Zion - Angel's landing

At Zion Canyon national park (Utah, USA), one particular hike called "Angel's landing" stands out as the most popular hike in the USA.
I did the hike over the weekend with some friends. It's not too bad, at about 4.3 miles round trip with a climb of 1800 feet or so. Maybe it took us a bit under four hours.

1. Verdant canyon floor as we started the hike up.


2. Looking down into the canyon from maybe 300 feet up.


3. A tenuous existence on the canyon wall.


4. Three quarters of the way up.
This is looking at the other direction as compared to #2.


5. The ledge.
A false step to the right would mean something like a thousand foot drop straight down.


6. Climbers on the way up. Over here the path is on top of a thin wall with vertical drops to either side.


7. Down canyon view. The Virgin river, that piddling little stream, has carved out this canyon over millions of years, aided and abetted by snow, ice, rain, and wind.
From the ledge you see, it's pretty much straight down about 1500 feet or so.



8. Where eagles dare.
Without the chains the climb would become far, far riskier and be out of reach for anyone who's not a good climber.



9. The polished post. All the hands that gripped the post have imparted to it a very smooth polish over the years.
I tugged at the chains and posts with all my might before I climbed further. Made me wonder (as a professional engineer) how much stress testing the National Park Service did on those chains!


10. The final ascent.


11. The canyon in its glory - except for the harsh midday light and the haze.


12. The shuttle bus.
View towards the other side from the top. Those are actually two buses hooked together since it's a popular place.



It's an absolutely massive and memorable place with the towering cliff walls. I'm not sure I've done justice to it with my pics. All the haze makes shooting into the sun a bad experience. With the sun on my back the shots are a little better, for example the first one. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my CPL.

A77ii plus 16-105.

Regards
Sashi

I was there this summer. Surely didn’t climb this trail (my wife did in the past)
But I do recognize the beauty of the landscape in your pictures. And I too was impressed that the little river has carved out this canyon.
I like #11, showing the canyon in all its beauty.

Sashi,

You have my utmost admiration for doing this. Forget the 'light wasn't right; wrong time of the day; a seemingly 'diminished scale of the place'. What people may not realise is that this is one of the top, top ascents in any of the mainstream NP's of America and it is not one for the faint hearted (nor height conscious.....).

The images are what Zion is all about - my feelings about the place are that it is great to visit and to take it's grandeur into your eyes and head and to wonder of the process which created it. And yet, and yet..... it's so, so difficult to put that into images which portray that. I think in that respect you've done really well with thuis series to show that grandeur and scale. Add to that the circumstances of the climb (and, for me, the sheer terror involved) then it's a great set and I admire you for doing it (I have hot and sweaty palms typing this let alone being there.....).

Well done and I love every shot!

Take care (!) and best regards, Neil

Addy, you made me chuckle over my morning chai with Freedom Units.

The distance isn't too bad and anyone who's used to regular exercise can cover it in under 90 min pretty comfortably. Good to have strong legs for the equivalent of climbing a 200 story building but over 4 hrs it's pretty slow paced.

Domien, thanks for your comments. Hope you had a great trip. The American southwest is a special place around the Colorado plateau area. A nature lover could so easily get lost in it all.

Heikki, thanks for your comment. I would have loved to get there earlier in the day but it was a boys' get together and my buddies imbibed a bit too much C2H5OH to be up early! But the benefit is that it wasn't that crowded since we started at 10.30 AM by which time most of the sensible folks are already done.

Neil, thanks for the kind and detailed comments as usual. I share your thoughts about the technicalities of how such a place got created and feelings of awe and wonder at the beauty of it all. This is my fifth visit and I wouldn't mind visiting yet again.

Roger, thanks for your comment. I do want to hike the narrows, maybe about 10 miles at least. I can walk that much without a problem but I didn't plan on the right gear. Maybe next time I'll make that a part of my trip.

Regards
Sashi

And to wrap it up, here are a few pictures of the descent.

13. Walk along the ledge.


14. Canyon wall abstract.


15. Zooming in a bit closer to show the size of the place.


16. The shuttle buses - again.
I've never done a good job of landscapes at wide angles for the simple reason that the exaggerated perspective makes it very easy to make everything seem so diminished.
I flaunted the "foreground anchor" rule here so the picture looks a bit cut off at the bottom but it does help show a sense of scale a bit better.


17. Did I already mention I found the colorful canyon walls interesting?


18. Life on perilous slopes.


20. Sheer cliff.
The cliff that rises precipitously to the right is Angel's landing on the top. The smaller cliff towards the center is a mini version of Angel's landing.
Look at the connecting wall between the two cliffs and imagine walking along that to get to the top of the smaller cliff. That's exactly what trekking up to Angel's landing is.
I couldn't capture it well since I was on the trek itself but this is a very good visual.


21. Back to the verdant canyon floor.
With the sun to my back! I was surprised at just how saturated this image is SOOC.


That's all, folks!
Regards
Sashi

What a beautiful place and well captured Sashi!
TFS

Beautiful! I can feel that heat though, must have been difficult in that sun.