Heat Kills

Zion National Park- a place that has been idolized over the past few years because of the Angels Landing hike. Seemingly everywhere in the outdoor corner of Instagram, social media influencers are posting videos about how perilous the 6 mile hike is. Using phrasing such as “the most dangerous hike in America” or “Zion’s most challenging hike” and while the hike requires scrambling, is (during some parts) on a knife edge ridge, and has a very steep grade, it is far from either of these claims. The hardest part about this hike for most people looking to make the now famous climb is securing a permit (I’ll get into the permitting process more in a little bit)

So after running from the smoke produced by the 11,000 acre uncontained fire just south of Bryce Canyon, we sought refuge in elevation. The wind was in our favor, blowing NE as we were going west, but the smoke was filling the valley between Bryce and Dixie National Forest, so we climbed to roughly 9,500 feet near Brian Head, UT where the air was clear and made camp. The next day, after a cool and refreshing night at elevation, we went into Brian Head proper to visit some old places with fond memories attached to them. In November of 2022, Alicia, myself, and several others from our church went on a week long road trip to visit Utah’s Big 5 (the 5 National Parks in Utah). On the way from Zion to Denver International Airport we stopped at a ski lodge in Brian Head to stay out of the cold. Overnight, about 2 feet of snow dropped on us, we barely got the rental (a Hyundai Palisade) out of the parking lot, and we would not have made it off the mountain without the help of a earth mover tasked with clearing the roads. It was a whole ordeal that was mildly concerning in the moment, but created some lasting memories to look back on. So we went to the general store that we had all gotten our snacks at and (as dumb as it sounds) drove through the parking lot where we were stuck in 2022, talking about how much fun that trip was. In the parking lot of the general store we decided to go to the Zion Canyon Visitor Center to see what our options were for hiking and get a better lay of the land. In 2022 we had only spent roughly half a day in Zion, most of the roads were closed, and we couldn’t do the hike to Angels Landing because there weren’t any available permits, so we both had unfinished business and wanted to actually spend some time exploring this amazing park.

So we drove down from the refreshing mountain air into the scorching heat of Cedar City. Again it was over 100 degrees, and the sun was beating down. Anytime I got out of the car it felt like I was opening the door to a blast furnace, so I was definitely glad that our only plan that day was to drive through Zion and get info at the climate controlled visitor’s center. Our first stop of the day was Kolob Canyon Visitor’s Center, a less trafficked entrance to Zion. From the visitor’s center there is a 5.3 mile long road that dead ends in a parking lot, with a variety of trailheads along the way. Hiking was out of the question, so we just enjoyed the scenic drive that showed us Zion from a new perspective (and had a lot less cars). Once out of Kolob, we continued down I-15 to Zion’s main entrance where we were met with crowds of tourists and all of the industries that cater to family vacations.

Any piece of equipment that you could need to explore Zion, there was a gear store in Springdale that rented it. From boots ($30/day) all the way to one on one guided canyoneering expeditions ($645/day). If you had the cash, you could access everything in Zion with virtually no experience. I’m not condemning these companies, but people tend to underestimate the heat and their own physical capability if everything is commercialized. Once you’re a few miles into a hike in 110 degree heat, that’s when reality hits. As I’m writing this (July 15, 2024) a story just came out that a father and daughter died in Canyonlands National Park a few days prior (Canyonlands had similar conditions to Zion at the time), they were hiking in the mid-day heat, got lost, ran out of water, and succumbed to the heat. It’s a sad story that repeats itself during every summer season in the National Parks. It doesn’t matter your experience level, the heat will kill you if not mitigated/managed properly, and once you get north of 100 degrees, its not a matter of if the heat will get to you, its a matter of when.

So we drove past the masses of sightseers to the visitor’s center. Alicia had submitted our application for Angels Landing for the following day. So part of our goal was to speak to the rangers to see if we had been lucky enough to have been selected for the hike. Once we got inside we walked around for a bit, got some postcards, and Alicia got her NPS stamp in her passport. While we were browsing, a small, foldable guidebook had caught my eye. “The Subway” was an iconic canyoneering route in Zion, you needed a permit and the appropriate gear. But the more I cross referenced the guidebook to info online, the more I thought we could do it without the help of a guide. I got the guidebook and walked with Alicia over to the back-country wilderness desk to speak to the ranger. We explained our plans and the ranger said that we would know if we got approved or not at 4pm, and that they couldn’t issue a walk-up canyoneering permit until the day before. It was 3:35pm so we just decided to wait in the visitor’s center until we got word on our application for Angel’s Landing. At 3:58pm I got an email from the NPS saying that we were approved for the “before 9:00am” time slot. We spoke to the ranger again and told them that we would come back the following day, after Angels Landing, and apply for the canyoneering permit. We were super stoked, I knew we had a shot at winning the lottery, but because it was peak season, I thought it was a total toss up.

My next task for the evening was to find a campground that was close enough to Zion so we could be at the trailhead before 9am, but would offer us some relief from the heat. My first pick was a spot about 50 min from the visitor’s center at a dispersed campground just below the summit of Signal Peak, at roughly 9,000 feet. We got most of the way up just to be stopped by a gate 1.7 miles from the campground, they had closed the campground due to the extreme fire risk in the area. So we doubled back and when I got signal I started searching again. The only other option was a spot off of a 2 lane highway near Cedar City, the temp there was forecast to get down to the mid 70’s that night, and the campground was right next to a mountain creek. So we drove the hour back up north and set up camp. We cooled off in the river for a bit, made dinner, and got some rest before our Angels Landing adventure.

The next morning we woke up at 5am, left camp before 6am, and were at the visitor’s center by roughly 7am. We opted to park the car at the visitor’s center and take the shuttle to the trailhead. We stepped off before 8am and started our climb. The initial approach was tough, a series of paved switchbacks that caused us to climb over 1,000 vertical feet in less than a mile, it was steep. About a third of the way through the ascent we were stopped by rangers who verified our permit and checked ID’s. Once we finished the switchbacks we entered a very narrow canyon that was significantly cooler than our climb up. This portion of the hike lasted for about half a mile and spit us out on a ridge line where chains acted as a safety for the steep and uneven terrain that followed. Going up was slow, not only because we were gingerly choosing our footing, but also because much of the trail only accommodated one way traffic. Clusters of people would wait their turn to either ascend or descend and minor traffic jams would occur. Roughly an hour and a half in, we reached the summit, the views were truly stunning and the drops terrifyingly sheer (over 1,000 feet in most places). We soaked it in for a little bit and took some pictures, but abbreviated our stay because the temps were rising and we did not want to be exposed during the hottest portion of the day. It was supposed to hit 105 degrees before 11am in the Zion Valley that day, and we didn’t want to become another statistic. So we turned and started our decent, the first portion was uneventful, but as we began going back down the paved switchbacks we were shocked to see hundreds of people just beginning their trek to the top, many carrying just one bottle of water. These people wouldn’t reach the top for at least another hour, at this point it had already breached 90 degrees and it was just going to get hotter. We said our own silent prayers for the people climbing up and finished the hike. We caught the shuttle back to the visitor’s center and started the process to get our canyoneering permit for the next day. The ranger was nice and answered all of our questions, he ran down the list of required gear, had me sign a liability waver stating that I did indeed have all of the equipment needed for this adventure. Once all of this was done, he signed our permit, then I signed it- then it was official.

Since there was no required entry time for the trail we decided to drive the hour and a half back up to Brian Head to get out of the heat. We cooked dinner and I did a gear layout, we packed our bags so they were ready for the morning and then hit the hay so our bodies got some rest after the abuse that they had endured that day. We were so excited but also nervous at the prospect of doing something new. Like kids before Christmas, we had to force ourselves to sleep, not knowing what cool sights and experiences we would enjoy the next day.

Onward and Upwards,

Connor