Here’s an alternate look at the final .25 miles of the Angel’s Landing hike in Zion National Park. It’s very difficult to show in a few images the scale of this beast. And I only took a few images because of the wind and the crowds. I saw teenagers hopping down rocks, away from the chains, where one misstep, one slip or one misplaced heel would have meant a fall to certain death. Youth.
I hear my father’s voice saying, “Dumbass.”
That one word was rarely directed at me. And when it was, I surely deserved it. Mostly it was directed with a varied timbre at fellow motorists, teenagers and hippies smoking reefer around kids. My dad referred to it as reefer.
“Dumbass,” echoed through my head every time a teenager blew past the clusters of people clinging to the chains, shaking with fear.
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Here’s a detail of the shot above that might do a better job of indicating scale:
Once you’re on top, it feels as improbable as it looks.