I’ve always enjoyed hiking, but I didn’t really get into it until my early twenties. Even then, the people I was hiking with made me feel like I wasn’t capable of hard things, and that I wasn’t worth the effort to build up to those hard things. That slowly started to change when I began dating Chris.
We hiked a lot together, and somewhere along the way, I stopped assuming I was too weak to do hard things. There was one hike I never even allowed myself to consider: Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. I had always heard it was just too hard.
But the more I hiked, the more I felt like I really wanted to see the top of Angel’s Landing. It seemed like every time I noticed an impressive landscape photo, sure enough it was Angel’s Landing.
Now fast forward to a few years of marriage. In my last series about Peru, you heard that our trip to Machu Picchu was how I talked Chris into starting a family. But for myself, I had a short list of things I wanted to do before having kids:
- Complete a triathlon
- Visit Italy
- Hike Angel’s Landing
In late summer of 2018, I checked one off the list and completed a triathlon. We already had plans to travel to Italy in 2019. That left Angel’s Landing—my final pre-baby goal.
I wanted perfect conditions. No ice, no snow, no lightning risk, no turning around halfway because the mountain decided today wasn’t the day. I watched the weather closely and spotted a promising weekend in October 2018. This was before permits were required, so we scrambled to line up dog sitters, booked the closest hotel we could find, and headed to Zion.
It was definitely hard, but I wouldn’t say it was harder than I expected it to be. Walter’s Wiggles are no joke – they are the 21 steep switchbacks toward the beginning of the hike. What worried Chris were the cables. I’m clutzy, and he did not want to witness me tumbling off the edge of a cliff. That concern was actually part of why I wanted to do this before having kids. If I were to die on a mountain, I’d prefer not to leave behind any orphans.
Then there’s the saddle. Sheer drop-offs on both sides. I don’t think you ever truly know whether you’re afraid of heights until you’re standing somewhere that makes the consequences very clear. Turns out heights don’t faze me as much as I imagined they would. I definitely noticed the drop, it’s hard not to! But I didn’t freeze or panic.
Pulling myself up the cables was one of the hardest physical things I had ever done to that point. On the way down, there was a moment where Chris had to give me a boost up a huge rock because my body was like in shock mode or something and couldn’t figure out how to get over it by myself. But it was everything I wanted it to be. Reaching the top felt incredible.
The view was stunning. The sense of accomplishment was overwhelming. My only regret is that I wasn’t there when the shadows weren’t cutting across the summit. Maybe I’ll catch the sunrise or sunset someday. But we had started early on purpose, hoping to beat the crowds at the cables and reduce risk. Chris was still very invested in me not toppling to my death.
After it was all over, my father-in-law casually said, “Well, now you should try Half Dome in Yosemite.”
I hadn’t even heard of the Half Dome at the time. I wrote it off as something beyond my abilities. But… I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
When I finally looked it up, my first reaction was that it was way outside my comfort zone. Longer, steeper, higher, too much commitment. But after Angel’s Landing, I knew something important: I CAN DO HARD THINGS!
So what started as a casual comment slowly became a thought I couldn’t shake. And that thought turned into a goal. Because once you prove to yourself that you can do hard things, it’s almost impossible not to wonder what else might be possible.
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Packing for Adventure 