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Scout Lookout (28)
fulvio52
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 680 W: 70 N: 1047]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (3845) | Scout Lookout, also known as Chicken Out Point... This is where you'll have to make up your mind whether hitting the infamous ridge to Angels Landing or get the hell back down...
I've been hiking all sort of trails on the Italian Alps, the High Sierras and the Colorado Rockies, but this is by far the scariest trail I've ever been on. I'd rate it 10 on a scale from 1 to 5.
Full distance : 5 miles
Average hiking time : 5 hours
Elevation gain : long steady climb, 1488 ft.
Peak : 5785 ft.
Trail conditions: the first 2 miles are paved and well maintained. Most of the path is sunny, but Refrigerator Canyon offers shade and often a cool breeze. This is a strenuos early morning hike. Make sure to allow time to be off the trail by dark if starting late in the day. The last half mile is across a VERY narrow sandstone ridge. Anchored support chains are attached along SOME sections of the sheer fin.
Trailhead: Grotto picnic area in Zion Canyon.
Keep in mind you'll have to hike the last half mile along a narrow sandstone isthmus with vertical drop-offs on both sides. 1200 ft. on one side, and 800 ft. on the other... In some points the ridge is only 3 ft. wide...
Anyways, after "Squiggle the Wiggles", a series of 21 razor-sharp switchbacks named after the first superintendent of Zion who helped, in 1924, to engineer this steep zig-zagging section (the park was in its planning stages at this time and this trail section was created to enable horses to access Cabin Spring), you'll get to Scout Lookout.
This is the saddle at the junction of the Angels Landing Trail and the West Rim Trail. The views down into Zion Canyon are AWESOME. Several climbing routes can be viewed from this vantage point. West Rim Trail continues, past Cabin Spring to Lava Point in the Kolob Terrace section of Zion, whereas the Angels Landing Trail turns southeast.
We only hiked half the way to Angels Landing. I'm not afraid of heights (due to my job I often work on scaffolds and roofs, no problem) but standing on a 3 ft. wide sandstone ledge with 1200 ft. and 800 ft. drop-offs on both sides and nothing to hold on, DOES get on your nerves... Let stay the amount of reckless morons hiking this fin... I saw this guy "backpacking" a little baby strapped to his back...
People die every year out here. Last casualties I know of are a lady from Las Vegas in August 2006, and another gentleman in June 2007. They both fell to death from this very ridge.
I might be posting a shot or two from the ridge later on, but I tell you right upfront : I won't be accepting technical remarks of any kind. Like, I should have done this or that... I had other things to worry about at the time, that's to say : MY BUTT! No room for technicals... LOL!
With thanks to: http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-angels-landing-trail.htm |
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