Bert Gildart: Writer and Photographer

©Bert Gildart: Yesterday I was joined by three friends from Montana, but what we really share in common is that Chris, Hutch (see bear spray) and I have all worked in and generally explored many of our national parks. Yesterday, all of us (including Daniela, Chris’ wife) agreed: The hike from the Grotto in Zion National Park to Angel’s Landing is one of our nation’s premier experiences.

From the Landing you get a bird’s eye view of features that inspired such names as The Pulpit, Temples of the Virgin, The West Throne, The Temple of Sinawava, and the Court of the Patriarchs, just to mention a few.

Though you don’t have to make the climb to appreciate the park’s incredible red rocks, ascending such edifices makes you think about beauty and our place in the Cosmos. Some of these rocks were the result of winds that blew during the Jurassic Period, some 140 million years ago.

NOT FOR EVERYONE

But the climb is not for people with recovering knee injuries (such as my wife, Janie) or for anyone with a fear of heights. Nor is the climb for anyone in poor shape, for the hike ascends 1400 feet in a distance of 2.5 miles and in the course of the climb traverses about 30 switchbacks, 18 of which have inspired names such as “Walter’s Wiggles.”

From the Grotto you climb two miles to Scout’s Landing, and though the hike is steep, this is not the section that might send those squeamish about heights into overdrive. It’s the next section, the half-mile section that requires you cling to the park-installed chains, least you slip and descend into the abyss. But it is also this section that generates so much awe and that often compels people to overcome fears.

Click to see larger image. L to R: Hike to Angel’s Landing begins abruptly, and never changes; Chris and wife Daniela peer through hole created by drops of water; descending through Walter’s Wiggles and entering Refrigerator Canyon; descending from Angel’s Landing using security of chain.

“Everyone else,” you say to yourself, “is doing it, so why shouldn’t we?”

PHOTOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE

Yesterday, as we hiked, we saw entire family groups. We saw couples toting babies in packs and this we thought was dangerous, for balance is required. Fortunately, we think the couple must have gotten this message as we never saw them after the first stretch.

For the photographer, the challenge is to figure out some way of dramatizing the 1400 feet of vertical relief that certainly had an impact on me. But there’s also the challenge of showing the beauty of Angel’s Landing and all that surrounds it. Daniela (a psychologist) helped as she inched toward the edge on her stomach, trying to absorb all that lay below. And later, Chris and Hutch (our next door neighbor) and Daniela again helped by descending a staircase cut into the stone that tumbles off into space. The chain is your anchor of life.

 

Still, it’s hard to convey the feeling just with pictures as the scene is comprised of so many sensory elements. There’s the sun beating on your shoulders, the smell of cedar, the sound of tiny chipmunks scurrying in and out of the rocks, and the freshness of wind gusts that can only be described as whimsical.

And then there’s the beauty derived from the Virgin River cutting down into the red Navajo Sandstone — sculpting as it goes — creating spires, and monuments and temples of sand and stone.

“This really is special,” said Chris, now an international teacher in Berlin, home for a few weeks. “It’s got to rank with floating the Grand Canyon, or hiking the Highline Trail in Glacier.” That’s part of the reason we’re spending our time in Zion; to see all this once again. Climbing up to Angel’s Landing really is a premier experience.”

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THIS TIME TWO YEARS AGO:

Padre Island is Mecca For Bird Watchers

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at 6:14 am and is filed under National Lands, Photography, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.