Iron, Like a Lion, In Zion

We left Vegas feeling slightly worse for wear and unfortunately so did Elvis :( With all the mountains we'd worn out the front brake pads, and metal on metal hadn't done one of the rotors any favours. We lucked out and found a great garage on route who squeezed us in that day & we settled for the night at a beautiful spot called Quails Creek State Park.

We were excited to be heading going to Zion National Park, although slightly disappointed we couldn't get into the park campsites so we ended up in a commercial campsite just outside, and spent the rest of the day lazing around the pool (again!). Even when we arrived by 7:50am on the 2nd morning we couldn't get into the public campsite so we decided to wing it.

With the early start we were able to tackle the Angel's Landing - this is an infamous trail with 21 switchbacks followed by a ridge a couple of metres wide with 1000m drops both sides. I wasn't sure if I 'd be able to do it after not doing the Half Dome cables, but I did it & really enjoyed it - the views at the top were truly spectacular.

In the afternoon we went up the Narrows trail & it immediately became apparent why most people had hired neoprene socks & sturdy boots - it was bloody freezing! I made it some way up before bailing but Phil waited for his feet to go numb and made it to the very narrow part of the canyon, where buckled walls rise a hundred metres to the surface.

As we had no camp site we had to drive on through the park, and its incredible mile long tunnel through the sandstone but we found a great BLM spot as the sun settled down for the night.Read more