Redefining Garage Sales

Cory and I made an incredible discovery this past weekend...the REI garage sale. We knew it had to be good with the long line wrapped along the side of the building waiting to get into the roped off area, but we didn't know how good until we got in. What a treasure trove! Bikes, tents, sleeping bags, GPS systems, sunglasses...you name it, it was there at a significantly discounted price. Since we were the third group in, shoes and clothes were fifty percent off the sales price because there were still so many left. This was a "bruised and battered" sale, so these were returned items, but they weren't necessarily damaged. The pair of Keens I bought for $2.50 (you read that right) just didn't fit the first owner comfortably - the same is true for the other four pairs of shoes we bought - so nothing was actually wrong with any of them. We walked away with those Keens, a pair of Tevas, three pairs of Merrells, a sweater, a sweat-wicking shirt, a cute beanie and a fanny pack/water bottle holder for my dad all for the low, low price of $75. We love REI...and we love REI garage sales! Yippee for great deals!

There and Back Again, or up the hill and back down

The day did not start out well at all. We were all soaked from the pouring rain and I was frustrated at my sopping wet french toast. We had spent the night around the campfire talking about the hike and were all excited about going up “the hill”. We took our moisture soaked hearts to the Ranger’s station to get an update on the weather.

“Gunna rain hard all day.”

“All day?”

“Yup. Look here at the radar.” The screen was green with a monstrous rain cloud covering most of the park. “But hey, this is Zion, anything could happen.”

We decided to go to the Zion Human History Museum to see if we could wait out the rain. We looked around at the exhibits and walked through the art gallery, all a bit dejected. Leland and I looked outside and noticed the rain was letting up.

“Lets go check the radar again” he said.

“Looks like it is going to clear up” young, blonde haired ranger told us.

We went in to the Zion introduction movie with a twinge of excitement. Twenty-two minutes later we stepped outside to sunshine and no rain.

“Well, let’s go up the hill” I said while pointing at the looming rock known as Angel’s Landing in the distance. We climbed on to the shuttle and headed off to the Grotto stop and the Angel’s Landing trailhead.

Angel’s Landing is a 2.5 mile path that winds its way 1488 ft. up to the top of a large sandstone monolith that lets you see the whole canyon. The book had warned of narrow pathways and “areas where chains bolted to the side of the cliff face may be needed for assistance.”

At the bottom of the path we stopped to look up at the overbearing piece of rock we were going to climb. The path started out as sand and was a fairly steady climb for a quarter of a mile until it became a paved path. We passed three young women, one poorly shod; an Indian couple using two hiking poles a piece, and a small family of Germans. We stopped often to catch our breath, take a picture or six, and just enjoy the view.

Before the path curved into a crevasse between Angel’s Landing and the rock wall next to it we stopped and looked down at the path we had traversed thus far.

“Wow.” I said.

“Look how far we have come already” this from Jo.

“Let’s get to Walter’s Wiggles” said Leland.

We made it to Walter’s Wiggles, the series of 21 switchbacks that takes you to Scout’s landing, in about 10 minutes. It took us about 15 more to clime the wiggles. It was once we reached the landing that we saw what was ahead…or thought we did. There was a fairly steep sandstone cliff face in front of us with people scrambling up, using the chains to haul themselves along the side of the face. Others were looking down from the top waiting for their chance to return from the Landing. We took our place in line and climbed/hauled ourselves to the next landing, The Chicken Out Point.

As we turned the corner and truly faced our last half mile we had very little to say.

“Oh shit.”

“Holy balls.”

“Holy balls!”

The guy sitting on the landing laughed at us. “I love hearing peoples’ expressions when they turn that corner.”

What was facing us was a ridge that ran from The Chicken Out Point to Angel’s Landing. It was about a half mile to the top.

I looked at the ant like people scrambling up and down the ridge. “I’m not giving up”

“Let’s go then” Jo and Leland said in unison.

We crawled, pulled, climbed and slid our way that half mile to the top. On our way we stopped for water, to catch our breath and take a picture of rare wildlife like the California Condor. It took us almost an hour to get to Angel’s Landing. Once there we had a stunning view of the entire Canyon from the Altar of Sacrifice all the way to the mouth of The Narrows. We sat down and had a lunch of chips, apples, and cookies. We took the appropriate pictures and looked at each other.

“So, lets go down the Hill.”

Toeshoes and Keens abide,

Cory

Pictures linked below in Jo's posting.

Zion: Where Angels Come to Play

Not all destinations are created equal.

I say this because not only did we visit an unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing destination over Labor Day, but we chose to live in a place that offers us such wonderful access to some of our country’s most amazing national parks. I knew we made the right decision when we chose to move to Las Vegas last year.

But to get back to the unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing destination of Zion National Park,located in southern Utah… Declared a national park nearly 100 years ago, much of this park is inaccessible to people, and in the main canyon area of the park, a shuttle bus service runs a circuit, dropping people off at trailheads and viewpoints. It’s quiet, clean and unobtrusive.

Zion is a family-friendly park that can be enjoyed from viewpoints and short hiking trails, but like any camping trip, our journey to Zion was filled with strenuous hiking, cliff-hugging adventures and promises to return. We were lucky enough to have my dad join us on the trip, which is always a treat. Together, the three of us explored just about every nook and cranny up and down the main shuttle route.

At Weeping Rock, I was reminded of the unique ecosystems that exist within this park. Although technically in the desert, the Virgin River runs through Zion and rainfall that seeps through the sandstone drips off of the limestone below it creating hanging gardens and moss that covers rocks resting next to cacti.

Many of the named monoliths in the park are named after religious objects and people. The Great White Throne, the Altar of Sacrifice, Angel’s Landing (more on this in a minute) and the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) are overwhelming and stunning with their sheer drop offs and seemingly carved-out arches.

On Saturday we took a hike to Hidden Canyon, a secluded narrow ravine set high up in the hills. We were thrilled by the fact that parts of the trail required we hold onto a chain so as not to fall off the edge, and the stone staircases carved into the side of the hill felt ancient and secretive. Hidden Canyon itself was narrow and required some rock scrambling as we made our way back to a free-standing arch. It’s always so gratifying to me when the really rewarding features take some work to see. The big treat on this hike was the spotted owl that Cory saw resting in a tree. White, fluffy and completely unexpected, the owl perched quietly as we stared at it in amazement.

We received a little bit of rain Saturday night and Sunday morning, but once the sun started burning through the clouds, we headed for Angel’s Landing, a peak we’d been talking about since learning about it on Saturday. Angel’s Landing juts into the middle of the park and is accessible by a two-and-a-half mile trail that climbs 1,488 feet. It was muggy when we started up the trail, which quickly left the road and led back toward the “hill” (as Cory liked to call it) where the trail grew increasingly steeper. A lazy set of switchbacks turned back behind Angel’s Landing in a deceivingly flat, shady trail. Once we reached the end of the easy part, the trail turned 180-degrees as we headed up the 21 steep switchbacks known as Walter’s Wiggles. From there we ended up at Scout’s Point, where we were met with a sign warning us of hazardous conditions ahead. We had reached the first real challenge of the day. The trail led around a chunk of the mountain that again had a chain to help from falling, but this time the chain meant business. There were parts of the trail that required we rely heavily on the chain in order to avoid falling off the cliff face. I found it challenging; being short, I struggled occasionally to reach the next step up and I had to use the chain to drag myself up the rock. As we turned the final curve, I couldn’t believe what I saw in front of me. Angel’s Landing lay half a mile in front of me, straight up a narrow, rocky ridge not more than three feet wide in places.

“Holy balls,” I distinctly remember myself saying.

“Oh shit,” Cory said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the guy behind Cory said under his breath.

A man standing next to me laughed. “I love hearing people coming around the bend,” he said as we both looked at the treacherous path that lay before us. He told me that people coming back said the climb was worth it, but that lots of people got to the point we were at and made the decision not to continue. “It’s okay to stop here,” he said. “I am.”

But I wasn’t quitting. I don’t think I ever really thought about not finishing the climb to the top of Angel’s Landing. It just took me by surprise. What an intimidating endeavor, but one I will remember for a lifetime and feel proud of conquering.

We set off on the climb, pausing occasionally to rest, drink water and, yes, watch a California condor sunning itself on the side of the cliff face. We hauled ourselves up sand-slippery boulders and wedged ourselves into cracks as we let people pass us going in the other direction. We navigated around rocky corners and adjusted our footing to balance as we peered over the edge of the cliff and pointed out other hiking paths we’d climbed and bus stops we recognized. We became talented in a new sport I think should be in the gymnastics competition of the Olympics: uneven balance beam. Like a broken and dirty matchstick resting between the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower, the ridge we traversed became our momentary Everest.

Half a mile later we reached the peak of Angel’s Landing, a stunning viewpoint from which we seemed to be able to see the entire park (though this isn’t really true). Without any cars running down the spine of Zion, the view was really marvelous. Now that we were at the top of one of those monoliths, we could see the ribbon of the Virgin River, the winding sandstone road with the occasionally propane-powered bus meandering down it, the lonely lodge and the steep path we had climbed.

At the “lunchroom” on top of Angel’s Landing, people joked about how a waitress on roller skates would be by any minute to take our beer orders. As we munched on fruit and chips, Dad, Cory and I pondered the little things that surrounded us. When does a rock become a boulder, a boulder become a hill and a hill become a mountain? How did the chipmunks get to the top of Angel’s Landing? We marveled at the Korean hikers who flew by us going up and coming down, and we commented on the shoes and clothing people were able to climb in.

It was amazing being on the top of the world. Climbing Angel’s Landing is, I think, the closest thing I’ve ever done to climbing a mountain, and I’m really excited the three of us did it.

As we sat by the campfire on Sunday night, we made plans to come back and hike The Narrows—an upriver hike that requires some swimming. Perhaps we’ll add that on to the end of our rim-to-rim Grand Canyon adventure next summer. The campfire crackled, the smoke blew through the air, the stars shined, people laughed and talked quietly in sites around ours, and we basked in the glory of another fantastic camping trip in a place that is clearly superior to so many others.

Check out our other Zion pictures here.

Camelpacks and hiking boots,
JoAnna