Coffee with Angels & Wine at 8000'

I woke up this morning, made some coffee and sat upfront in the RV to watch the sunrise on the hills. I thought about plans for the day. On the bicycle ride yesterday I talked to another biker (really retired old guy) who told me about a hike he had done a couple of times before called Angels Landing. So as I sat that drinking my coffee at 7:30am I thought WWDD? What Would Drew Do? Hit the trail TNAB style! (fast up and fast down!). So by 8:30am I'm on the trail! The posted sign said "strenuous" 5 miles / 4 hours round trip. The first two miles is on a paved trail cut into the side of the canyon with many switch backs. I'm glad I was there early and in the shade. It then tops out at a saddle and there the fun begins. The last half mile is on a true knife edge with thousand foot drops on both sides. There is a trail with cuts into the rocks and sections of chain bolted to the side to hold on to. I'm not shamed to admit I used the chain. It was a rock scramble along ledges and up faces. The puts you out on a rock platform with views up and down the canyon. For most of my time up there I was alone drinking my coffee with the Angels. It was 9:30 am. I enjoyed the view, took pictures and was thankful for the chance to be there. After a scramble off the ridge and a quick decent I was back at the RV by 11 and on the road. (There were at least 50 people going up as I was coming down.) I drove up to the end of the canyon road because I could before they close it to traffic for the summer and back out of the park.

Start of the trail up to the saddle and Angels Landing on the right.

View from the saddle.

The "trail" out to Angels Landing.

The view up to the headwall of the canyon.

The view down river.

Coffee with the Angels.

Happy Morning.

Narrowest and most exposed on both sides.

There is a mile long tunnel with narrow lanes and low ceiling. On the way into the park I had to pay an extra $15 because they stop two-traffic in the tunnel and let vehicles like mine drive down the middle of the road.

Red cliffs along Rt 12.  A bonus.

Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon looking from the other side.

One for the dog lovers :-)  To bad humans can't read.

I went 90 miles and next stop Bryce Canyon National Park. Zion is IN a canyon. Bryce is on TOP of a canyon and looking down. The most spectacular stop is the Bryce Lookout. An unbelievable open area of rock formations. I wandered around for a few hours. The campground at Bryce is at 8000' and there's still lots of snow around. No RV electric hookup tonight so I'll be boondocking (which means living off the batteries: so into bed early to keep the thermostat (the furnace fan draws a fair amount of electricity), a movie on the iPad (Cars) and French Press coffee in the morning). Opened a bottle of wine to toast a great day. Despite the elevation I think I'll sleep well.