Zion has been hyped by the Americans and it didn't dissapoint. It is one of the few places that Americans are forced to leave their monster cars in car parks and use a free shuttle to get around.
The free shuttle has a happy slappy feel to it. The usual on the left you will see this and these sandstone mountains are the largest in the world type commentary info.
Zion is also the first park (maybe Bryce also) where you feel that you need to hike to see the park at it's best. The other parks tend to build a road to the best spots leaving the hiker with the scraps.
This would be our first hike since the mambby pambby ones in Australia where health and safety is out of control. One hike caught my attention due to the use of strenuous, big drops, vertigo, narrow ridge and summit in the route description. It also rewarded with the best view in the park.
As we started the walk at a modest 3000ft we found that heat was going to be the biggest problem. Like vampires we scuttled quickly to the next shady spot all the way up the climb. The route initially followed the west rim trail with 5ft wide concreted path that hairpined up the side of a mountain. The Angel landing path branched off this up a ridge to the top of a mountain at the end of the Zion valley. Chains were placed at exposed spots to hold on to. Although it looked a bit scary from below it was a easy and safe route. It did have amazing views.
The use of safe of course is a relative term, an American I got chatting with as I got off the ridge saw the chains and 1000ft vertical drops and said "they are having a laugh, I want to be able to get back to my car".
We were knackered when we got back. It is my birthday and we simply had to do something other than watching TV to celebrate. It is however Mormon country, and they are not renound for going out on a Friday night. Despite this we did find a nice cafe to have a very nice meal and a few drinks. It was a very good day.