O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion

I've realized I need to do a separate Facebook album for each area of this vacation.  So today's album is Zion National Park.

Zion is a place that just needs more than a day.  Three would be about right.  Two at a minimum.  One day?  That was just cruel.

About the hike.  I woke up an hour late because it's mountain time here, as I found out.  So by the time I got out onto the canyon it was close to 11 am.  I decided I'd like to try Angel's Landing, even though I'd heard it was strenuous.  I watered up, got snacks, binoculars and of course camera and hopped the shuttle to the Grotto stop where the trailhead starts.

At 11 am the Sun is high and hot, so I made it a point to sip water constantly and stop every single time shade presented itself, and wait for my heart to stop pounding.  In that manner I slowly made my way up.  Some of those switchbacks activated my vertigo or fear of heights, which is the only bad thing about being over 40.  (I used to be part mountain goat, but apparently that DNA has expired.)

Halfway up there is Refrigerator Canyon, between Angel's Landing and the massif "behind" it.  Cool air flows through this and the traveller is given relief.

After that is the Wiggles, which are a switchback leading up to Scout Lookout.  They remind me of Lombard Street, without the cars or flowers.

A half mile from the top is Scout's Lookout, and that's as far as I got.  I decided I wasn't going to risk the next    section, which was not a trail, but chains keeping you from falling 800 feet, or 1200 feet (depending on from which side of the land bridge you slip).  So I hung out up there and took pictures of chipmunks and of the Road Less Traveled, Chains Required, and called it a day.

Tomorrow: Arches!