By Arnold Platt
A bit of a preface is required before relating my experiences hiking Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park in Southern Utah. I had been hiking in the park once before two decades previous, but had only hiked The Narrows about halfway and a few short hikes to popular touristy areas. But during that time, I had spoken to a number of people who had hiked Angel’s Landing and decided that it was one to put on my bucket list. Then life got in the way.
For many years, I was unable to travel back to Zion and was forced to dream of a future trip. Then, during that time, I was diagnosed first with Parkinson’s Disease, and then later with a rare form of Parkinsonism called Dopa-Responsive Dystonia. Even with medication, my balance was severely affected and too much physical activity would cause my body to shut down. I was exhausted every day after work and could barely make it through a normal day. My dreams of completing Angel’s Landing were shut down. Not only would it be physically impossible, I would also be in a tremendous deal of danger if I lost my balance.
Fast forward another decade. I was able to get a DNA test done and found that my neurological complaint was probably due to an excessive amount of iron in my blood, a condition known as hemochromatosis. As I stopped the ingestion of iron through red meat, and changed my diet, I found the neurological complaints had dissipated to a severe tremor. Plus, I was now living in Utah!!! A few friends from church suggested we go hike Angel’s Landing, and they had done it many times. Now I had experienced hikers to help me along the way. The plan was set, dates decided, and we were on our way.
We camped out at an RV park in Leeds and the whole time, I was very positive about achieving my goal. I had been a rock climber for years and heights were no problem. In fact, I was bragging about how easy the climb would be, ignoring the raised eyebrows from my fellow hikers.
We got to the trail and began the walk up the slope to the “real” beginning of the trail. It was a beautiful walk, skirting the river, and covered by trees. Chipmunks and squirrels scampered everywhere, and other hikers on their way back down kept up a positive banter, “You can DO this!” and such. At each comment, in the back of my head I said, “Duh!” We turned a corner and my friends, Dave and Roger, pointed ahead at a trail cut into a cliff face and said, “There’s the trail.” I struggled for breath for a minute, but realized it was just a switchback trail. I’d been up many of those. In fact, I had climbed straight up cliffs like that before, albeit on the end of a rope. That was the beginning of the switchbacks. After a good 30 minutes of continual climbing up a steep slope, we reached the top and looked over an amazing view. My lungs were burning and my thighs and calves were screaming at me to quit. As we stopped to catch our breath…..or for me to catch my breath…. Dave and Roger told me that we just finished the easy climb. Not what I wanted to hear!!!
There was a bit of respite as we walked through the cool recesses of the canyon on a relatively flat trail. We stopped for some pictures at a small cave and eventually made it to the next section of trail, one known as Walter’s Wiggles. They are a repeat of the previous switchbacks, except each section of trail is only about 100 feet long with about 20 turns. I was starting to understand Angel’s Landing Trail. The trail seemed to have difficult sections, punctuated by breather sections to get one prepared for the next section. I thought that was a very neat way of doing things until I got to the top of the wiggles.
At the top, we encountered a large expanse of sand, rock, and bushes on an area known as Scout’s Landing. The Angel’s Landing trail disappeared in the distance, across a peninsula of rock that climbed steeply up the side of a mountain peak. It didn’t seem to bad from a distance. Then Roger told me to come look off the side of the cliff. It didn’t help that he was standing at the edge like he was waiting for a taxi on a curb. I inched forward and glanced downward and saw the green blur that must have been trees. A shuttle bus was moving up the road and looked like a micro-mini matchbox car. It was at this moment that I realized I was in WAY over my head. I took a breather…..away from the precipitous drop…..and Dave reminded me that I didn’t have to get to the Landing. Getting this far was more than enough, but I realized that I had an opportunity of a lifetime. I had to do this. We decided to hike to the beginning of the chains.
That portion wasn’t too bad, but the chains came quickly and the sides narrowed and soon we were hiking on a trail that on either side, I could see the dropoff into nothingness. I was terrified. I had to take another break to determine whether I could make it to another section.
While I was sitting, an 80 year old man and woman waltzed by, and I decided if they could do it, then I could too. So I went a little further, clinging to the chain for dear life ...which was difficult to do because I am 6 feet 7 inches tall. It required a lot of stooping, which I later realized cannot be good for keeping one’s balance.
And so the hike continued for the remainder. I would make it through a section, get to the next, freak out, take a break, and watch others in similar states pass me by. And every person coming back would call out positive encouragement that I could do this, that I could make it to the end. So I would stand back up, take a deep breath, and go a little further. I didn’t look back, just kept looking forward. Meanwhile, Dave and Roger continued their banter with others using their good-natured gallows humor, punctuated with tales of falling and death.
There were a few areas where I nearly gave up. One in particular, when we reached a boulder in the way that had chiseled steps to cross up and over it. There was one big problem, though. The chains stopped, leaving a hiker to climb and descend the steps without anything to hold on to…..and it just happened to be the narrowest section of the peninsula. On both sides, the ground disappeared and fell thousands of feet. One misstep meant skydiving without a parachute!!! But a few deep breaths and two great friends to add encouragement ...and gallows humor, and I was up and over in a jiffy.
Before I knew it, we were at the Landing. I put in a call to my wife to tell her of the accomplishment and texted my family. It is the only area in all of Zion’s National Park with all bars of cellular service!! We sat and talked to other hikers who had accomplished the feat and took pictures, and enjoyed the camaraderie. I realized that hiking to this peak was a lot like life.
We have difficult spots and easy spots, but when we surround ourselves with people we trust and others who are taking, and enjoying, the same journey, it becomes much easier to make it through the difficult times. I also realized that this trail was the only place on earth that I know of where people of many different backgrounds, nationalities, religious beliefs, and walks through life were working together and giving positive encouragement, wanting to see OTHERS achieve the same thing they had done. If only the world could be like that all the time, there would be Peace on Earth.
When we decided to head back down the trail, it was so much easier. I saw the trail through new eyes and revelled in the beauty I had missed, being so focused on the chain. I was like a mountain goat, hopping over sections that had terrified me not long before and I never once touched the chains. Plus, I was now able to hand out encouragement along the way to those who thought it would be impossible to achieve.
The hike down ended up being a great time to make new friends and learn about different cultures and it seemed to end much too quickly. But I had made it and have vowed to return again, the next time, hopefully, with my siblings. I want to be able to encourage them to achieve the summit as well so they can then pass the experience on to their children and friends.
Altogether an amazing day. I learned not to be so cocky about things and how much that positive encouragement helps. I also learned the value of friendship and also the importance of being friendly to others and how wonderful it is when everyone is only thinking of achieving the same goal and only showing encouragement to the completion.
Angel’s Landing has got to be the best hike I have ever enjoyed, and also the most meaningful and poignant experiences of my life.
