For the 2nd class in a row , we decided to take off on a desert bivouacking head trip for Halloween weekend .
Last twelvemonth we road - tripped to the Grand Canyon — right after a cold front had happen through Arizona . We knew it would be cold-blooded , but we had no estimate it would be leave - your - beer - outside - to - freeze , stick - your - spit - to - the - pine - tree , 15 ° F - at - night frigidity . I spent last Halloween setting a personal record of wearing five layers and bundling up inside my 0 ° F sleeping handbag . It was so inhuman , it was comedy .
This year ’s destination , Zion Canyon in southwestern Utah , was n’t quite as cold … until the last day , that is .
If you ’ve never witnessed the stunning sandstone grandeur of Zion Canyon , it ’s a must - see in your lifetime . I grew up in Vegas among the vermilion beauty of Red Rock Canyon , but Zion is all that , clip ten ! It ’s known to boast the grandiloquent sandstone cliffs in the world , and water seeping out of the rock has been determined to be thousands of years honest-to-goodness .
Mormon pioneers in the 19th century gave this natural wonder the scriptural name Zion , “ The Promised Land . ” One sojourn and you might actually trust you ’ve glimpsed a slicing of heaven , too .
We boost Angel ’s Landing on a peculiarly bipolar twenty-four hour period — the sky was gay above us , but on the other side of the canyon , it await like a wholly dissimilar day , all dark and ominous . The goal was to beat the violent storm to the summit . Starting out on the West Rim Trail , the hike was temperate , or unmanageable if you ’re forever gazing up in awe and careening off - lead at every turn .
We cool off in Refrigerator Canyon , squiggled the “ Wiggles ” ( a serial of 21 steep switchbacks up to Scout Lookout ) , ooh’ed and ahh’ed at the view , built a rock cairn terrier , then the fun really began on the last half - mile of the hike — the ill-famed Angel ’s Landing Trail .
I give props to whoever manufacture this class . A one - means trail follows a narrow-minded sandstone spine with unmixed dropoffs on either side — 1,200 animal foot and 800 pes , respectively . For a genuine Indiana Jones experience , there are chain bolt to some section of the rock as you throw together and climb to the summit meeting .
And since no adventure is complete without a kink , it decided to rain on us . Anything else would be too easy , right ? We skidded across slabs and clambered up boulder until we found ourselves standing on a tableland with the most breathtaking view of the canyons below .
As we achieve the Angel ’s Landing , it seemed as if the cloud suddenly disunite , the heavens perch up , the holy man start out singing , and a ray of glorious Inner Light shin on us . Laaaaaaaaaaah!So divine .
The next mean solar day we decided to explore the narrow , the grand pappa of slot canyons . Before our tripper , I ’d only heard a few things about the Narrows … admonition of flash floods , tales of jam through piss … and narration of mountain so utterly supremely dramatic , it all added up to a very alluring adventure .
The Narrows is a inscrutable esophagus carved out by the Virgin River over 16 spectacular miles , top to bottom . There is no “ lead ” per se . The trail is the river . The very , very cold river . To hike the Narrows means you ’re expend most of your clock time in the pee , whether you ’re walk over a shimmer stream , or wading shank - high in a swift current . It feels like you ’re balancing over a tricky layer of bowling balls that you ca n’t see under piss .
One can do an overnight backpack by buck a drive to the top of the canyon , camping at one of 12 campsites above the high H2O mark , and hiking downriver until reaching the paved Riverside Walk . Or one can get a predilection of the Narrows by doing an out - and - back day wage increase from Riverside Walk from the bottom of the canyon .
commend the freezing wilderness that was last year ’s Grand Canyon adventure ? The Narrows in the heart of fall equals or even surpasses that . We came prepared with layers , but we did n’t look to just how cold the water could in reality be . One stride into the Virgin River , and I instantly sire ice cream headache . The first 100 yards consist of me splashing and running toward a slight beach that was poke just above the H2O grade . But after five instant of jumping jack to get the feeling back in my toe , I had to stand still and really take it all in .
The Narrows is indescribable . Soaring canon paries , hanging gardens , raw springs … it was all intensely surreal . And here I was in the middle of it … in the centre of the river .
We only made it another mi more before we turned around . But after that little teaser , we cognise we had to come back next year to boost the entire route . Backpacks , tents , and neoprene included !
