I was gripping a chain bolted into a sandstone spine, my knees were shaking, the wind was pulling at my hat, and a woman I had never met was standing behind me saying, "You've got this, honey. Just one step." I looked down, only because every bone in my body told me not to, and saw nothing but air and a thousand feet of red rock drop. And I laughed. Because somehow I was here, and somehow I was doing it, and somehow this was exactly where I wanted to be.
That was my Angels Landing morning.
If you have spent any time thinking about hiking in Zion National Park, Angels Landing is probably already on your list. Or it's scaring you off your list. It's the trail everyone has seen pictures of: that narrow sandstone fin that juts out into the canyon like a finger pointed at heaven, with hikers clinging to chains along the ridge. Back in 1916, a man named Frederick Fisher took one look at it and said only an angel could land there. The name stuck, and now the rest of us just have to work a little harder for our wings.
I had been wanting to do this hike for years. Southern Utah is my soul place. I'm an Idaho girl through and through, but something about that red rock and that wide open sky always feels like coming home to me. So when three of my best friends said yes to a Zion girls' trip, Angels Landing was the first thing I put on the itinerary.
Here's the thing nobody tells you about a trip like this: the hike starts long before you ever lace up your boots. It starts when you apply for the permit.
Angels Landing has required a permit since 2022, and you can't just show up and hope for the best. You have to apply through a lottery on Recreation.gov, either the seasonal lottery (months ahead) or the day-before lottery. The application fee is six dollars, and if you get picked, it's another three dollars per person. My advice: apply to the seasonal lottery first and pick as many date and time options as they'll let you. If that doesn't shake one loose, try the day-before lottery every single day until you get one. We applied for a group of four. We got lucky on our second day of trying. I may have shrieked in the hotel lobby.