I was waiting to post until I could figure out how to include pictures but decided to just go ahead. There are better pictures out there of everything I mention here and I put some on my instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/d41253/

I wrote a lot so will break it into two parts: Zion and Grand Canyon.

My son and I flew into Las Vegas, picked up a car, and arrived at a hotel just outside Zion NP at about 4PM. The last part of the drive was very dramatic as we followed the Virgin River for part of the way winding through amazing red and white rock passes. The lady who checked us in recommended the Canyon Overlook Trail for a quick look at the park before dinner. The short drive through that section of the park was even more dramatic, with two tunnels and several switchbacks up. The hike to the overlook was only about a quarter mile but often steep with great views of an extremely narrow slot… is it a canyon? I don’t know, but it looked too narrow for a person to get in so it was hard to tell how deep it was. The short walk was just the thing after several hours of driving and flying. Several folks were settling in to stay through sunset.

We ate Irish Nachos and drank a pitcher of 3.2 beer at a “brewpub” just outside the gate. The view was amazing and we were thirsty so the weak Utah beer hit the spot and didn’t impede the short drive back to the hotel.

There were two trails I wanted to see based on the little research I did before leaving home: the Narrows River trail and Angel’s Landing. The Virgin River flow was too high so the Narrows hike was closed so we couldn’t do that this trip. In the morning we parked at the visitor center just inside the gate and took the shuttle bus north to the Angel’s Landing trailhead. The trail starts with a slog up a wide, crowd-friendly 10% grade to a fantastic view spot on a sharp edge. There was a ranger up there giving a Condor talk. This is where the famous section begins that involves thick chains anchored to rocks for most of the way to the end of a very narrow knife edge. It is quite dramatic. In good conditions, which we had, the rock is pretty grippy with soft rubber-soled sneakers. There were a few spots where the sand acted like a coating of ball bearings and I was glad to have a firm grip on the chain. The penalty for failure is huge. There is a sign giving the death count at about 15 in recent years. In truth the view from the end of the trail isn’t that much better than it is at the start of the scary section and it was scary enough to detract a little from my enjoyment. I was more worried about watching the 9-year-old in front of me slip and fall than I was about falling myself. I had a death grip on that chain for every foot that it was available. I’m glad we did the upper section once but next time I’ll probably skip the last bit. We had started at about 9AM and it was getting crowded by the time we turned around at the end of the trail, which meant that there was a lot of waiting for people at the numerous one-way sections. There was also weather rolling in and expected in a few hours. The best advice is to hit that trail as early as possible to beat the crowds and afternoon weather. Whether you do the whole thing or just the first part it is a wonderful, memorable hike. It was also a lot of fun to re-live when viewing the geographic feature from different locations in the park and on the 3-D relief map at the park museum.

Next we went to the river walk: a flat, paved path that follows the river as far as you can go without getting in the water. It was very pleasant and we got a peek at the area we hope to explore one day as either a bottom-up day-hike or top-down backpacking trip when the flow rate permits. From the end of the river walk you get a taste of the Virgin River canyon as it narrows and the walls get steeper upstream.

Our last hike begain a few stops south on the park bus at the Weeping Rock trailhead. We somehow missed weeping rock on the way up but our real goal was Hidden Canyon, recommended by a ranger we’d met earlier. It starts again with a crowd-friendly 10% grade trail that switchbacks up a steep wall just east of Angel’s Landing. We stopped a lot on the way up and looked at the feature we’d just hiked over, picking out hikers on the edge and outcrops we remembered with my monocular (best REI impulse buy ever). Near the top the trail rounds a few outcroppings with great views, offers a few more chains on narrow ledges, and leads to the opening of Hidden Canyon. This is a fun, level walk through a nice little cut in the mountain. There is a little scrambling at the beginning but after that it’s just an easy walk to a marked turn-around point and a small (maybe 10 feet high) arch that looks a little like the one in the Star Trek “Guardian of the Galaxy” episode. We didn’t try to go farther but it might be fun to explore there a little. There is also a rim trail at that same level that looks really interesting in both directions. I believe that one leads to an amphitheater in the middle of a cliff face. Some weather started coming in and we were getting hungry so we boarded the bus south towards the entrance. We got off at the museum for a quick look and watched a video about the park. I enjoyed looking at the 3-D relief map and tracing where we had just hiked and places we’d like to catch next time. One day is fine for a quick taste of the park, it made us want to come back.