When I knew I was going to St George with just me and Kylee, I knew I was going to go to Zion. I heard they were going to start requiring a reservation to do Angel's Landing, but not quite yet. They also were only running the shuttle on the weekends, so I was hoping to get into town early Friday and go hike then so I wouldn't have to take the shuttle. But I didn't want to leave Kylee for someone else to deal with and be rushed for time so I put it off until Sunday, because they didn't have games on Sunday so I had all day.
I had invited Jen, Helen and Lyndy to come with me. Helen decided she couldn't, I think she was recovering from Covid or something and not feeling energetic. Jen had her whole family and didn't want to leave them. Lyndy planned to come but she hadn't packed anything for hiking and she was nervous. And she ended up canceling early in the morning because her stomach was very upset. I don't blame her, but I was bummed. So I went by myself! I was determined! I had heard so much about this hike and I was determined.
Zion National Park is breathtaking. The drive there was awesome. The views from the shuttle were awesome. Obviously the hike was awesome.
What I didn't love was the wait for the shuttle. It took a lot longer than I had expected! And it was freezing. I didn't want to bring a lot of layers because I knew it would warm up. But it was so cold waiting for the shuttle for 20 minutes or so. There were people dressed to hike the narrows in waterproof boots and pants. I don't care how waterproof they are, that is going to be COLD! I couldn't believe they were doing that. The shuttle ride took longer than I thought as well because we had to stop at all the stops. But I finally got there, hit the bathrooms and took off up the mountain with the only thought of getting to where the sunshine was so I could warm up! I eventually did warm up once I started climbing. But I didn't take off my jacket until much later.
The hike was everything I hoped it would be. I loved it.
After Walter's Wiggles, you get to Scout's Lookout. From there, it gets real crazy. I wasn't sure how I would handle to heights. But I figured I would go until I didn't feel safe and then I would stop. And The ground in front of me was fine. It wasn't until I looked at the ridge up ahead that I thought there's no way. If you look close in the second picture, you can see people walking at the top of the ridge. There are people walking all along it but you just can't see them.
It looks really scary. But the ground in front of me was always wide enough that I didn't feel unsafe. And I never got close to the cliff edge without holding on to the chains. There were other people who would go towards the edge to get out of someone's way, and I would have a small panic attack thinking it only takes one person to bump them wrong and they are gone. But that didn't happen. I made conversation with the strangers hiking near me. We spent a lot of time waiting for the people coming down the mountain (between that and the shuttle line I was really wishing I had got up a little bit earlier...) But I made it!
It took so long to go up and down this part that I felt like I needed to hurry afterwards. I ran the whole way back down the mountain. That would not be a big deal other than my hip was sore and I hadn't ran on it in months. It didn't hurt too bad and it was so fun to run down that I just kept going. Then I decided I had time and energy to hit Emerald Pools too. The trails connected so I just took that trail over, saw both upper and lower pools, then came out at the Zion's lodge area where I could catch the shuttle.
I missed the majority of the BBQ the team did, but I headed straight there and ate some food. Kylee was being looked after by Helen and Savannah and she was just fine. It was an awesome day!!
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