Go West young man...v2

So just a note here…learned something about Blogger yesterday that I didn’t understand previously. When you click on a picture, it should open it up into a browser window and show you the picture full size… mine didn’t always do that. It was hit or miss when they would work and it took some reading to figure out that it’s a quirk of the Blogger editor. I figured out that I needed to add them via the HTML editor window. Now they work right. I went back and fixed my last post but prior to that… you get what you pay for. ;]

That was a long winded way of saying… Feel free to click on pictures for a better look. I encourage it. ;]


Onward. So we are in far northern Arizona and I have to say… highway 89A is one pretty road. It changes elevation a lot as we seemed to be constantly fluctuating between 4500 and 7000 feet if you believe the altitude signs along the roadway. The northern entrance to the Grand Canyon is up there and it’s funny but when we passed it, we were deep in the woods on top of a mountain. Not at all what I would have pictured for terrain around the Grand Canyon. We drove along the Grand Canyon’s little brother… Glen Canyon and of course had to stop and take a picture. Its part of the Colorado River and it was pretty cool to think about how long that river actually is.



We then headed on into Springdale but interestingly enough… we had to go through Zion Canyon (which meant part of the park) just to get to town. We had planned on one last night in a bed before camping out in Zion. The campgrounds fill up daily and you have to get there early in the day or you are out of luck. The reserve campgrounds (called the Watchman) fill up 3-4 months out so that left us with no option for this first night in the area. No matter… I liked the idea of another night in a bed. I have done plenty of sleeping bag nights over my lifetime and comfortable is not a word that usually comes to mind when I think back over them.

We needed a room and found a place right there in town. Springdale itself is surrounded by high canyon walls. Really pretty setting for a town. We weren’t even sure of an available room in town because there seemed to be people everywhere. We always had the reclining seats of the trusty Audi for a backup plan.

We ended up at the Driftwood Lodge and by the name, it doesn’t sound all that fancy. All that was put to rest as we went into the lobby. Funny thing but we almost didn’t walk in because the “no vacancy” sign was on but we couldn’t see it from the road so we walked up anyway. Luc spotted the sign and it was close to the door and since I had already walked up, I stood outside the door and looked in at the lady at the counter. I did my universal wave of the hand making a slash motion at the side of the neck… trying to say no more/cut it out/ any number of things to the negative… and she looked confused but was waving us in anyway... Luc and I proceed in and after a minute or two of confusion… yes, they do have rooms and no, she didn’t know that the “no vacancy” sign was lit. In her British accent, she proceeded to give us a good deal on a really nice room for giving her this last bit of information. A nicer room than we two ruffians needed. It looked more like a Sheraton inside so that turned out pretty well. I think the lady at the counter thought Luc was cute once he told her that her vacancy sign was erroneously lit and I think Luc thought she was a weird old lady with her British lilt. The mountains attract all kinds evidently.





We got an early start the next morning and our first order of business was to secure a campsite at the park. That took all of 10 minutes because people were packing up and leaving at all corners of the campgrounds. It is funny how dynamic a popular campground is because we sat there and watched people all around us taking down camps, and then people would drive up and start to set one up. It was like a complete line change in a sports game. Not everyone left but it was an impressive amount of changeover in any event. We didn’t stay long as we wanted to get our bearings and get on the trail as early as we could. We were doing one of the most difficult hikes in the park right off the bat. It’s called Angels Landing and it is easily one of the most scenic hikes in the US. We fell in love with pictures of the hike online before we came and in person, it didn’t disappoint. Hopefully you like the pics I took… this is one of my favorites.





This was our first mission… conquer this climb. Wow, was it cool looking. I know my pictures are not adequate but what can I say, I tried. It wasn’t always easy scrambling up the side of a mountain with my camera, a camera bag with multiple lenses and batteries, as well as a Platypus water bladder and a couple of snacks stowed away in various pockets. Hey, we have to eat… and we didn’t know how long the hike was going to be. Guide said 4 hours but we were much quicker than 2 hours to get to the top. This was not nearly as easy as that last statement made it sound… The climb was constant, an incessant amount of switchbacks and almost always rounding right up the face of one side or another of the mountain. We were immediately glad we started this fairly early in the morning. It was only a 5 mile hike but it gains 1500 vertical feet during the accent. Now, I think that’s misleading… because that is the elevation difference from base to top… the climb does some descending and then “re”climbing on the way back up to end up at 5876 at the top. That’s just me being technical… my legs the next day were painfully aware of the difference. The views are pretty awesome during the climb because a lot of times you are looking out over the valley on one side or the other.





One interesting thing was you climb up through a mini canyon of sorts called Refrigerator Canyon. Interestingly enough it does seem very cold in there. I think it’s the way the sandstone seeps water combined with the way the wind flows through there… and it’s fully shaded all day because of the high steep cliff walls. Makes for a nice respite when putting out a big effort during the climb. Luc and I weren’t racing but we made pretty good time going up, stopping for “picture breaks” on occasion. Luc even asked for a couple of “picture breaks” as we closed in on the top… old age, determination and treachery sometimes have their day over youthful energy. ;]





This climb was pretty well attended for the “lower” part which is everything but the last half a mile or so. The upper section (last half mile) is not for anyone that has a fear of heights. The guides and the Rangers will tell you that if you have any such fears, you should not attempt the upper section. The reason is that this continues on over a ridge line that is sometimes only 3 feet wide. When they say that the drop-offs on either side of this ridgeline are 900 and 1200 feet respectively… believe them.





At one point on the way up you can easily see down both sides of the ridge when you look down. I am not normally scared of heights but I can see how it could definitely freak some people out. There is a chain (with posts) embedded on the really difficult or narrow sections of this climb and while I tried to scramble over the majority of it without touching them… it was comforting to know it was there and when we needed it.





Luc was a total trooper and loved every minute of it. Not so for a couple of unlucky kids we saw on the way up… One mother was dragging her obviously terrified 8 or 9 year old up the climb while the poor father tried to coax him along. I really felt for that kid… he was screaming and pleading for all he was worth. I hope I never scare my kids like that. We also encountered a youth group from some area association and they obviously don’t do much physical activity. We saw them on our way down Walters Wiggles which is a series of switchbacks near the upper part of the main climb and those poor kids were paired up and crying from the effort. There were a few groups of them at each bend all the way up. Felt for them too.

Better idea... here is a link to a shot (not mine) of Walters Wiggles to give you an idea of what the climb was like.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/images/album2/pages/zion-park-b_jpg.htm

Not all of them but a good many of them were literally sitting down and crying, saying they couldn’t make it. They were about Luc’s age and I could see him straighten up as we encountered them…obviously internally pleased with himself while alternately glad he wasn’t suffering the same fate. They probably were just suffering from the heat of having started an hour or two behind us as the temp was climbing pretty good at that point.




Here is a pic of the upper ridgeline. You can sort of see the trail along the right side of the ridge. It definitely gets narrow at several points. Great view once you are up on top. Had more than a few people grouping for photos up there and I was even asked by a nice German fellow to take his photo with the valley in the background. It was funny but he was looking around for someone, anyone to take the shot and didn’t approach me until I had pulled my camera out. I shoot a Canon EOS1d and I think he picked me because he also shot a Canon digital and I guess he assumed I wouldn’t blow the one shot he had from up there. I hope that picture turned out… ;]



Stay tuned for more in the next day or so if I haven’t bored you to death… I didn’t want to make these blog entries massive so I split them up. Do I talk too much? ;]

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