Utah Vacation-Zion Hiking

Today we planned to return to Zion National Park and do more hiking. Since the planned hikes are all inside the canyon, we had to reserve shuttle tickets yesterday. We received reservations for the 8-9:00 AM window. We packed and left the condo with plans to arrive at the Visitor Center at 8:30.

As usual, we entered the park from the East entrance. Once again, we arrived before the Ranger, so we scooted right through the gate. Our luck ran out at the top of the tunnel. With our reservation window starting to get uncomfortably tight, we found ourselves behind a camper. It was well past 8:00, so a Ranger was checking vehicles. The camper had to stop so the Ranger could arrange for the camper to go through the tunnel with no oncoming traffic. We waited forever, so it seemed, before downhill traffic was allowed to proceed. In reality, it was only six minutes.

We arrived at the Visitor Center with 15 minutes left in our reservation window. We walked very quickly towards the shuttle stop, but then I realized that I left my sunglasses in the car. I briefly considered leaving them, but the sky in Utah is so clear and the sun so bright, I knew I’d need them soon. I ran back to the car to get them, then rejoined the family near the shuttle boarding area. To our dismay, the line was pretty long. But then our luck changed for the better. We heard a Ranger call out for folks with 8-9:00 tickets. We called back, then hurried to the front of the line and on to the waiting shuttle. Phew!

We rode the shuttle to the Lodge. We ate another breakfast – got to keep the energy levels maxed out – and decided which trail to take first. We decided to do a short, easy, warm-up trail first.

Our first hike was along the Sand Bench Trail. I quickly recognized that something was different about this trail. There were two clear indicators. First, there was an odd smell in the air, and second, there were hoofprints in the sand. I realized that this was a dual use trail. We decided to take it anyway. We were soon enough pleased to see that the trails split apart. Walking in the deep sand, churned up by countless horses, was difficult. But then the trails merged again. Darn. If you are thinking ahead, you probably already guessed what came next. At a very narrow spot on the trail, four tourists on horseback came from the opposite direction. We got off the trail and squeezed into the available space as they passed.

We eventually reached the end of the trail at the Court of the Patriarchs. The final climb to the lookout was paved, so the going was much easier. Along the way, we passed very closely to two male deer who didn’t seem to be too upset with our proximity.

Panoramic view of the Court of the Patriarchs

After hiking through all that soft sand, we decided to take the canyon road back to the Lodge. Along the way, we met a family riding electric bikes. One of the bikes was foldable and we’re told that it easily fits in the trunk of a car. The father said that his bike can go 28 miles per hour and he once got 78 miles on a single charge, but that did include him pedaling part of the time. Pretty impressive.

Back at the Lodge, we fueled up again with an early lunch under the big tree. There we saw another deer, casually nibbling the fresh grass, seemingly oblivious to the people taking pictures nearby. At this point, Susan was ready to relax, so Andrew and I continued without her.

A deer nibbling the fresh grass near the Lodge

Our plan was to hike the West Rim Trail to Scout Lookout. This is one of the most difficult hikes in the park, but it offers a spectacular view of the canyon from the top of the cliff. We caught a shuttle from the Lodge to The Grotto, then crossed the river to the trailhead. The trail has four distinct sections. Section 1 is relatively flat and follows along the bank of the Virgin River. Section 2 starts the climb to the base of the cliff, then begins switching back and forth to gain elevation. This part was hard and hot, as there was little shade to be found. Section 3 enters a dry wash through a canyon and is completely shaded and nearly flat. And Section 4 is the real killer, labeled as Walter’s Wiggles on the trail map. This section is similar to the climb on the Wall Street Trail in Bryce Canyon. The pitch is so steep that the switchbacks are held up by walls. I started counting the number of switchbacks, but lost track around 18. After completing that final switchback, its a short hike to Scout Lookout.

Scout Lookout is an amazing payoff for a pretty tough hike. It has you perched atop a 1,000 foot tall vertical cliff. In some places, you can walk right up to the edge. There are no railings here. I could only get so close before I had to back up. I was unable to get close enough to look down. I looked around and found a few places where there were large rocks near the edge. From there I could lean against the rock and nearly look straight down. It was then that I realized that we were high above the Big Bend shuttle stop, where we got off and explored a few days earlier. Just writing about it makes my hands sweaty with anxiety.

Panoramic view of the canyon from Scout Lookout

Scout Lookout was the end of our hike, but the trail continues. The most iconic destination in the park – Angel’s Landing – is just another half mile up the trail. This part of the trail is along a very narrow shelf of rock that slants away from the mountain and, like all trails in Utah, is covered by fine sand. It is nearly impossible to walk on without slipping, and slipping leads to certain death, as the large sign attested (10 deaths since 2004). To help avoid killing off all the hikers, the trail has a chain screwed into the rock along the ledge so you can hang onto the chain and hopefully avoid the long fall to the canyon floor below. But, like a lot of things these days, this trail is closed due to COVID-19. There is just no way for two hikers to pass each other along the narrow ledge without getting extremely close to each other. Personally I’m glad it was closed. Otherwise I would have had to pass on that part and look like a big sissy in front of my son.

David hanging onto the chain at the start of the closed trail to Angel's Landing

After enjoying the thrill of victory and taking a much deserved break, we headed back down the trail. The trip down was incredibly fast and easy. I’m pretty sure it took less than half the time to descend as it took to climb. We were back at The Grotto in no time.

Looking down Section 2 of the West Rim Trail

At The Grotto, we refilled our water bottles from the park’s spring water refilling station and waited for a shuttle back to the Lodge. We waited, but no shuttles were coming. Finally one came. As the line moved forward towards the doors, the Ranger waved the bus along, even though there were at least four empty seats available. I was like, “What the !#$%^”. I asked about it and he told me that the shuttle was going to the Lodge. Well crap, we wanted to go to the Lodge! Apparently, everyone in front of us wanted to go to the Visitor Center, so he assumed everyone in line had the same idea. Grrr.

Rather than wait for another shuttle, we decided to take the short trail to the Lodge. We found Susan, told her of our grand adventure, then caught a shuttle to Temple of Sinawava. This destination is deeper into the park, so there were plenty of shuttles available.

When the shuttle arrived, we were shocked by the number of people waiting in line to catch a shuttle back to the Visitor Center. We knew we’d be in for a long wait when we returned. Regardless, we all took the River Walk Trail to The Narrows. As expected, the number of hikers returning from The Narrows was large, so any thought of the line being shorter when we returned slipped away.

When we arrived at The Narrows, we found a nice spot on a large rock and watched the river glide by. We figured we’d just hang out until the number of hikers returning was less than four every five minutes. Well, that never happened. Hikers just kept appearing out of The Narrows.

Eventually we started slowly walking back the trail to the shuttle stop. The end of the line was in the same spot it was when we passed it earlier. Oh well, no big deal. We started playing a guessing game to see who could get the closest to the number of shuttles until we got on. The shuttles slowly came and left. After an hour, we were clearly going to be on the next bus, but there currently was no next bus in the queue. That’s when the Ranger asked for those going directly to the Visitor Center. We let him know that that was our plan, so he escorted us and several others past the normal line and directly to an express bus. Woo hoooo!

The ride back to the Visitor Center was fast and stop-free. The wind was blowing in the open vents and everyone was tired, but happy. The end of a very long day in an amazing national park. It doesn’t get much better.

Back at the Visitor Center, we found our car and started back to the condo. As usual, the drive out of the valley and through the tunnel was breathtaking. We stopped along the way out to capture another set of ‘magic light’ shots of the glowing rocks.

Outside the park, Andrew wanted to make one more stop. Since upgrading to Android 11, Andrew’s drone was out of commission. He found a different controller app that was compatible and wanted to try it out. We stopped near a section of highway with a sign that said, “Road Damage”. He wanted to get some drone footage of cars bouncing and weaving through the rollercoaster-like section of wavy pavement. Andrew got his video and we finally returned to the condo.

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