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
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 SinawavaWe 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
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