Caution Angels landing

The last of the five Utah national parks we visited was Zion and it’s definitely our favourite.  It has much more vegetation than the others thanks to the Virgin river that flows through it.  Rather than looking down into the canyon like the previous parks, Zion has a road along the river in the bottom of the main canyon.  A system of shuttle buses run through the main canyon and to nearest town which is a brilliant idea (only slightly sullied by the automatic narration, majoring on Mormon settlers and conveniently skirting over the demise of the native people in the area) .  From the bus the valley sides tower above you and mule deer and wild turkeys graze in the riverside vegetation.  We arrived on a long holiday weekend ‘Utah education days’ which meant the campsite was absolutely packed, the buses and trails were packed and there were children everywhere, largely due to the size of Mormon families, 10 children seemed to be average!

First stop on the bus for us was The Grotto for the trail up Angels Landing, a route not recommended for chickens like me!  After series of switchbacks called Walters Wiggles after the man who carved the route into the rock face you have to scramble along narrow ledges a couple of thousand feet above the valley floor, a great view if you can bear to look, (I couldn’t).  Having made it to the top I was very worried that I might not make it down and would have to be airlifted off, I couldn’t stand up as I felt wobbly so Ralph went on to the tip where a family of seven (below average)  were having a portrait (not just a quick snap, think more “Cassey can you bring your left arm in slightly” “Issac, look more into the camera” etc….) taken preventing anyone who wanted to, having a unrestricted view from the tip which Ralph was annoyed about for the rest of the day (if you can believe it).  I don’t think I was too much of a chicken as at the start of the trail there was a sign with a gap for updating the number of deaths from people falling on this walk which since 2005 had been 6. 

Walters Wiggles

We thought we were nearly there and then we saw this up ahead!

don't look down

Jerusalem cricket

On the way down, not the steep hideous bit but on the flat Ralph spotted a huge Tarantula crossing the path in front of us and we also saw a Jerusalem cricket.