Zion National Park, Part 2, Angel’s Landing Hike
- otomola
- Nov 6, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 29
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Angel's Landing
Angel’s Landing is probably THE HIKE of Zion. It is so popular that one needs to be selected in a lottery to have the opportunity to do it. My brother Richie and I had done the hike in May. We entered the lottery each day we were there, and Richie “won” the opportunity to go on his birthday! We said Mom in heaven played a role in this fact. Anyway, Laura and I both entered the online lottery and, fortunately, Laura was selected! So, we were all set to hike Sunday morning.
Angel’s Landing is about 5.5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 1,500’. The trail has a longish section completely paved with concrete. They used mules and wagons of some design to do this many years ago. The trail gets steepish with switchback soon on, but the real show starts when you reach the narrow ridged “chain” section. From there on, it is only about another half mile, but that half mile is along cliffs with very steep drop-offs. A majority of this section of the trail has chain support, so one can hold the chains to pull oneself up (or lower oneself down later on) along the way, and of course another purpose of the chains is simply safety. The hike is special. It is a physical, adrenaline infused, emotional experience.
Back in May, my brother Richie and I had a great time doing this hike, and it would not have been the same without him. Doing the hike with Laura was special, too. It was fantastic. Exhilarating. Magical. The combination of the nature of the hike, being very strenuous, having an added intensity due to the steep drop-offs and chains, each section being an exercise in concentration, the beauty of the park, the views are out of this world, the sunshine and the blue sky, and doing it with her, all resulted in an energizing experience.
When we were at the top sitting and relaxing on a comfortable rock, after taking some photos, Laura got up and moved over to some bushes as she told me she was placing some of William’s ashes there. My first thought to myself was, “William? Who’s William?
Then I realized it must be her business partner. This was the first time she had mentioned anything about this since the short discussion about her license plate at Colorado National Monument. It is the first time she mentioned William. I still did not know anything else.
Later, after the hike back at camp, she told me that William had been her life partner. She did not refer to him as her husband. She said that they had been together for over ten years, and that he had passed away in February from cancer. It was quite a surprise.
All this time up until now, as easy as it would have been to do, I never tried to find information online about Laura. I did not search for her on Google. I felt like it was spying, and I would just come to know her through our spending time together. But after this, I did this search. I found out more online about William than I did from her. I did a search for Other Nice People (ONP), and William’s obituary came up in results. I told Laura about Google and reading the obituary and the memorial event for William. Laura told me she was responsible for organizing it.
So, we had known each other since meeting September 14, communicating via several emails and then meeting again October 22. We camped together several days, had many, many conversations, much of them heart-to-heart talks about life, including the one where we talked about relationships, where I even asked her if she had any others after her marriage, and it was not until November 5 on Angel’s Landing that she mentioned William. Fifty-two days … it seemed a little odd she had not mentioned it. But everyone has their own thing about sharing internal information and feelings ...
Other Nice People
Laura told me about an entity she owned called Other Nice People. She described it a couple of ways. One was as a place or community for artists to gather online. Another was a collection of stories about her and William's experiences meeting people on the road. She would give ONP stickers to people who exhibited kindness and compassion.
... Another thing we both noted was the friendliness and comradery of those on the hike. There are several sections where one way traffic is the only way to go. People were always kindly patient waiting for others. They were supportive, encouraging, and nice. There were times on the hike when it felt like a “meet and greet”, stopping to talk with people, find out where they were from, and get a few tidbits about their lives. In addition to being a great hike, it was an interesting humanistic-social activity.
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