Hiking Angel's Landing

As we were visiting at Uncle Dave's house on Sunday, Erin mentioned her desire to hike Angel's Landing. That was all it took to get a family hiking trip started. We planned to get up early Wednesday morning and hike with whomever decided to come along - and this is the group we got:

Kathy, Jolene, Shania, Parker, Rick, Erin, Maren, Aunt Loretta, Logan, Brad, Bryant, Uncle Dave, and Aunt Chris

Rick has a healthy fear of heights - they make him worried that he'll do this:

Uncle Dave and all the kids start uphill

Aunt Loretta, Brad, and I hiked slower than the kids and as we hiked, we looked down to see Rick, Kathy, and Aunt Chris who decided to head back to the lodge (Rick never had any intention of going to the top - heights, steep cliffs, and Rick do NOT mix!).

The canyon view from part-way up

I love the red rock!

The bottom of Walter's Wiggles - a set of switchbacks that I found harder to go down than up with my bum knee.

Aunt Loretta and Brad climbing up with the help of chains. Brad was a wonderful son and stayed behind his mom the whole way to make sure that she was safe.

The scariest part of the hike - cliffs on both sides with not much room to walk up the edge

More chains on the edge of the cliffs

I was pretty nervous because I hadn't seen the kids in a LONG time and wondered if they were safe on such a dangerous hike. We finally spotted them as they were on their way back down the mountain. They were shocked to see us - they thought we had wimped out - NOT!! I convinced Erin to hike with us while the rest of the group finished hiking down.

I made it to the top!!! When you're at the bottom of the canyon, you can see this rock way up high.

Erin at the top with a view of the narrows at the back of the canyon.

Me and Erin

BEAUTIFUL!!!

On the way down, we had to stop and wait for Aunt Loretta and Brad who went a bit slower

Erin in a cut out we found on our way down

I was so proud of all my kids, myself, and especially Aunt Loretta (who made it to the top for the first time at the young age of 66!). I'm also grateful to Uncle Dave for keeping all the kids safe as they hiked this rather dangerous hike.