Overview:  With the West temple, Towers of the Virgin, The Great White Throne, and Angel's Landing...... the first explorers had heaven on their minds when naming the surrounding peaks.  Zion is the heart of the surrounding canyon country of southern Utah.  Zion's massive red walls kept me reminding me that this is Yosemite of the southwest.    The plan was a two day backpacking trip with my Dad across Zion National Park along the West Rim Trail from Lava Pt. back to the main canyon.  Day 2 would also give us the chance to take the spectacular sidetrip up Angels Landing.  

The ranger told us that the road to our trailhead (lava pt.) was still closed due to snow.  It was hard to believe when being at the bottom of Zion canyon, but our hike would begin at a much higher elevation and be all down hill. We figured that we could still do the hike, but we would have to hike about an extra mile or two from the main road to lava pt instead of drive.  Leaving a car at the bottom of the canyon would allow us to do a one-way hike through the park.  Zion guides picked us up to shuttle us to the trail.  Once reaching the high country after an hour drive we were surprised to see that the gate was open, but there was still lots of snow on the road.  "I cant get stuck out here" he said.  We then got out in the snow/mud and the hike began.

 After about a mile we made it to Lava Pt.  Soon later in places we were sinking up to knee deep in the snow.  And a bit muddy in places from the spring melt.  But soon the trail dried up as we lost some elevation. 

 Looking east on the west rim trail.  There was a huge fire in 1996 that burned most of Zion's high country so much of the days hike we were surrounded by dead trees.

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I was walking when I see my Dad waving his arm to the right.  What?  Ohhh.  It was our first tease of the expansive canyons along the west rim.  For much of the hike we had views like this to our right looking down from the rim trail.  It was very different than always looking up at the peaks like in the Sierras.

  We had lunch at Potato Springs.  It was one of the few places along the trail where you could get water from a small trickle that flowed into a marshy area.  There were a few campsites here and was glad ours would be along the rim.  We took a short lunch break and continued on.  Shortly after we had a brief uphill section.  You really get spoiled on this hike because 99% is easy downhill walking. We then were at the intersection for telephone canyon and the west rim.  We took a right turn at an intersection (It added about 2 mi, but well worth it) and enjoyed the best views along the west rim yet.

  Our reservation was for site #2.  Not knowing anything about it we were impressed.  It was  a small spot with views looking towards the narrows. We hiked 11 miles that day to our site from lava point road.

Day 2

Today we would finish our hike to the canyon floor.  We took our time in the morning, filtered some water from a nearby spring, another trickle, and hit the trail.  The one thing Zion is missing is water, lakes, and streams, but other than that it is exceptionally beautiful.

  The trail descended sharply down from our campsite.  The walls were nearly vertical and definitely had to be dynamited out of the wall to make the trail.  You could see the trail snaking through the land far below.

  My Dad had been returning to Zion for the last few years.  Each time he would return with, "Angels Landing is the best day hike ever"  Our first sight of Angel's landing is seen here with it's steep fin of rock rising out of the valley.  I was really looking forward to it.

The Angel's Landing trail skirts up the ridgeline on the right with sheer 2000ft drops on both sides.  We maybe saw about 4 people on the trail that morning, but that would end soon as we saw droves of people making their way up Angels landing.  We hiked down to the junction with the trail, dropped our packs, and headed up the steep scramble.  Neither my dad or I used the chains, making a pure ascent.  Dad was flying up the thing passing groups of people, at one point unknowing going off the trail and taking a side route on a 2 ft shelf with extreme exposure.  There were many spots where if you took a step in the wrong direction you would be taking the express route down.

It was the best vantage point in Zion.  Movie

Dad, the chain is there for a reason.

  After completing Angel's Landing we grabbed our packs again and headed down some serious switchbacks.  It was an easy hike all the way to the lush canyon floor.

We had a fantastic time, and I agree that Zion is worth all the hype and a must see of the southwest.  The scramble up Angels Landing was a definite highlight and the views from the west rim were great on our hike to camp.   We got into the Zion shuttle at end of our hike and it was like being in Disneyland with all the families.   Backpacking down into the canyon from the high country gave us time to take in the landscape without the droves of people and made for an ideal tour of the park.

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