Angels Landing Zion National Park
My wife and I hiked the very popular Angels Landing trail in Zion National Park again after a few years. You've all seen the photos of crazy crowd issues on the trail, lines a quarter mile long waiting to climb up the final stretch of chains, right?
Well I have this theory that most of these places die down in the late afternoon. So it was Friday night and we entered the park at 5 pm, headed right for the trail and cruised up. No waiting, no crowds, only some occasional hikers passing by. This was one of those days where they still had the "Zion NP Parking Lot Full" as well.
So, my outdoor friends, if you want to visit these places but hate the crowds, just go in the late afternoon.
Make sure you've still got daylight enough to finish the trail though. The last shuttle bus departs at 9:15 pm so just make sure you can get back down to the trailhead in time.
The trail length, round trip is about 5 miles. My wife and I made the whole hike in about 3 hours 15 minutes, with plenty of 2 minute stops, and plenty of viewing time up top. I shot a TON of cool video I'm looking forward to editing, but for now I'll share a few pictures.
It's rated as a strenuous hike, @1500 feet in the 2.5 miles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu3n...e_polymer=true
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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aO...w1880-h1057-no
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