Zions National Park...for the true hikers!

A view of Angels Landing! On Thursday, March 25th, four friends embarked on a marvelous adventure! Amanda, Jason, Matt, and I began the 4 hour drive down to Zions National Park for a weekend of hiking, camping, smore making, wood runs, and much more! We made reservations at Watchman Campground right outside the park, set up tents, and dove into the sleeping bags. Luckily we had great weather! It was sunny and in the 60s to 70s all weekend, so nice!

Friday morning, we woke up late, which was nice to not be on a time schedule, ate breakfast (raisan bran and bananas) and set off to hike Angels Landing! Angels Landing is 1,208 feet tall, 2.4 miles to the peak (round trip ~5 miles), and is known for its sharp drop offs and narrow paths. Support chains are provided for the last half mile. One of the most known areas of the trail is Walter's Wiggles, which involves 21 steep switchbacks! The elevation at the top of Angels Landing is 5,990 ft.

Angels Landing from Hidden Canyon trail. Matt hiked up to a point and found a great secluded place to have lunch...a bonus was the great view!

The trail to Angels Landing begins with a warning sign, fair enough, since it has been known to be in the news for fatal deaths. "WARNING...falls from cliffs on this trail have resulted in death", oh and "DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE, $100 penalty"!

Jason and Amanda hiking up the last half a mile, holding onto the chains! I love Jason's smile! We were having a ton of fun!

And here is mine, what a cheese I can be! ;)

Matt in front of the last narrow ridge to summit Angels Landing!

Matt and I on Angels Landing!

It amazes me how narrow those ridges really are, I mean just look to the right of me, shear death!

We conquered Angels Landing!

Oh he makes me smile! :)

Amanda and I on the summit of Angels Landing!

Walter's Wiggles, 21 steep switchbacks! Matt ran all the way up, what a man!

Friday night, we returned and started cooking our tinfoil dinners, which the boys put together before the trip! Our only mistake was not having coals to cook them over or hot pads or something to turn them! :) Nevertheless, while Amanda and Jason went for a wood run (which meant not purchasing $6 bundles of wood from Sol Market, instead we parked off the side of the road and collected our own wood) Matt and I turned the dinners with random sticks and had it ready by the time they got back. The dinners turned out ok, besides the fact I lost most of my potatoes from being torched, but it was good! I made up some lemonade from powder, while Matt and Jason had Dr. Pepper and Amanda had her Diet Coke! We also had smores, which turned out great! I cooked my marshmallow, put it between the graham crackers and chocolate and then wrapped those in tin foil and set them over the fire. It was perfect, the chocolate melted and tasted wonderful! That night, we watched Stardust on Jason's laptop, which Jason and Amanda have somehow never seen. Matt and I were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, it's one of our favorites!

Amanda and Jason in front of Weeping Rock!

Saturday morning, we got up late once again, and headed out to Weeping Rock, Hidden Canyon, and the Emerald Pools! I had a few spots on the trail to Hidden Canyon where my foot slipped on the trail, no where near falling off a cliff or anything, but I sure gave Matt a heart attack! We hiked all day long and by the end we all were glad to get back to camp and cook some hot dogs, drink our favorite drinks, and sit around the campfire. We did make one more wood run that night, oh the memories! Sunday morning, we woke up around 5am, took down the tents, packed the car, and took off to get back to SLC in time for church meetings! We listened to Disney songs/Church songs the whole way back, it was so much fun!

Jason, Amanda, me, and Matt at Weeping Rock!

On the trail to Hidden Canyon! Pretty steep side there huh! Matt has his version of this story he likes to tell. I'll just say, on the way back, my foot slipped slightly, but my great sense of balance and flailing hands stablized me!

Matt attempting to boulder the vertical cliff...with Jason assisting of course!

Matt and I making sweet faces at the camera while at the lower falls of the Emerald Pools!

Matt hiked up to the side of the upper falls, he's the little speck to the right of the waterfall!

Defense! Go Neal! PG High Basketball!

Neal had a few games up here in SLC that I was able to attend on a day off! It was so fun to watch him play at this level! He's # 24! He had some great moves. They played Brighton and Hillcrest High schools! I got to know some of the parents sitting next to me and had a great time cheering on the team, yelling at the refs, and laughing with them!

Neal is right up in his face, "dead ball", I love it! Go Neal!

Oh man, I don't remember if he got called a foul on this play or not, but it looks like it will be an awesome block!