Vertigo, or, Where Bryonys Fear to Tread

Microwaved maple and brown sugar porridge for breakfast once again, and tea made in the coffee pot. But a reasonably early start delayed by having lost all the photos I tried to upload last night; a whole 2 hours to upload and publish yesterday's blog! I think the internet here is quicker - let's hope! 
After checking out, and leaving our car in the 'parking lot', we caught the shuttle bus which takes you to the entrance of Zion Canyon National Park. It was already almost full when we got on, but the driver continued to pack people in - all holding on for dear life to the ceiling hangers. Thankfully it was only a 2 minute drive before we all had to get off and get on another shuttle to go up through the canyon itself. After the first stop we were full, then blow me down didn't the driver allow on almost a whole other busload of senior citizens - sprightly senior citizens, mind you - to stand once more clinging to the ceiling. I offered the lady standing beside me my seat but she declined, which I was quite pleased about because I had a lovely view out of the window! It was a bit of a obstacle course when we had to get out though! We'd decided on one of the iconic walks of Zion National Park - Angel's Landing, although I was a little daunted by the description of the route - long drop-offs, not for young children or anyone fearful of heights (that would be me)(not the child bit), with the last section being a route along a steep, narrow ridge to the summit. Our guide from yesterday said there were chains on the last ¾ mile section along the knife edge ridge; so no problem about the 1500 ft drops on either side, then!

The walk up was pretty much ok - I just kept over to the left - even though we’re supposed to walk on the right, and my mantra of yesterday kept flashing back - don’t look down! There’s one section near the ‘first top’ called Walter’s Wiggles. I don’t know how they’ve built it, but the track zig-zags up in very tight turns, the edge guarded by little walls. The ‘first top’ is actually quite a wide area with flat, slanting sandstone rocks, called Scouts Lookout. We sat here to catch our breath, eat an apple, photograph the chipmunks and congratulate ourselves on a swift and uneventful climb up. It was pretty busy up there - plenty people just sitting around enjoying the view, and waiting for others in their party to come back down from the ‘top top’ - Angels Landing. And I was going to wait with them! Angels might not fear to tread there, but I certainly did! Steve, on the other hand was keen to get up to the landing, so off he set. I watched as he walked, almost crab like, up the side of the first rise, hand over hand on the chains, waiting politely to let those on the return journey pass. Good decision on my part. He was soon out of sight and so I found myself a sheltered little spot, it having become quite gusty up there, to await his return, an estimated 45 minutes later. He was back after only about 20 minutes though, having asked another couple up there how long he could expect to be. Considering I was waiting, and we had a drive to do later, their reply of about an hour return to where he was right now and he decided to call it a day, take a few photos and turn around. What a sweet man :-)

We sat to eat lunch with our backs about 4ft away from the canyon edge - I couldn’t see the drop, so that was ok!

Knife edge ridge leading to Angels Landing

Walters Wiggles

Feeling delighted to have ‘almost’ conquered a rather imposing rock formation, albeit on a very walkable path, we headed out of the incredibly impressive Zion Canyon, over the high planes to Butch Cassidy country, passing through Glendale, (only meaningful to my immediate family!) on the way to Bryce Canyon, but more of that tomorrow.