Today is picture day

Today we got up early and had a quick breakfast so we could head out to Zion National Park again. We thought we would beat the crowds but the parking lot was nearly full again, and we were at least an hour earlier. Must be because it's the weekend.

After perusing the information sheets and assessing the hiking possibilities for hikes we thought we could do, we decided on Angel's Landing - a strenuous hike, about 5 miles round trip and 4 hours walking time. We weren't too sure about it, especially when the writeup indicated: 'long drop-offs and narrow trail, and not for anyone fearful of heights. At any rate we decided to try it and go as far as we could. The elevation change was listed as 1488 feet.

The trail up to the Scout Lookout was wide and easy to walk up, but it was very steep and had many switch backs. When we got to the top of the first ridge we had a look at the next part, which was about .5 miles long and decided that was enough for us. There were a lot of people on this hike - some continued on but many decided as we did and made that their turnaround spot.

Looking back on the trail from part way up the mountain.

Looking south down Zion Canyon from our stopping point

A different angle! Does that give you a good idea of how high we were

This is the final leg up to Angel's Landing. It's pretty narrow

After our hike we took the shuttle back down to the Court of the Patriarchs. It is a mountain range consisting of three majestic white mountains given Old Testament names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They best represent the majesty of the mountains we've been travelling through in the Park.

The Court of the Patriarchs

We took a little drive up Hwy 9 to see and drive through the mile-long tunnel we'd heard about. This feature looked a lot like a bridge.

By the time we'd done all this it was almost 4:00 and we had to head back home for supper. There's a grocery store close to the campground so we headed over to buy some items for supper and called it a day.