Angels Landing :: The Encore

No, I didn't go to the top of Angels Landing a second time ;-)

The day after I made it to the top of Angels Landing I was at the Visitors Center and saw a poster on sale that showed Walter's Wiggles and Angels Landing, together. A notation stated that it had been taken from the West Rim Trail. Hmm, I wondered if I could find that spot and take my own photo. So a couple of days later, I made that trek for the third time to Scout's Lookout! The trail didn't get any easier either. But, Oh!, the views were well worth the effort.

Angels Landing from the beginning of the West Rim Trail. Scout's Lookout is in the foreground (that flat, sandy area). The trail ascends that small peak on its west side then climbs up the ridge of the second peak.

A full view of the east side of Angels Landing showing the 1200 foot sheer drop to the Virgin River flowing through the valley below.

I followed the West Rim Trail for about an hour when it took a decided turn towards the North. I looked behind me and saw an unmarked trail through the sand leading to a section of slick rock. Venturing off the trail I followed the slick rock to it's end, about half an hour or so. (Photo was taken on my way back, hence the change in lighting.)

There below me was the scene I was seeking. Walter's Wiggles and Angels Landing. I spent several hours just sitting there at the edge, looking down. It was a wonderful spot to have lunch!

By mid-afternoon, the sun had almost disappeared, clouds had moved in and the wind had picked up considerably. Reluctantly, I left my perch on the side of the canyon.

On my way back down, I caught a glimpse of the duo from another spot just a little ways off the trail. I had to carefully move down the side of a little “hill” of rock. This angle shows some of Refrigerator Canyon, which you have to go through to get to Walter's Wiggles.

Walter's Wiggles from the first vantage point.

And from the second viewpoint.

Other posts in this series:

• Angels Landing :: The Prelude
• Angels Landing :: The Overture
• Angels Landing :: Interlude
• Angels Landing :: The Finale

The Wolfman panel and Muley Point

Since we had been doing a lot of hiking every day up to this pointwe figured we should take a "rest day", so that's what we did today. We only did a couple of very short walks today but still saw some incredible sights! We were heading into the Cedar Mesa region of southeastern Utah which has quite a few locations of Indian ruins and rock art. Our plan for the day was to check out a couple of areas that were supposed to have some interesting petroglyphs, then work our way up towards Natural Bridges National Monument. Our first stop of the day was what is known as the "Wolfman" panel in Butler Wash not far from the community of Mexican Hat. It was less than a half-mile walk to see the panel, and it was fascinating indeed. On the side of the cliff near the bottom of the wash was a very nice series of images carved into the rock. It is always fun to sit and contemplate these images and what they may have meant to the people that carved them.





































After our visit to the Wolfman panel we headed for a road known as the "Moki Dugway", which is sort of a shortcut road between Mexican Hat and Natural Bridges National Monument. As you head towards the Moki Dugway from the valley, the road is paved but as you approach the base of Cedar Mesa the road turns to gravel and gets very narrow, then it starts to climb. The Dugway is a gravel road with a series of steep inclines and 180 degree switchbacks as it ascends 1,200 feet to the top of Cedar Mesa. At the top of the dugway a 5 mile dirt road goes through BLM land to an overlook known as Muley Point. The overlook has very dramatic views south over the twisting, entrenched canyons of the San Juan River and to the desert beyond. You can even see part of Monument Valley far off in the distance. We took in the views for a while then decided to head further up the mesa. Our plan was to camp at Natural Bridges, but as we drove towards the monument it started to snow and the temperature dropped from the mid 50's to the mid 30's. We didn't want to have a miserable wet and cold camping experience so we instead headed for the town of Blanding where we stayed at the Super 8. This turned out to be a nice treat because they also had a hot tub and for the second night in a row we were able to relax in the soothing waters of a whirlpool :-)

Jurassic Way 2 - Chipping Warden - Charwelton

With Marta. A bright sunny day - begun by scraping ice from windscreen. Ideal walking conditions, especially with base layer to keep me warm. Underfoot generally fine - some mud, wet grass. Between 8 and 9 miles.

Photo taken when we arrived here on Oct 2 (yup - rain on lens :-( )

We set off from Chipping Warden, where we finished JW1 on 7th October . We took the road towards Culworth, ignored the first footpath sign, but took the second path, about quarter of a mile along the road, left on a metalled track. Not marked as Jurassic Way - do they mean to test our map-reading?





We followed this track round to the right, through a small wood, crossed a couple of fields and a minor road, and climbed up to around 500 feet, stopping to admire the view behind us.

Looking south going up hill towards Warden House Farm. There's still a trace of the fog I drove through near W. Haddon!

We'd built in a bit of exploration time, so turned to investigate the Cool Contours arts centre, part of the farm. Although nothing was happening today, we rather liked the wooden pigs.

After this we returned to our route, which took us through some trees and past a large pond in a dip below the farm.





Then, gradually downhill, making sure we took the left-hand path over a small hill, where the Macmillan Way goes right.





Then we walked across a small stream and on until we met another road, where we turned right, and ignored footpath signs until we saw a Jurassic Way sign at a right turn into the hamlet of West Farndon. The path starts by a row of stone cottages, turning left across a couple of fields, before crossing another minor road.





With a little imagination, I could have been in Provence? Replace poplar with cypress, let the sky deepen its blue. . .

Lookin down from the old railway bridge

We had no problems following the path as it took us over a disused railway line and towards a farm track, where we made use of a roller for a snack stop.

A short walk from here and we were at Woodford Halse, which has a variety of shops - we called in at the Fleur-de-Lys pub, but they don't do food. They recommended the Tea Station, a small friendly cafe, so we had lunch there, rather soon after our snack stop!





We left Woodford Halse by the path at the bottom of the hill, crossed the road and walked past the industrial estate, turning right just before a radio mast, along a track which eventually turns up to Charwelton Lodge, up on a hill. At that point we continued ahead, alongside a hedge, then over another dismantled railway.









The path took us past spoil from railway construction, the deserted mediaeval village of Charwelton, and its fishponds to Holy Trinity Church and the nearby farm.







Across a field or two, we joined a lane then took a small footpath through a field of calves/small cows, then one with goats and horses, and emerged next to Charwelton's packhorse bridge over the infant Cherwell - probably 15th century. It's very small, and the road hides part of it.









A wise observer approves our achievement.

Early autumn at High Falls

I made this image a couple of days ago on the Pigeon River at Grand Portage State Park. Normally I don't care for HDR (High Dynamic Range) photopraphy but in this instance I decided to try HDR, since my split grad filter just wasn't giving me very good results. The image you see here is a blending of 3 different photos at 3 different exposure settings, one exposed for the brightly-lit trees, one exposed for the dark foreground rocks and another one exposed for the middle areas of the scene.

The 9th Regiment at Shiloh :: The Photo

This is the first of two photographs from the display at the visitor center at Shiloh National Battlefield.

The caption under this picture in the display reads: “Men of the 9th Indiana, a regiment of Hazen's brigade in the Army of the Ohio, in camp before the battle.”

Perhaps, partially due to the size of the photo on display (about 30x36 inches), it is out of focus.

The close-ups below begin from the left hand side of the above photograph. There is some overlap in the close-ups so some men will appear on more than one of the pictures.

Though out of focus, it is interesting to see the different stances and postures of the men. How some of them seem to be paying attention, and others, well not so much.

Observation Point

The guide for the Observation Point Trail states “This is a long strenuous trail with many steep sections and unprotected drop-offs. Not for anyone who is out of shape, or has a fear of heights.” An apt description, I might add! It ascends 2,148 feet in four miles, making it an eight-mile round-trip. Observation Point provides another view of the Zion Canyon, including Angels Landing, from above.

When I was about one-third of the way up, I began to be passed by small groups of kids. They just kept on coming. And passing me. Finally, several of them had stopped to take a break and I took that opportunity to talk with them. There were 63 kids (ranging in age from 11 to 13) and 12 adults from a satellite school in Houston, Texas. They had been at Zion for eight days and had gone on a hike every day, each hike being progressively more difficult. The day before they had ALL made it to the top of Angels Landing! In fact, each and every one of them had completed every hike they had done. Pretty impressive. However, I was extremely glad that they weren't doing Angels Landing at the same time as I was. It's not that they were terrible kids, because they were the most well-behaved group I think I've ever seen. It's just that there were so many of them!

A short time later I began to play leap-frog with a fellow, probably in his 30s, and asked if he was with the group of kids from Houston. Turns out he was the husband of the principal. We talked for a while as we slowly walked along the trail. He told me that each of the kids had earned their way during the school year by “doing the right thing” as much as possible. They have a system using baseball as an analogy, hits for the good things and strikes for the not so good. Sixty-three kids had enough “hits” to make the trip while 42 were back in Houston.

Anyway, by the time I got to Observation Point I had been passed by nearly everyone in their group, as well as a few other hikers. But I got there! And again, the views from the top and along the way were well worth the effort.

Part way up the trail, eyeball to eyeball with Angels Landing (with the help of the 7x zoom). It doesn't look quite so “bad” from this angle.

After you go up a series of steep switchbacks you enter a narrow canyon that has a stream running through it, but there wasn't much water actually flowing. This was one of the neatest parts of the hike, in my opinion!

There were pools of standing water but we didn't get our feet wet.

The sky and the walls of the canyon are reflected in one of the pools of water.

This was taken on the way back down, entering the canyon from the east.

The trail has exited Echo Canyon and is progressing up the east side of the canyon wall.

I'm still going up, but they are going down.

The destination, Observation Point, is just above the red “lines” in the center.

This last uphill stretch seemed never-ending.

Finally, the plateau. But there is still a ways to go to get out to the point.

Part of the group of 63 kids. A very well-behaved group they were.

The lower portion of the trail, coming up out of the Zion Canyon floor. The Observation Point trail goes off to the left (top center of photo). The three topmost switchbacks belong to the Hidden Canyon Trail, which goes off to the right.

The top of Angels Landing ranges from 20 to 40 feet in width. There are people up there...

As I was promised by my camping neighbors, Maryann and Rob, the view from Observation Point is spectacular. The Virgin River flows through the valley, Angels Landing is in the Center, and then the eastern wall of Refrigerator Canyon. Fantastic.