I watched the sun rise over the red rocks. I sadly dropped Henley off at Doggy Dude Ranch. He’s never gone to a place like that. They make me nervous. I don’t know if they’re really taking him to play in the river or if he’ll die of heat exhaustion or worse, be forced into puppy porn.
I planned on hiking Angels Landing after seeing pictures from the top. Looking in the guide, they describe this trail as strenuous with drop off cliffs, not for people with balance, cardiac, or pulmonary issues, and not recommended if you have a fear of heights. On the shuttle to the trailhead, the automatic recording warns riders of this trail saying that people have died on it. I was getting more and more nervous. I do have a slight fear of heights that I forget about until I’m at a great height. I tried Googling how often people die up there but I didn’t have enough service. I went for it anyway.
It was definitely strenuous. The first half or so is an easy paved path but very steep. It drops off the side but it was wide enough that I didn’t feel like I was going to trip on nothing and fall off the mountain. I was nervous the whole time for later when it was supposed to be narrow with drop offs on both sides. I thought I shouldn’t be carrying my water bottle because I wouldn’t be balanced. I checked that my boot laces were tied. Is weight evenly distributed in my pack? What if sweat drips into my eye at the wrong moment? Or I sneeze. Or there’s a slight breeze. I thought the disaster most likely to occur is that I would psych myself out and just thinking so hard about not falling I would fall. Then I got to the scary part. It was challenging and there were drop off cliffs, but there was a chain to use like a railing. No problem! Had it not been there, I would have fallen and died for sure. But if it hadn’t been there, this trail wouldn’t be open to the public. With something to hold on to, it eliminates the possibility of falling and my fear. The top was gorgeous and worth any anxiety I put myself through.
I picked up Henley and he had no tattoos, piercings, leftover make up on or injuries. He wouldn’t tell me if everything was okay or not, but he did seem tired so I guess I have to take that as he was busy. Doing what, I’ll never know. I stopped for a sandwich at River Rock Roasting Company in La Verkin. A great option when going to or coming from Zion when you want to miss all the touristy places in Springdale.
I continued driving south through the desert -- nothing but sand and red rocks. This is the one place on my trip that I have been to before. This past January I flew into Santa Fe and drove around New Mexico and Arizona. Again, I was staying in Gilbert outside of Phoenix at my friend Rachael’s. Rachael is one of my very oldest friends. We go back to kindergarten or so. We played house with chickens, flew around on four wheelers and snow mobiles, took the bunnies on said four wheelers and snow mobiles, called Delilah and told her fake sob stories to get a good song played for us, listened to the AOL dial up tone and asked a/s/l in chatrooms, and hit up the Worcester under-eighteen clubs. (Come to think of it, why were we allowed to do ANY of those things?) She’s one of those forever-friends where even if we don’t talk for a while, when we do we pick right up where we left off and don’t miss a beat. We sipped icy white wine and chatted while watching the dogs play. What more do you need?
<3
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| See those people? See where you have to hike up? Ya. |
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| Angels Landing |
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| Angels Landing |
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