starting to earn our stay here.

When we first arrived here, we temporarily had to go on temp site, waiting for a camper to get off of the site that was assigned to us.  Now, we have an option to move to yet another site if we choose to.  We have asked to stay where we are, for we have a nice site with a cover picnic table.  Also we can get two CBS channels and cell phone works sporadically.  So why upset the apple cart?  Also the view of the canyon that we have is really spectacular.

The park looks to be a busy weekend with it being Memorial Weekend.  Unlike the Corp of Engineer, where reservations are require to pay for 3 nights on holiday weekend and two nights just on a regular weekend. Here at the State Park, they can make reservation for one night, two nights or three nights or more; whatever they want.

I do look for Brian and I both to help out over the course of the weekend, since it finally promises to be a nice and warm weekend.  The two small lakes here are stocked with fish to be caught.  Unfortunately, the Colorado River won’t be any good to those that wish to cruise down on a floatation device.  In fact folks are being warned to stay off the river due t fast melting in high elevation and a raging river.

I don’t think we will be in danger of having to evacuate-or at least we hope not.  The State Park had build a brim to help hold the river at bay.   They are looking for a record high flooding from the Colorado River this year.  State Park employees will be keeping a very close eye on it all as the temps rise over the next few days.

VOLUNTEERING TO A PAID POSITON

As we are getting ready to volunteer in the office, we soon learned that two paid park attendants that were hired never showed up for work.  So this makes it short handed for keeping this particular state park running smoothly.

Brian and I worked one day learning the ropes of assisting the office.  While talking to the one park ranger, I made the statement that I would be willing to work 40 hours and get  paid.  She said she would talk to the Ranger in charge of hiring seasonal and volunteers.

The following day (Sunday), we have a mandatory volunteer meeting  up in the office.  So Brian and I went early to finally meet our “boss”, Julie; which we haven’t met yet.  She is a very bubbly and easy to talk with person.  We found her to be pleasant and I think we are going to get along great with her.  Anyways, I told her that I would be interested in the seasonal full-time position, while Brian would volunteer for our site.  She liked the idea, but it’s not all up to her.  She needed to get with the Senior Ranger and the Park Manager.

We received word last night at 8:30pm that I was hired.  I think they are impressed with the 10 years of us working with the Corp and knew that I would be dependable and reliable.

As for Brian, they say he will be the “gopher” for everyone.  Basically he will be helping me out in the office-answering the phone, helping me with the window and what ever else needs to be done.

What about my foot?  Well went to the specialist yesterday (Tuesday), it’s not a calcuim build-up but a cyst instead.  I might away on it’s own or it might just get bigger.  It’s on the tendon and that is why I have discomfort the way I do.

There are two options of treatment:  1) go in several times, have them lightly numb the area and then use an 18 gauge needle to see if they could drain it.   There would be no guarantee it would go away or it could make it build up faster with more fluid.  It is very, very painful, but the down time is only a week.   OR 2) I can go in and have them completely numb my foot,  put a tunicate just above my ankle, cut above and below the cyst and then completely remove the cyst.  Down time is almost 21 days.  Well, not all the 21 days.  Once the procedure is done, I will have to go straight home, keep my foot completely elevated for 3-4 days; which means no walking what-so-ever.  Then I can be on my foot on and off, so long as I elevated in between.  I will have to have stitches in my foot for the 21 days. 

the doctor thinks the latter would be the better option, due to the size of the cyst and the hardness of it.  So I’m schedule for June 2nd to have the cyst completely removed.  The park rangers are all aware of this, and are very willing to work with us.  In fact a few have already offered to help Brian in keeping me down for the 3-4 days!!

I’m excited and looking forward to this new adventure.

RAIN AND COLD

As we spent our winter months living in the desert, we only saw a little rain once or twice-if we were lucky.

But now since leaving Zion National Park, it seems we have seen our fair share of rain and the cold.  It was pretty to see the snow on the mountain, and even to say we were in some snow shower.  But now enough is enough….

Since arriving here at Grand Junction CO it appears it’s done nothing but rain and being cold.  The mighty Colorado River is topping over now.  Then they fear that the snow melt in the higher elevation could make things even worse.  If warmer weather does appear and makes the melting go faster, then we could be in trouble.

The James M. Robb/Colorado River Park haven’t shut down parks well over 11 plus years, and we hope that this is is no exception.  Even the water canals that go to the fruit farms are plum full.   In some way this is good, for this is the Monsoon season for this area. 

the upper Mesa which towers over us and the Interstate heading East towards Denver have been place in a Winter Storm Warning, where they already have had anywhere from 6-12 inches of snow with more falling in the last 24 hours and this is May 20th-not March.  We cannot see the snow from where we are sitting, but we can feel the cold.

Normally by now, Grand Junction should be in the lower 70’s for daytime highs, and yet we have to see that.  Our daytime highs have only been in the lower 50’s since arriving here.

I’m sure we will warm up-eventually…..And we will see the sunshine-someday…But for now-we will just muddle through day by day with what ever Mother Nature throws at us.

One thing is for sure-I’m glad I’m not back at Mountain Home AR for our good friends there are once again facing record flooding….

GETTING READY TO VOLUNTEER

We arrived early to the James M. Robb CO River State Park-Island Acres Section due to my foot.  The park rangers have been great in accommodating us.  We had plan on coming in and paying for our site until our official time of starting.  But they wouldn’t hear of that.  Instead, they are just going to put us to work early-and we have no problems with that at all.
When we first initially got the position of volunteering, our primary job was cleaning campsites after campers left and selling firewood.  Since then I guess there has been some changes going on in the main office and now instead of cleaning campsites, it  has been decided that we would actually be working in the gate house/office assisting the park ranger.
Since arriving here, the gate house hasn’t been open very much.  The first two days someone was in there after 12pm, with a few days being completely closed.  We have seen park rangers through the park, but they don’t run the gate house too much.  So I guess we will be train to operate their day to day duties in the office in assisting campers; something that we are very familiar in doing already.
The setting around the James M. Robb CO River Park-Island Acres is very pretty.  It sits along the Colorado River with 3 small inner lakes; two of which is stocked with fish and the one is solely for swimming.  We are situated between canyon walls.   I-70 running along the side, where we do hear the noise from the Interstate, but once you get use to that noise-it makes the visit very well worth coming.
We haven’t seen any form of wild life-yet-other than a large black and white kitty cat running freely around the park.  But we are told that we might see some wild horses, turkey, and lots of varies types of birds. 
We have met the other two volunteers that help keep this park clean.  They seem to be nice couples.  The one has been here for several years while the other one, like us, are new. 
Phone reception is sporadic and does not work at our site.  We have found two areas in the park where we can get a weak signal to make calls.  Occassionally the phone will ring inside our motorhome, but when we answer, we loose the signal.  So all of my blogging and Face Booking will have to be done outside the park when we go to our daughters place in town.

A BUM FOOT

Well, we only got to spend a very short time at San Rafael Swell in Utah.  As we arrived, got set up and was hoping to spend a little time there, once again my right foot started to swell.  Not only the swelling was a concern, but it was accompany with some minor pain and my toes going to sleep.
So now it’s was determined that maybe I needed a second opinion to find out what the heck is going on with my foot.  I’m really starting to miss my walking and hiking.
Anyways, we made our stay at the Swells short and moved onto Grand Junction CO.  We planned on parking at the National Monument until it was time to get our spot at the James M. Robb CO River State Park/Island Acres Section.
We arrived on Sunday May 15th, got parked, called our daughter, but forgot that she was at a graduation party.  So waited for her to call back, let her know we were in town.  Of course we all couldn’t wait to meet.  So we met at the McDonald’s in Clifton, (we would have went to her place, but she is cat sitting for her cousin while her parents are in town).  Lissi gets a phone call and we are all invited over to her cousins house for a bite to eat.  Sunday became a long day for us and everyone else.
Monday morning rolls around and now it’s try to find a doctor to look at my foot-again.  This town is crazy!  You can’t get into a regular doctor unless you go through urgent care or the ER first!!  So once again-urgent care it is…hopefully the doctor is better than the one back in St. George, Utah.
And it is.  The doctor was a female doctor that was concerned and willing to spend time to find out what was going on.  First thing she notice that I have some bruising on the underneath area.  Being morning, and not been on my feet, the swelling is naturally down.  Another round of x-rays shows that it is not broke or fracture, but a floating bone or calcium build-up.  The only freaking thing is a calcium build-up usually attaches to the bone and this one is not.  She couldn’t determine if the bone is what has caused the  bruising on the opposite side or not.  So now it’s time for a foot specialist to have this matter taken care of once and for all.  But for now I have to take it easy, keep it wrap during the day and take Aleve until I get into the foot specialist.  
I got in on the 24th of this month.  The first visit will be an initial exam visit.  Here it will be determine if the procedure can be done there in the office or if I will have to go over to the hospital.  We think the procedure can be done in the office-or we are hoping for that anyways.

WHAT? SNOW?

We hadn’t seen much in rain since leaving Mountain Home, AR way back in Nov of 2o10.  We had light showers during the winter while in Quartzsite.  Since Being at Zion, we did have lots of sunshine and a day or two of winds.  But as our last two days draw near, we were threaten with heavy rain and possible thunderstorms.  The rain was tracking all the way in the direction we were heading.



Since we had no choice but to be out on our 14th day and not sure what weather conditions we could get in, we opted to boogie out as soon as the rain let up on our 13th day (Monday).  We weren’t planning on going very far, only into Cedar City Utah; where we would spend the night fueling up on groceries, and fuel for both the motor home and the car.  The drive was only about 60 miles, so we really thought we could be it here before the next round of rain-WRONG!


Just about half way there, we could see the heavy rain heading right at us.  We kept on truckin forwards, but slowly, even got some folks a little upset with us because I refuse to put the medal to the floor.  They honked and flipped us off as they passed us on by.

Now, by me going slow with the heavy rain, about 5 miles just outside of Cedar City, became a stretch of Black Ice.  On the Southbound of I-15 there were at least 5 vehicles that had spin out of control and was in the ditch-one appearing to have been very serious; while on our side, Northbound there were already 3 cars in the ditch that apparently spun out-including one of the vehicles that rushed by us earlier.

As we arrived safely here at the Wal-Mart we are thankful for our safety and my cautious driving.  We will park it here for a night or two until this front moves on.  But as we are sitting here, socked in completely with cloud and rain; the rain soon gave way to heavy snow showers.  Many cars already here in the parking lot have snow/slush accumulating on their vehicles!  As the clouds come and go we shortly see that the mountainous surrounding have snow on the peaks!  I take Leah out to go potty, and snow tries to accumulate even on the grassy area!




Brian and I have to sit back and think, that last time we actually seen that much snow (which literally isn’t much to some), had to been over 10 years!




We find this little community of Cedar City to be a friendly area, the workers at Wal-Mart all have been very helpful as well as others.  As it was also time to go and find a Laundromat to do some stinky clothes; we find one that has thus far been the most unique of all.  I normally don’t write about Laundromats, but I cannot help much mention the one we went to today.
This little Laundromat was only a few miles away and what was unique about it was the sayings we found on the machines that were out of order.  You will notice the sayings on the photo below.
                                                                                                    The second thing that caught our eye was the flooring,                                                            Carpeting?  In a Laundromat?  Yep, this one did!  And very clean-I might add.  Not just the floor was clean but the whole place was neat and tidy.  Although many machines did have their unique little sayings on them, the place was still kept up in order.  The young gentleman that was there on the day we happen to be there, was also very friendly and courteous.
                                                          
 The last thing that really was the conversation peace maker was an old stylish wringer-that no longer is in use, but looks appealing sitting there.                                                                          
                                                                                        
 I don’t remember the name of the Laundromat, however it’s on Main St. and part of a car wash on the left side.  We referred another couple parking here at Wal-Mart that is also passing through.
We are now all clean, body and clothes; we have stocked cupboards and stuffed refrigerator/freezer and even got our belly full on a nice little pizza joint called Five Buck Pizza.  We got a med, any topping for $5.0o.  And it sure was mmmm-good!

We will head out tomorrow (Wednesday) to San Rafael Swell, our last leg of this trip before parking it for the summer at Grand Junction CO.

Final conclusion:  if it wasn’t sooooo darn cold in the winter months here at Cedar City, Utah, I know I would make this my home, for the area is beautiful and the folks friendly to a strange face.

NEARING THE END….

As our 14 days is soon to be up, it is time to get ready to head to yet another adventure.  Our next stop will be at San Rafael Swell in South Central Utah, near the Goblin State Park.  This is where we will stay until it’s time to head for our final summer destination: Colorado River State Park/James M. Robb in Grand Junction, CO and spending lots of time with our daughter-Lissi (Melissa).
We have enjoyed our stay here at Zion as we learned the history and culture of this area.  As we do travel, our goal is to stay long enough to get the full benefits and to learn of the area.  We seen many folks that came through here, spending only one night and then moving on.  To us, we think, how can you say that you paid $25.00, the entrance fee, plus your camping fee, staying only one night just to say you stayed at Zion-makes no sense to us at all.  You don’t get to enjoy the true beauty of the area or learn it’s history.
We seen many come and many go, some enjoying the spectacular view and even adventuring on the trails, including the famous Angels Landing.  We do know that many don’t have the advantage that we do in traveling, and are only on a short vacation. 
Many also come out to climb the humungous canyon walls as they repel upwards to the top.  Or some come to do what is called  canyoneering, which is repelling downwards deep into the canyon crevice to seek new adventures.  Which means that they also have to wear wetsuits.  Once down, they wade through water until they find an opening.
For us we have enjoyed the challenges in the hikes,                                                                                               watching the repellers climbing the steep canyon walls,                                                                                       even sleeping on the edge-literally….,                                                                                 watching varies wildlife,                                                                       We could jump on the bus anytime from sun up until 10:00pm for free; that takes you up and down the canyon,                                                                                         or do a ranger led program.

One would never really get bored-unless they choose not to enjoy what there is to offer here.  But the most memorable for us will be the hikes that we got to adventure on.  We challenge our bodies as we have never done before.   Angels Landing being the most challenge, but Observation Point being the most strenuous on our body.  Unfortunately the one that I really wanted to do was the “Narrows”; which are closed due to a raging Virgin River.  So I guess that will have to be yet another time when we happen to travel through this part of the area.

UNUSUAL VAN RENTALS

Being from and spending most of our time out in the Midwest, you don’t see too many RV Rentals.  Working the Corp of Engineer Parks for the past ten years, I think I can count on one hand how many we actually had come through the parks that we worked in.
But spending time out West/Southwest it has become a different story.  Since leaving Quartzsite and touring around the Lake Mead area and now here at Zion National Park, it seems that for every 10 RV’s that come in, one will be a rental.  Whether it be a El Monte RV, Apollo, Road Bear RV Rental, RV 4 Rent, and Camping World just to name the ones that we have seen thus far. But the one that intrigued us the most were these most colorful vans that we started to see in just one weekend here at Zion.


 
 

We can’t but help wonder who the creator of these vans are.  Are they Yuppies that haven’t grown up?  In any case these vans defiantly catch your eye-that is for sure.

But the most thing that catches your eye about these vans, is the saying on the back…. Notice the saying just under “ESCAPE”?  Now wouldn’t that catch your eye?

The vans that we have seen have shelving in the back for pots and pan, clothing, what ever you need it for, along with a small 12v refrigerator, camp stove & 5 gal. water jug.  There is a full size bed for sleeping and a little more storage for your belongings.  The kids we ran into told us that they rented theirs out of Las Vegas for 21 days and paid just over $1000.00 plus fuel.  All the vans that we did see were licensed out of California, so we figure that is probably the home base for these unique vans.
Who ever is behind the bright colorful vans, has a good thing going, and with our economy the way it is, sure hope he/she is making a good name for themselves.   Why didn’t we think of this?????

ZION NATIONAL PARK-HIKING OBSERVATION POINT

We nearly completed hiking all the trails around Zion Nat’l Park.  Observation Point is the last one left to do.  This hike will take us majority of the afternoon for it’s 8 miles long and approximately 5 hours.
We decided to go after lunch, even though the temps are to reach near 90 degrees.  Brian made us a good portion of Spaghetti to get our energy level up for this Strenuous hike.  Although not nearly as dangerous as Angels Landing, it does take us higher up in elevation with many switchbacks.
We started out by getting dropped off at the Weeping Rock and ascending from there.  We came to the 2nd split in the trail where Hidden Canyon goes one way and Observation Point the other. 



As we climbed we wonder which direction the trail was going to take us in.  Then all of a sudden we started inside of a canyon.  This became the Echo Canyon which was so amazing.  This portion of the trail could literally trap folks if on the wrong side.  You walk literally into a creek bed, and during flash flooding, there would be no way in or out of this canyon.  I don’t think we had any worries this day of flash flooding.

 

When we first got on the trail, we mostly had lots of shade, so we didn’t feel the temp as it was rising and nearing the upper 80’s.  Once we got past Echo Canyon, we again started the steep ascending and no more shade.  We could feel the difference in elevation and the heat coming on.  We did bring along plenty of water to keep us hydrated for this lengthy trip.
We had many, many switchbacks and what surprised us the most, is the fact that we started to go on the backside of the canyons and not in the direction we assumed it would head us in to.  The summit that we thought we would reach, wasn’t the one either, but the summit that many climbers love to climb in front of  Temple of Sinawava.  As you see in the picture below and where the red arrow is, we still have that much more to go!



The trail did become narrow with very steep drop-off.  Again this hike wouldn’t be for anyone fearing heights, for when you looked at the bottom, it could be frightening.



I have to admit there were a few times we literally thought of turning around and heading back down, but then we thought we were this far and wasn’t about to give up.  We just took many breaks to slow our heart rates and catch our breaths.
We came across parts of the trail that recently had some land slide and thought to ourselves how dangerous a landslide could be if traveling on this trail during one.

   

As we near the top of the summit, the landscape really took a turn on us.  It appeared at one point in the last couple of years that they had a fire.  Not sure if it was done by lightning or from neglect, but the scarring was evident. 



Instead of rock and portion of old cement, we now traveled on heavy sand as the trail took a turn as we neared the summits end.



After what seemed a very long time, we neared the end.  Was it all worth it?  Oh yeah!!!  The view was breathtaking and if we would have done this trail before Angels Landing, we probably would have bailed out doing that trail.  The view that we got of Angels Landing was speechless to us!  As we looked down upon it, we still to this day, cannot believe we actually climbed Angels Landing…

The Red arrow indicates the beginning of Angels Landing from Scout Lookout.
Red arrow indicated the top of Angels Landing.
Overview of Zion Canyon from Observation Point
 Temple of Sinawava


We took a brief resting break, drank some more water and had a snack.  Going down we knew would be a little faster than the going up, but as we descended, we thought our toes would literally come out of our shoes!   Across the other side of another canyon we discovered snow still lingering around the pine trees.

 

We made it back down by early evening, completely exhausted and lots of sore muscles-again.  It was time to head back for a long hot shower and to rest our weary bodies. 
We are now done with all the trails.  The one we wanted to do the most is The Narrows.  However due to a raging Virgin River, the Narrows are closed  and probably won’t be open until sometime mid to late June.  The Narrows is only accessible by walking in the Virgin River.  We are told by many that have done this that it’s a very awesome hike and should only be done in summer or early fall.  So maybe some day we will come back and do that one.

SOUTH CAMPGROUND: ELEVATION-4000 FEET
OBSERVATION POINT: ELEVATION-6508 FEET
TOTAL CLIMB:  2508 FEET IN ELEVATION

ZIONAL NATIONAL PARK-HIKING ANGELS LANDING

After taking a few days off allowing the tendons in my foot to heal some, I was ready to get back to hiking.  If winds stay down, our plans were to hike the most dangerous and the most adventurous trail in the National Park Trail System-Angels Landing.  But as we woke early on Tuesday morning, the winds were pretty strong and we weren’t sure if we would be able to do this hike.  As the morning went on, the winds calm down.  So a hearty breakfast was in order to get our energy level up.
Angels Landing got it’s name when a group exploring Zion back in the early 1900’s made a statement that only an Angel could land on it.  Zion’s first superintendent was determined to make Angels Landing a trail that anyone could “land on”; creating many switchbacks to make this happen.  It was completed back in 1924.  To this day, as you walk along and look down at the work it took, you still can see hoof prints of work horses  in the cement work.

 Angels Landing


We jumped on the bus and headed up canyon where we got dropped off at The Grotto.  As we crossed over the bridge of the Virgin River we started the hike.  At first was a gradual climb as we meander along the river.  Then you really started to notice the uphill climb and several times you needed to stop just to catch your breath.  We watched many ahead of us as they started on the many switchbacks heading to what they call Refrigerator Canyon.

 Heading into Refrigerator Canyon


Refrigerator Canyon got it’s name because no matter how hot it is-it will always be cool in between the canyon.  As we walked this long trail, between the canyon walls, we are amazed by the markings on the walls and all the holes and crevices of years past.

 Million of years of natural wonder


We are still climbing in elevation, but back here you don’t realize it, until you get to the second round of switchbacks, and then you really start to climb once again.

One section of the many switchbacks

We finally reached to one section of the mountain called Scout Lookout.  Here there are vault toilets and a nice place to rest.  Many folks stop here and don’t adventure any farther to Angels Landing.  Once you get a view of others starting the actual climb onto the mountain with steep drop-offs on both side, many get freaked out and won’t go any farther.  This was the case the day we went, where several folks took one look and said they had enough.  For us, it was just the beginning of another exciting adventure.  It is definitely not one to due in bad weather conditions, and on the sign below, they should also put not to do during high winds.

As we started across, there came time where if you had the place to “pull-over” and allow those coming down to pass or for those faster than you to pass you up.  As we did this, I turned around and got a good shot of the first part of our climb and couldn’t believe we were doing this.


We came to another area where many had stopped to rest and again, a few had enough and was turning around, not adventuring any farther.  We thought we had just done the scariest part, when we looked and notice that the worse was yet to come.

The front side

In the pictures above, the mountain that you see was still the part we needed to climb up and then it curved and we still yet needed to reach the summit, which is behind this first one. 
The back side


A few days back, someone had just completed Angels Landing and they said there was only a small section where it was shear drop of on both sides, I think this person was trying to convince us that we could do this. After leaving Scout Lookout, we had only 3 feet wide with sheer drop offs on both side, all the way up to the top of Angels Landing.  I would say  probably about 1-1/2 mile hike of heart stopping climbing. 


We did have chains to help hike us up and to guide us for the most part, but there were areas, where there were no chains and you totally rely on good footing and good hiking shoes.




Once on top, the view is spectacular and very well worth the adventure of doing!  but again, not for those fearing heights, young children or anyone with leg, hip or back problems.  On this hike I guarantee you will use every muscle you own in your body and if you are not use to this kind of strenuous hike, you will fill it the next day.


If you are in good shape and love to take small risk, this is one to do.  We saw all ages-except children on this hike.  I was surprise and glad to see Senior Citizens doing this hike.  The younger adults made it look so easy as they jumped along and bounced off rocks, making us “older’ ones holding our breaths.