Vacation: Day Five

Zion National Park

On day five of our vacation, we were up early and on our way to Zion National Park. After arriving in the park, we jumped on the shuttle and stopped at each point of interest along the way, and if there was a trail, we would hike it. One of the trails we did not take on our way through the park was the Angels Landing trail. We had heard it was a very difficult trail that was very steep and narrow, with lots of switchbacks. A young girl working at one of the curio shops, said that the trail did not have any hand or guard rails, and was not a good trail, for those with a fear of heights. She said that when you reached a certain height, you would have to hang on to chains to get you the rest of the way to the top of the mountain.

We decided to make our last stop of the day at the Angels Landing trail, just to check it out. After pondering whether or not we should take the trail, we decided we would, and that we would turn back if the trail became too difficult. We started up the trail in late afternoon, which made it perfect for hiking since a lot of the trail was in the shade by that time of day. We made it all the way to the end of Walters wiggles. "Wow," what an accomplishment... if we had only known we were only around the corner from a flat landing, we would have continued a little farther. Nevertheless, we had a great time, and have no regrets of what we accomplished in Zion National Park.

We then traveled to Springdale, Utah to spend the night at Cable Mountain Lodge. It was a beautiful lodge, that was quietly nestled at the base of the mountain. After a day of travel and hiking, it was so nice to have such a quiet and pleasant place to stay... and the bed was probably the best bed we have ever slept on. That evening we had a nice dinner at a place called "Wild Willies." We ordered a BBQ chicken pizza that was outstanding. After dinner, we went to the market that was located next to our lodge to get some snacks. We noticed a couple of college students buying groceries and a styrofoam cooler. We ask them if they would be interested in our cooler since we no longer needed it. They were tickled pink to get our cooler and we were happy also, knowing it was being recycled. :-)